National politics have become mostly about Democrats vs. Republicans, shirts vs. skins, us vs. them. The focus is on tribes and personality cults, rather than on substantive issues. We debate more about who should have gotten into the College Football Playoff than we do about the size of our national debt or our involvement in foreign wars.
When we do address serious issues, we hunker down behind our party or our people rather than parsing and understanding the topic.
There are three broad areas that America should care about:
Crime and Safety
Democrat cities are disasters. New York City, San Francisco and Philadelphia have seen the massive increases in crime and retail looting. Per the “woke” narrative, to even discuss the issue is racist. Atlanta’s Andre Dickens has been the only major city mayor to address the problem. He urged Atlantans to get ahead of the mobs crowding the stores and get their Christmas shoplifting done early this year. I have pitched a TV show called “Survivor Atlanta.” Contestants are given an Apple Store bag at Lennox Mall and have to make it to their car safely.
Unprecedented levels of theft contributed to $113 billion in retail losses this year. We do not lock up criminals, so stores must lock up deodorant, condoms and razor blades instead.
Much of our crime is organic city crime. People who are told they have been wronged feel entitled to rob a Nike store for Air Jordans, especially after all the looting and mayhem of the BLM riots went largely unpunished. Also, more of the crime is coming from illegals flooding into our country. It is nuts that the razor blade aisles of drug stores in America have better security than our Southern border.
This has led to major cities having illegals and homeless people on their streets. LA residents have been issued a health warning: “Please Wash Your Hands After Using the Sidewalks.”
Economics
With the rise in inflation, living is expensive. Rents in major cities like New York have gone up exponentially. The only things that have counterbalanced that rise in costs have been food, clothing and shoes; in major cities you can just loot those. I think this is called Bidenomics, which comes from a Greek word, loosely translated, meaning, “lifelong politicians who do not understand economics.” And if you do not think Bidenomics is working, ask Nobel Prize winning economist Dr. George Santos.
It is clear that Biden, who has never been anything but a government worker, hasn’t a clue. He thought he had created a break in inflation when he saw a “Free Palestine” sign and said. “Look, the cost of Palestines has come down under my leadership.”
We should view Los Angeles, which is experiencing a major exodus to lower-tax states, as a cautionary tale. With the actors’ strike shutting down Hollywood, the rich are leaving behind the broke folks who cannot afford to leave. I have a buddy in Beverly Hills who says it is so bad that many women there are being forced to marry men for love.
Americans are starting to see through this “Green Agenda” and are pushing back on having expensive electric cars being shoved down their throats. This while Biden flies all over the U.S.A. in Air Force One, and gets chauffeured around in a motorcade of gas guzzling SUVs. He flew to see the other idiot politicians in Europe to discuss the world economy at the G6 Summit. Biden had not been surrounded by so many liberal white politicians since he went to West Virginia to attend Senator Robert Byrd’s funeral. He could lead by example and not attend so many funerals. He flew to Philadelphia, Seattle and Los Angeles in one month to attend the funerals of a Target, Wal-Mart and Apple Store.
Stupid Wars of Choice that Run Up our $32 trillion Deficit
The media and the Democrat Party, which has in the last few years become the party of war, each day conjure up overseas dangers in which we must intervene. You look at the news and you wonder which chapter of Revelation we are watching today. Americans are tired of it. The Pentagon cannot pass an audit. We leave billions in lethal weapons to the Taliban in our comically “planned” exit from Afghanistan. Our government makes Laurel and Hardy pushing that piano up the stairs look like a well-run operation. Enough.
We are again sending naval carriers back to another godforsaken Persian Gulf Muslim country in which we have no interest. I guess we like to send our forces back to the Middle East each November for Fan Appreciation Day. This year, I hear they’re giving away Dick and Liz Cheney bobbleheads.
This whole war thing is orchestrated by the Deep State Dream Team including Antony Blinken, who led the “Hunter Biden laptop is Russian misinformation” farce during the election. He lectures us standing next to Nancy Pelosi. The duo is better known by their stage names, Blinken and Never Blinkin’.
A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does commentary on radio and TV. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.