Smart Talk
First and foremost, the border crisis. In its May 1st editorial entitled “Joe Biden needs to stop lying about the cause of the border crisis and start fixing it,” the New York Post editorial board provided some appropriate push-back against the repeated side-stepping whine that the problems down there are President Trump’s fault. Said the editors, in part: “President Joe Biden on Friday (NBC interview) laid fresh blame for the border not-a-crisis at the feet of his predecessor. Does he not realize that his nonstop lies on the issue undermine his credibility across the board?” “The reality: (the editorial continued) Biden inherited a package of successful policies…that he immediately overturned. On his very first day in office, the new prez ordered a halt to new border-wall construction…a moratorium on deportations…support for a law giving a pathway to citizenship to all illegal immigrants, and soon after, he ended Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy that kept migrants there as they awaited immigration verdicts.” And to conclude the Post’s absolutely spot-on rebuttal to Mr. Biden’s misstatements: “Biden’s pathetic blame game isn’t fooling anybody. It’s long past time for him to stop offering lame excuses instead of action, and actually fix the (Mr. Biden’s words) ‘god-awful-mess’ he created.”
With the Post editors on a roll, we’ll turn to their editorial the very next day entitled, “Biden’s bogus bid to claim credit for galloping growth.” Wrote the editorial team, in part: “Biden told NBC News that his $1.9-trillion ‘relief bill’ is why the nation’s gross domestic product grew 6.4% in the first quarter. Bull: The economy’s recovering because the virus is retreating, and lockdowns are ending. And chief credit for beating COVID must go to Trump. The best thing Congress can do now to help the US economy keep growing is to shoot down all Biden’s plans.”
To the continuing Mr. Biden self-imposed handcuffs of illegal immigration and economic growth, we can add the other predominate push: racism. In his article, “Biden’s Racialization of America – Who Will Say Enough Is Enough?” political commentator, Black American, Clarence McKee writes, in part: “There seems to be no limits on how far President Biden, Vice President Harris, and their left-wing allies will go to exploit and incite racial division, strife, and anti-police sentiment for political gain.” Mr. McKee continues: “The hypocrisy of the ‘America is racist, and cops are bad’ crowd is that, to the best of my knowledge, few is any have expressed outrage over the hundreds of Blacks, including many children, killed mostly by other Blacks in Democrat-controlled cities. Mr. McKee concludes: “…some argue that it might be time for police in major cities to come down with the ‘blue flu’ and call in sick. Maybe then the enemies of law enforcement will appreciate the need for the latter’s service.”
Shifting from political nonsense to the nonsense of this whole ‘woke’ language and culture thing, long-time liberal and Democrat strategist, James Carville, speaks some refreshing truth to this whole era of artificial ‘talk’ created by presumed politically correct speech. Said Mr. Carville, in part, during a recent interview: “You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people? They come up with a word like ‘Latinx’ that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like ‘communities of color.’ I don’t know anyone who speaks like that. I don’t know anyone who lives in a ‘community of color.’ I know lots of white and black and brown people and they all live in…neighborhoods. This ‘too cool for school’ (bleep) doesn’t work, and we (liberals) have to stop it.” Conservative writer Scott Alexander tagged onto this theme: “Wokeness is a made-up mystery religion that college educated people invented so they could feel superior to you. The whole point is that the only way not to be a racist is to master an inscrutable and constantly-changing collection of fashionable (passwords) and opinions which are secretly class norms.” Great truths, as well as sad and troubling assessments, identifying this whole irritating “woke” language and philosophy game, which as implied, is the “politics of the faculty lounge.”
Dallas, TX area English teacher, Auguste Meyrat, feels that “wokeness” can be combated by emphasizing excellence in instruction and effort. Among other similar likely long-term damaging mistakes being imposed on public high school curricula, the Virginia Department of Education has proposed to “restructure” its math classes by potentially removing accelerated or advanced math opportunities “in the name of equity.” You remember, equity is the holier-than-thou “woke” response to equality, which emphasizes and favors certain groups over others, thus, not in any way, equality. Teacher Meyrat responds, in part: “Offering different levels of instruction (i.e.,‘tracking’) holds students accountable and makes them responsible for their education. This is the definition of justice: giving to each his/her due. No matter what a student’s background is, he/she can take an advanced course if he/she is willing to do the work involved.” Mr. Meyrat concludes: “At its core, the push for ‘wokeness’ is the push for mediocrity, and its one of the leading reasons it’s so toxic. It’s also why the only effective way to fight ‘wokeness’is by pushing excellence. Advanced studies are the best way to empower students and create a more just society.” Rather than simply concluding that, for the sake of liberals in future elections, we need to just “stop” this “woke” foolishness, this enlightened, common-sense English teacher prefers to tame it at its root by providing students with the advanced opportunities to pursue excellence in their education.
Next, regarding the slippery slope trajectory of our economy at present, some down to earth words and warnings from an economist, as expressed in his article, “Our Bipartisan Fiscal Insanity.” Mark Hendrickson writes about the alarming gap between our damaging proposed over-spending in relation to our federal revenues. Said he, in part: “According to the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Deficit Tracker, as of this month (April 2021), ‘while revenues have grown 6% year-over-year, cumulative spending has surged 45% above last year’s pace.’ Hendrickson continues: “Look at Democrats’ eagerness to pardon college debt and give away all sorts of expensive freebies; they clearly believe that debt is not a commitment to honor, but an inconvenience to be disregarded. Borrowing for free is the progressive panacea. Expecting the repaying of debt is a bourgeois, capitalist injustice.” You are not likely to hear or read comments that candid, true, and brutally frank, again, anytime soon, about our approaching economic road to possible federal fiscal ruin.
And to conclude this semi-focus on the pending national fiscal trauma, with particular emphasis on forgiving the mega-millions in existing student tuition debt, here’s a blast of welcome fresh air and reason, from a young man who graduated with substantial university debt, but who chooses to handle that obligation on his own, rather than burdening America’s taxpayers through “forgiveness.” Wrote Albert Eisenberg, in part: “I opted to skip state school and matriculate to Georgetown, the school of my dreams. I worked by butt off as an undergraduate to keep myself financially afloat, often balancing multiple jobs. And when I graduated in four years’ time, I did so magna cum laude, beaming with pride – and with an enormous debt burden.”
“Eight years after graduating – and still working my butt off – I have paid off a majority of my debt. But I still have a long way to go. Yet, I still don’t expect anybody else to pay off my obligations. And certainly not average taxpayers. But that’s what ‘cancelling’ student debt means.”
Eisenberg concludes: “What President Biden and Senator Warren are really doing is something Democrats are masterful at: creating a new special interest group that will win them votes. At 18, I made key decisions that I have to live with, and they are worth it to me. But they are mine alone. I am living with them and paying for them. I don’t need anybody else to do that for me.”
Remarkable and so refreshing to hear, the common-sense words of a young man, now successfully engaged in the world of work, determined to make it, and to pay off his debts on his own. Would that more Americans with large, self-imposed debt, exhibited that level of personal responsibility, not wishing to burden fellow citizens with the academic decisions and costs they themselves had made. And especially so for those young graduates who chose their undergraduate major wisely (avoiding any major ending in “Studies”!), and are now contributing members of society, paying their own way, and likely earning at a level sufficient to eventually pay off their tuition debts without imposing it on working, middle- class Americans who have their own families and expenses to handle. Bravo, Mr. Eisenberg. Thank you for your wise choices and inspiring story.
(Biden created border mess quotes via nypost.com, Post Editorial Board, 5-1-21; Biden growth credit quotes via nypost.com, Post Editorial Board, 5-2-21; Left-wing racism & anti-police rhetoric quotes via newsmax.com, Clarence McKee, 4-28-21; Carville & Alexander ‘woke’ quotes via breitbart.com, James P. Pinkerton, 5-2-21; Woke vs. excellence in education quotes via the federalist.com, Auguste Meyrat, 4-30-21; Federal spending vs. revenue quotes via The Epoch Times, Mark Hendrickson, 4-28-21; Handling his own student debt quotes via foxnews.com, Albert Eisenberg, 4-15-21).