There are, I’m sure untold numbers of news stories analyzing the Republican debate a couple nights ago. A lot of people skipped it to watch Tucker Carlson’s Trump interview. I’m not sure why anyone would skip the debate for that, when they could just watch it later, which as a citizen in 2023 is what I’ll do. It’s not 1965, when watching one thing means we forever miss all the other things.
So I watched the debate, because we have right around a year till the Republicans choose a nominee. A lot can happen in a year, and I think it’s wise to consider all the possibilities (and impossibilities 🤔).
I’m sure there will be all sorts of analysis of everything that was said, speculation on who won, who improved their position, and who can go home and sit on the porch from here on out.
And before I get to my main point, I have to wonder at the apparent shortage of tweezers, grooming scissors and razors in North Dakota. Seems like a pretty good investment opportunity for the right person.
But, I digress…
Out of everything said in the debate, the arguing, name-calling, obfuscating, dodging, accusing and defending, it was an exchange between Vivek Ramaswammy and Mike Pence that showed how very out of touch some of the elites, even in the Republican party can be.
First, Ramaswammy had this to say:
We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis. And I say this as a member of my generation, the problem in our country right now, the reason we have that mental health epidemic is that people are so hungry for purpose and meaning at a time when family, faith, patriotism, hard work have all disappeared. What we really need is a tonal reset from the top, saying this is what it needs to be an American. Yes, we will stand for the rule of law, yes, we will close the southern border where criminals are coming in every day, and yes, we will back law enforcement because we remember who we really are, and that is also how we address that mental health epidemic in the next generation that is directly leading to violent crime across this country.
Mike Pence replied:
We don’t have an identity crisis, Vivek. We’re not looking for a new national identity. The American people are most faith-filled, freedom-loving, idealistic hard-working people that world has ever known. We just need government as good as our people.
And then, Ramaswammy had this to say:
Mike, I think the difference is — you might have, some others like you on this stage may have — it’s a morning in America speech. It is not morning in America. We live in a dark moment and we have to confront the fact that we’re in an internal sort of cold cultural civil war and we have to recognize that.
Pence’s response, so out of touch, so removed from the feelings of ordinary citizens, only serves to highlight the distance between career politicians and the rest of us.
Many of us may indeed be everything Pence credits us with.
We may be filled with faith, but increasingly, everything around us belittles that faith and says that it should in no way inform our world view. Our children can be taken from us and possibly unreversably altered, because school administrations have enacted policies that are at odds with our faith.
We may love our freedom, but we still haven’t recovered from 3 years of that freedom being stripped away by the money interests of DC bureaucrats, fueled by big Pharma.
Our churches and schools were ordered to be shuttered. Many people faced the choice of becoming part of a failed medical experiment or being able to make a living and care for their families.
Elderly people were forced into medical treatments that were nearly uniformly fatal – and then faced their deaths alone, without any comfort of family or friends.
Landlords were unable to collect rent, and were saddled with tenants who could pretty much do as they pleased with no legal recourse, in many cases to this very day.
Small businesses everywhere struggled to keep afloat, while huge retailers saw their stock prices and value soar, as people had no choice but to buy online or do pick-up orders at stores that could absorb the cost of doing business that way. In a lot of towns and cities, we’re faced every day with the results – closed businesses fewer jobs, less hope.
Many people still are unsatisfied with the paltry information, lies and misinformation about the origins of, the treatments for and the long-term effects of the pandemic. Though, it seems we may get another chance, because “Hello, new Covid variant!”
We may be hard-working, for all the good it does us. We can’t afford to buy a new house because of ridiculous interest rates. We can’t afford to go anywhere when gas in back up to record levels. Even groceries seem to get further out of reach, between inflation and ongoing supply chain issues.
Sorry, Mike, but the identity a lot of us are struggling with is getting harder and harder to believe in. And if you think we should have leaders that live up to our ideals, you ain’t it, buddy.
Vivek is closer to the truth on this – morning in America is in the midst of a civil war with the sunsetting of everything that actually makes us a who we are.
We deserve leaders who understand that and are willing to fight alongside us.
