Just My Opinion – The Colors are Fading
I am old enough to have a vivid recollection of America’s Bicentennial celebration that culminated in the biggest national party our country has ever seen on July Fourth 1976. At the time, I was serving in the United States Air Force on a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base outside Great Falls, Montana. The base was one of several in the country that housed readied missiles armed with nuclear war heads in defense of possible attacks from the Soviet Union and China.
However, the ever-present tension from the on-going Cold War did little to distract from the enthusiasm and Patriotic Vibe Americans were feeling and the energy they poured into celebrations all across the country for the 200th anniversary of the founding of not just the United States of America but of a form of government the world had never truly experienced. Technically, we are a Federal Republic, but we use the term “Democracy” interchangeably with the understanding that “We the People” elect our leaders and have the constitutional right to hold them accountable.
Ironically, that accountability was on full display as the country was led by unelected President Gerald Ford and his unelected Vice-President Nelson Rockerfeller. When Vice-President Spiro Agnew shamefully resigned in 1973 after pleading guilty to tax evasion, GOP Congressman Ford, was selected by the Senate to fill the void. In August of 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned under pressure stemming from his coverup of the Watergate Scandal during the 1972 Presidential Election. The country along with both the Republican and Democratic parties worked in a bipartisan effort to oust two men who had broken the law and violated our Constitution. The system had worked like the Founding Fathers had intended. Nobody would be above the law. America would not be a monarchy. Ford used his authority to pardon Nixon and it cost him the election later that year.
During all of 1976, the colors Red, White and Blue were awash throughout America, finding their way on wearing apparel, vehicles, houses, barns, buildings and into virtually every marketing campaign for both foreign and domestic products. Of course, Old Glory, the American flag, now with 50 stars instead of the original 13, was proudly unfurled and displayed outside millions of homes and private businesses as well as all government facilities and by Veterans’ organizations around the nation. The Federal Government doled out grants to villages, towns and cities in every state to help restore and refurbish historical sites that identified a moment or event or an era in that community’s past and that served as a patch in the quilt that was America. In bringing us together in 1976, the Bicentennial was also instrumental in helping us heal from the tragedy that was the Vietnam War and the misguided battle against the Civil Rights Movement fought mainly in the American South.
Today, 50 years removed from that unified national celebration, the once vibrant colors of the American Flag have faded in the eyes of millions of our citizens and much more so as we are viewed by the rest of the world, even by our closest allies. Sadly, our flag no longer stimulates the same level of pride and patriotism that it did when it united us so closely in 1976. No longer do our allies see our flag at our embassies and feel they that have a trusted partner in the leader of the free world. No longer do our enemies take pause before triggering conflicts and even wars at the risk of seeing the American Flag crossing their borders to protect friendly but vulnerable nations.
The Red, White and Blue began to fade when Donald John Trump announced his intent to run for the office of the President of the United States, then easily defeated all comers for the Republican nomination and, subsequently and shockingly, accumulated more electoral votes than Hilary Rodham Clinton to become our 45th President. The optimists among us hoped and prayed we were not getting the Donald we knew, but a man who would shed his inglorious past and actually Make America Great Again. Unfortunately, Donald 45 came as advertised and was able to enact enough damaging policies that led to his defeat in the 2020 election. As a parting shot, he incited a riotous insurrection on our nation’s Capital in an attempt to stay in power.
It was here that America lost its collective mind. We had the perfect opportunity to impeach and convict Mr. Trump, ensuring he would never be able to hold office again in this country. Trump was impeached, for the second time, but Senate Majority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell refused to hold a vote to convict and Trump escaped justice. Despite his destructive tariff-induced economic policies, despite his 34 felony convictions for campaign violations and despite his civil conviction for sexual assault, Trump maintained his incomprehensible grip on the Republican party.
When President Joe Biden made the ill-advised decision to run for a second term and his White House kept his failing health under wraps until it became too obvious, the Democratic Party had no time to come up with a viable alternative for 2024 and Trump was voted back into office with the support voters with short memories of his first term and far too many Evangelical Christians who had forgotten or even forsaken their religion. With the continued capitulation of the Republican Party, which controls the House and the Senate, the most successful con man in our history has returned on a mission of revenge to punish anyone who stood in opposition to him or his policies and a goal to acquire as much wealth as possible for himself, his family and his friends. Much like the monarchs and ruthless dictators of the past and today’s despot rulers of North Korea, the megalomaniac Trump is intent on placing his name and image on everything he can until he is out of office.
Trump learned from his Cabinet decisions in his first term to appoint only those individuals fiercely loyal to him and, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, expand his Presidential powers beyond any of those who came before him. He has rendered both the foreign and domestic Emolument Clauses of the Constitution meaningless as he has accepted billions of dollars’ worth in gifts, all defended by the GOP Congress. More billions have been raked in by the Trump family through stock transactions in companies made before he announced the awarding of major government contracts to those companies without a word from his weaponized Department of Justice.
Our current President guaranteed “No more wars,” a promise that evaporated after he went to war with Iran without the approval of Congress or the support of the American people. The Iranians showed little fear of the American Flag and watched the Red, White and Blue quickly fade to virtually the white of surrender. Billions more spent with little or nothing to show for it. All as American families struggle to put food on the table and fuel in their vehicles.
There is no reason to go on explaining my position on Donald Trump and what has become of the Republican Party. I have definitely said enough. However, I will add that we only have ourselves to blame. We the people put Donald and his friends in power. There is still some color left in Old Glory. It will be up to us in the next and future elections to see it is restored to its full Glory.
Fulton County Ohio Media 