The Iowa Caucuses

Just When We Needed a Good Laugh——

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                The circus came to Iowa last week and the clowns were simply hilarious, especially if you were of the Republican persuasion. The much-awaited Iowa Caucuses involve a bizarre method of choosing state delegate “equivalents” by having voters express their choice of candidates by standing in a particular area of the room. If enough standees don’t support a particular candidate, they have to express their second choice by moving to another space in the room or else leave. It sort of resembles a beginner’s class in square dancing. You can’t make this stuff up. It was always difficult enough to tabulate the results the old-fashioned way, but the young technical wizards in charge of the process this year this year relied on a hastily-developed, insufficiently-tested app to report results. It failed, of course, leaving the results incomplete for days, perhaps forever, and the Democrat candidates, who spent tons of money and time campaigning in America’s first state contest to determine voter support, frustrated and angry. Several of them then dismissed the importance of the Iowa caucuses anyway because Iowa is “just too white.” I guess it’s politically incorrect now to be too white which I always thought was an accident of birth.

The entertainment continued the following day in the House of Representatives as President Donald Trump delivered the state of the union address in the very chamber where Democrats had voted to impeach him and on the day before the Senate would acquit him. The president’s speech was a well-delivered recitation of his administration’s considerable accomplishments in its first three years, punctuated with poignant recognitions and awards. He showed uncharacteristic restraint by not even mentioning the House impeachment debacle. The actual entertainment was provided by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who demonstrated various facial contortions and smirks, while fidgeting with her copy of the president’s address which she later tore up for the cameras saying, strangely, that it was “the polite thing to do”.

Mrs. Pelosi once flew into a fit when a reporter asked her if she hated Mr. Trump. “I’m a Catholic,” she retorted. “I don’t hate anyone. I pray for him every day.” Uh huh. I can’t, of course, know what’s in anyone’s heart but I know what was written all over her face during Trump’s speech and it certainly wasn’t love. I guess she missed that catechism lesson that instructed us to love thine enemy. It was childish and disrespectful of the office of the presidency, of the Senate and of her own position. By resorting to rude and juvenile behavior of the sort we have often seen exhibited by Mr. Trump, she has lost any credibility for criticism of his behavior and manner.

The impeachment trial is, mercifully, over but the stain remains, not on the president as Mrs. Pelosi and her supporters have claimed, but on her and the other House Democrat leaders that engineered the first purely partisan impeachment of a president with no bi-partisan support, no evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor and with at least half of the population opposed to it. It took place with less than a year to go before the voters were scheduled to express their own choice at the polls. Mrs. Pelosi herself had only recently warned that nothing as serious as impeachment of a president should be attempted without bi-partisan support. Moreover, the process commenced without a vote of the entire House. So flawed was this impeachment that the charges should have been dismissed outright in the Senate as failing to rise to the level of impeachable offenses.

It would be good for the nation if we could agree that it’s finally over, that acquittal means not guilty under the law  and that Congress can now turn to the nation’s real business but we know that Democrat leaders won’t let that happen and will continue to press for investigations. That’s because they have never accepted the voters’ decision in 2016 and never will. Failing to accept the certified results of an election is what happens in banana republics and unstable nations and it poses a danger to our democracy. Democrat leaders bear the blame for this and for lowering the standards for impeachment, ensuring that it will be used again by the House in partisan attempts to remove a president of the opposition party on purely policy grounds.

Democrat leaders knew full well that Mr. Trump would be acquitted in the GOP-controlled Senate but they rushed the process through anyway in an obvious attempt to influence the results of the 2020 election. It has backfired on them and probably has increased the president’s re-election chances. At one point in October, Mr. Trump’s approval percentage according to Gallup was 39%. As of this writing, it’s 49%, a 26% increase. Nice work, Democrats. What do you have in mind for your next comedy act? How about nominating an angry, elderly Socialist for president, or maybe a former small town mayor who was virtually unknown a year ago or perhaps a woman who wants to tax wealth, is loose with the truth and pretended to be a Native American? Any of them should provide a few laughs debating against an incumbent presiding over a booming economy with record low unemployment who demolished a number of actually qualified candidates in the GOP debates prior to his nomination and who then went on to accomplish most of what he promised despite no political experience and zero support from Democrats in Congress.

February 23, 2020

               

 

The Problem with China

The Problem with China—————-

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

In a tour several years ago of four of China’s largest cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, I was impressed by the progress the Peoples Republic had made in elevating the standard of living for much of its vast population, at least for those living in the thriving eastern metropolises. But a fair assessment of that progress required venturing beyond the tourist areas through which we were led, into the interior and the neighborhoods where poverty is still widespread and sanitation primitive.

In and around the cities the air quality was eye-smarting and everywhere we were warned not to drink the water and to be careful about what and where we ate. But even more problematic were the limits on where we could go and what we could say. We were warned, for instance, not to mention Taiwan or China’s one-child policy or anything that could be deemed critical of the government or the Communist party. To do so could put us at risk of being detained, we were advised.

In China, the Communist Party reigns supreme and Party leaders have the final say over nearly every matter of national importance. Preservation of the party trumps every other cause, including individual rights. To criticize the government or the party or to attempt to influence public sentiment against either is to invite detention or worse as many brave protestors, including Hong Kongers, have learned. We enjoyed interacting with our friendly, hospitable hosts and like most ordinary people everywhere, we have much in common. However, our systems of government have little or nothing in common and life under the Communist regime is harsh and restrictive in terms of individual freedoms. Westerners, used to asserting their rights and freedoms, sometimes seem shocked to discover that they have none in places like China.

Since his rise to power, President Xi Jingping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, has assumed near-dictatorial powers and strengthened governmental control over the lives of its people. China has become more assertive in expanding its world influence and reach. It is colonizing and militarizing the vast South China Sea, intruding on the territorial seas and economic zones of its neighbors and posing a risk to freedom of navigation in an area through which nearly a third of ocean-borne cargo transits daily. It demands that The Republic of China, also known as Taiwan, must be “re-united” with the Peoples Republic, an entity it never has been “united” with in the first place. It poses a cyber warfare threat and steals technology from us and other nations.

This is the problem with China whose behavior probably will not be mellowed by continuing trade agreements, friendly handshakes and membership in world trade organizations. China’s aim is, clearly, to surpass us as the world’s largest economy and superpower and it is clear from past behavior that it will employ any means to do so and will regard any effort to impede its progress toward that goal as hostile. We are two nations with very different systems and they may be incompatible. In any event, it is not in our best interest to help them in achieving their goal of surpassing us. I believe, therefore, that President Donald Trump’s approach of toughness in trade negotiations and always putting America’s interests first is the right approach.

For an example of the problems that China’s opaque system of strict, centralized control from Beijing and the need for the party’s approval of nearly everything that could reflect poorly upon it, consider the coronovirus crisis which originated in Wuhan, a city of 11 million, apparently at an open-air market where food was sold in proximity to wild animals which were being slaughtered and sold as food as well. Sanitation reportedly was an issue. As infections broke out there was a lengthy delay in informing the public. The mayor of Wuhan blamed the delay on having to wait for approval from Beijing which reportedly took a month. Hundreds of thousands of people meanwhile were permitted to leave the area and travel, spreading the virus throughout the country and the world.

The World Health Organization subsequently declared a global health emergency. The U.S. has warned Americans not to travel to China, evacuated U.S. citizens from Wuhan and restricted entry into America of foreign persons who recently visited China. Other countries also took various restrictive measures regarding travel to and from the world’s most populous nation and second-largest economy with a huge potential negative effect on the world economy and markets. The biggest tragedy, of course, is the loss of life involved. Beijing must take the blame for its failure to take timely measures to quarantine the area where the virus originated and control its spread. Its system of government, with its tight control of information and hostility to any criticism, is simply not a good fit in an increasingly global society.

February 23, 2020

 

 

As the World Turns

As the World Turns————————–

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

As the Senate impeachment trial drones on, Americans, in large numbers, are tuning out. Most have more important things to do such as working for a living and raising families than to listen to politicians pontificate. If they have any spare time, they would probably rather be entertained or catch up on actual news. Listening to Democrat impeachment managers Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler bloviating endlessly on into the wee hours provided clues as to why so many Americans have such a low opinion of professional politicians and of Congress in particular.

Americans are also beginning to focus in on the election campaign which begins in earnest with the Iowa Caucuses. However, three of the top Democrat contenders for their party’s presidential nomination and the third of the senators up for reelection, are forced to sit silently at their Senate desks as the trial drags on, for who knows how long if witnesses are called, giving frontrunner Joe Biden and former mayors Pete Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg an advantage.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is free to tend to the real business of government, forging trade deals with China, Canada and Mexico, hinting at the possibility of another with Europe, attending the WTO meeting in Davos and basking in the respect that usually attends a world leader presiding over the world’s largest and most robust economy that provides jobs to just about anyone willing to work.

With attention shifting to state primaries, Democrat candidates in a still-crowded field will spar among themselves over who is the most socially “woke”, who is the greenest of green, who can offer the most free stuff and above all, who can beat Donald Trump. That describes the state of the Democrat party today. On the other hand, without serious opposition from within his party, the incumbent, with a huge campaign war chest, which has grown since impeachment, will continue to draw large and enthusiastic crowds at his rallies, while continuing to conduct the nation’s business.

The impeachment trial will, sooner or later, conclude, not with a bang but a whimper, leaving taxpayers to contemplate the huge cost in time and money of this exercise in futility for which Democrat leaders and candidates should be held accountable by voters in Novembers. It’s important that they are, not for reasons of retribution, but to send a forceful message that the extraordinary powers of impeachment were only intended to remove a dangerously incompetent and lawless president who poses an existential threat to the nation and must never again be used in an attempt to remove a president for political purposes or policy disagreements. If this partisan impeachment attempt is not formally recognized as an abuse of power on the part of the House of Representatives, it will surely be used again in partisan attempts to remove or cripple a president for policy differences and invalidate an election result or influence an imminent election.

While Democrat leaders have been focused throughout Mr. Trump’s term almost entirely on domestic issues and efforts to remove him from office, the real threats to our nation lay elsewhere. The world keeps turning and remains a dangerous place. North Korea’s nuclear threat remains unresolved but at least Mr. Trump has forged a face-to-face relationship with Kim Jong-un. Iran remains the world’s leading exporter of terrorism but at least Mr. Trump has drawn a line which the mullahs now know they cross at their own peril. China and the U.S. are still mutually-tolerant economic rivals but with divergent interests which could quickly change the relationship to an adversarial one. A showdown may occur over freedom of navigation, the future of Taiwan, cyber warfare and continued theft of U.S. technology.

Yet Democrats, when they pay attention to foreign relations at all, seem obsessed over Russia and Ukraine. To be sure, Russia has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. It is not, however, an economic rival with its second tier economy almost entirely dependent on oil and gas. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, its economy has worsened and its ageing population has declined. Russia is not a friend, but ensured mutual destruction prevents nuclear conflict and has at least kept the relationship stable. It behooves us to keep it that way. Democrat efforts to brand Russia as an enemy don’t help much.

Russia may be a threat to Ukraine and Georgia and other former Soviet states on its eastern border with large ethnic Russian populations, some of whom want to reunite with Russia but that is their problem or Europe’s, not ours. They are not members of NATO and we are under no obligation to defend them. Ukraine has a serious corruption problem and is certainly not an ally of ours, contrary to Mr. Schiff’s repeated assertions. One might fairly ask why we are even providing it with military aid in the first place.

February 1, 2020