Tags

, , ,

Unity comes at a price in a nation founded on revolution, and for some, that price — sacrificing one’s own red-white-and-blue beliefs — is way too high. 

President Biden called for unity numerous times during his campaign and during his acceptance speech after being sworn in Wednesday as the nation’s 46th president. But he might have been more effective, and his empty encouragements might have been more acceptable if he had called instead for more tolerance. 

Because that’s all he might get — at best. Well, unless the USA is overtly attacked from someplace beyond our borders, like the attacks of 9/11. Then, we might see some unity.

But even tolerance is in question. Why? Because on the steps of the Capitol, Mr. Biden’s calls for unity were soon forgotten as he then went to the Oval Office in the White House and signed 22 Executive Orders that flew in the face of his predecessor’s initiatives. Beyond the White House, most of the new executive orders kicked sand in the faces of nearly 75-million Americans who voted to give President Trump a second term. By his rash “action,” Biden has earned the crown as King of the Cancel Culture.

It’s true, actions speak a helluva lot louder than words. But when the actions drip with hypocrisy in the wake of lip-service leadership, it doesn’t take brain surgery to figure out that something has gone wrong. Witness the immediate signing by the new president of a stack of executive orders, most of which take this nation back to the old status quo of more government screwing up our lives.

Entry-level pay — Ordering the minimum wage to go from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour (except in New York, California and Massachusetts, where it’s already 15 bucks an hour) is a non-starter. First, Biden’s timing is way off. It’s foolish to increase a minimum wage in the middle of a pandemic that has cost so many minimum-wage earners their jobs. Many won’t be returning to those jobs. Why? Well, second, the plethora of small businesses cut off at the knees throughout the nation by the pandemic will be even more distressed by higher labor costs. They’ll be cutting some jobs. Third, with the loss of many entry-level jobs, good opportunities will dry up for minimum-skill workers trying to get a start in the job market and gain work experience. Fourth, expect higher prices for everything from groceries to gasoline, fast food to fancy fillets to cost more, further eroding the value of the consumer dollar. Oh, but let’s not forget the unity this move will inspire.  

Face coverings — Mandating face masks and social distancing on federal property and for those (e.g., truck drivers) engaged in interstate commerce ? Seriously? It’s already being done at the state level. Why the redundancy, unless it’s simply to further extend the reach of dictatorship in a republic? And then, there’s the hypocrisy on display. The new president was photographed with a friend the night of the inauguration as they visited the Lincoln Memorial. Biden was bare-faced, showing the world just how serious he is about his own mandate.

Walling off the wall — Halting further construction of a wall on the USA’s southern border is another job-killer. As for porous border crossings themselves, why don’t we just move the Statue of Liberty down to El Paso, Texas? Sure, the USA still accepts the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and the wretched refuse from other nations’ teeming shores. But there’s a process to make such transitions secure and legal. Citizens of the USA don’t want infiltration by robbers, rapists, killers, drug pushers, sex traffickers, thieves, brutal thugs and their ilk. The sections of border wall that went up under the Trump administration have been hugely effective in plugging the cross-border holes shared by the USA and Mexico along their common 1,954-mile boundary. Fences might not neighbors make, but fences certainly help define freedom and justice for all who legally deserve it.

Expanded health care — Support for underserved communities, especially as it regards health care? If that includes funding for abortion again, Mr. President, you’ll be pushing a boulder uphill. If you indeed are a devout Catholic as you claim, listen to the good men of the cloth about abortion. To do otherwise further fuels discord, not unity, in an already divided nation. The better solution? Funding public-private initiatives in underserved communities to create and sustain jobs.

Climate change — Why rejoin the Paris climate accord of 2016? To show the world that we’re still committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050? The USA is already doing that — moving ahead on its own without a global accord that means nothing to the world’s other two major polluters. China doesn’t plan to get serious about climate-change strategies until 2030, and the initial steps will be weak, according to onlne’s Climate Action Tracker. Ditto for India, but its goals are less robust. Moreover, the USA already has given $1 billion toward a $3 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund supposedly destined to help underdeveloped nations meet their goals under the accord. The Democrats take great delight in extending taxpayers’ money as the planet’s premier nanny state. Is that unifying here at home?  

Plugging the pipeline — Killing the Keystone XL pipeline was crazy. With the stroke of a pen last Wednesday, Biden put at least 2,000 workers out of a job, clouding their futures and that of their families. Is that what you call encouraging unity? Under the Obama administration, the State Department conducted a detailed, pre-construction analysis of the 875-mile pipeline linking the Keystone Hardisty Terminal about 80 miles southeast of Edmonton, Canada to the Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. The analysis concluded that the pipeline would reduce harmful emissions, because otherwise the crude would be moved south to the refineries by train and by truck – more air-polluting and less secure alternatives. Why not sign an Executive Order to pour more money into the development of emissions-reduction technology, as Canada is doing? Why not complete the Keystone XL and keep it going until something better comes along that has been tried and tested — like superior-performing electric vehicles, where advances already are evident and in the marketplace. Then gradually phase out the need for fossil fuels as demand wanes over time for gasoline-powered vehicles. Speaking of Canada, did you, Mr. President, gauge our neighbor to the north’s reaction before you signed the Keystone death knell? Canada now will likely construct the pipeline across their own turf to its own West Coast, where the oil will be shipped to China and end up causing much more pollution than the misguided liberals in the USA could ever fathom.

WHO; who? – We’re apparently rejoining the World Health Organization. Why? Just to show that we’re a “joiner” nation, ready to underwrite the actions of and reactions to decisions and analyses are constantly wrong? The USA taxpayer will kiss another $400 million goodbye – an “investment” abroad with little return. Not to mention that WHO is overtly partial to the whims and dictates of the communist party of China.

Counting aliens — Reversing President Trump’s executive order last July to the U.S. Census Bureau to not count illegal immigrants in the 2020 population count is just plain boneheaded. Biden’s order means the federal allocation of tax revenue will be further diluted by extending it to squatters from other nations, and it will skew the basis for federal representation in Washington. Doesn’t much spell “unity” to a lot of folks.

Sign this and obey! – One other Executive Order instituted an Executive Branch ethics doctrine. Ol’ Joe wants every Executive Branch appointee to sign an ethics pledge, which also demands that federal employees promise “to uphold the independence of the Department of Justice.” Boy howdy! That show of distrust promises to put job confidence at an all-time low in all departments and agencies under the thumb of the president. Does sing-song Joe Biden think a pledge on a piece of paper is going to stop clandestine opposition to his orders and programs? Does he believe a pledge of fealty will automatically guarantee honest-to-goodness unity? Or does he plan to simply use the pledge to deflect blame and criticism when something goes south in the Executive Branch? Ethics pledges are akin to a parent demanding on a signed piece of paper that a teenage son or daughter always will love the parent, no matter what. C’mon, man! You don’t demand love; you earn it. Ditto for respect.  Got it, Mr. President?