Letter to the editor submitted by Andrew R. Melillo, July 3, 2018
There is a fashionable trend to lament that Millennials lack essential skills, lack a basic understanding of their country’s history and that their entitlement mentality results in unrealistic expectations and demands, yet one of the more recent editorials from July 2nd reads just like that.
The 1940’s and 50’s with its legally mandated racial segregation in some states and the public investigation of private citizens because of their particular party prescription are no longer a reality. The 40’s and 50’s cultural and legal norms are right where they are, in the past.
No one is losing “face” because they “smell deceit” – perhaps waiting for evidence before accusing any particular person is the proper course of action. After all, that is the American way: innocent until proven guilty.
Muslim and Hispanic immigrants are not being turned away. The travel restrictions are (a) temporary; and (b) limited in scope – nor is this restriction different in legal status or precedent than the ones put in place by prior administrations against Muslim and non-Muslim countries, including the previous administration. Lazarus’ poem is both well written and a testament to our highest idyll; it is not, however, the law of the land.
Yes we are a Nation of Immigrants, but first and foremost, we are a Nation of Laws. We are governed not by a King, but by the Rule of Law, above which is no man. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1998 are the law of the land and both were passed under Bill Clinton.
Scott Pruitt who was been in the capacity of his office for a short while, has just killed all the fish in the River Hudson? Sounds like a pretty damning accusation and a nearly impossible feat. Pruitt the nepotistic secretary? Sure. Or at the very least a profligate spender of public funds? Sure. Total Fish Killer? Yikes, what a wild stretch.
As to the Trump “script,” whatever that is, African-Americans are not being forced into positions as porters and maids. This is a speculative, emotional thought, and not rooted in any observable truth or economic data. What is true of Trump’s economy is the record-low Hispanic and African-American unemployment, historic tax cuts helping the middle class and a renewed confidence in small business owners across the nation. Suppression of the minority vote? Not at all.
The African American vote has been on the rise over the last twenty-years, and the only reason the total 2016 African-American vote was less than 2008 or 2012 was the record high of 66.6% of the total African-American population voting for the first African-American president.
Voter results show that Trump received 8% of the African-American vote, two points better than Romney and 29% of the Hispanic vote, also two points better than Romney. What the voter numbers show is that 114.86 million voters turned out in 2012, momentum being on Obama’s side – while the 128.82 million who voted in 2016 turned out and the momentum was on Trump’s side.
Voters are not being suppressed, and to indicate it is because of a particular race of people with weapons is (a) not factual, and; (b) is an ignorant comment indeed most worthy of contempt.
Any person, physically and mentally qualified, is able to serve in the military, and the threat of a possible reversal of the Roe vs. Wade ruling is not new a new tactic of the DNC. Every time a Republican president has the opportunity to pick a Supreme Court justice, the left engages in fear-mongering saying that the new justice will be the tipping point to overturn Roe vs. Wade. It has not happened.
As to our friends, our enemies and our “false friends:” it completely ignores the subtle realities of the current situation.
Under Obama, Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia (after the 2012 debate when Obama laughed at Romney when the former Governor said Putin was a serious geo-political rival to the West); the Obama administration refused to arm the Ukrainian freedom-fighters; Obama was caught saying on his microphone to Medvedev that he would have more flexibility after the election concerning the reset; ISIS gained and held massive swathes of territory to grow their death cult; and as a recent Associated Press article has indicated Obama not only lied to the American People about the Iran deal, he gave the rogue regime billions in cash.
Under the current administration the Ukrainian freedom fighters have been armed; sanctions have been put into effect against Russian power-brokers; Russian support for Assad has become a proven red line; ISIS holds virtually no more territory and is in full-retreat; and the nuclear Iran Deal has been scrapped. Do I agree with Trump on everything? No. But to be dismayed to the point of despair? That is just over the top and wide of the mark. Yes, China is extremely wealthy, with confident financiers heavily investing in that economy; but China lacks the fundamental system that makes the United States the economic innovator and envy of the world. While the Chinese economy steals intellectual property and reverse engineers products, the United States has entrepreneurs who become wealthy due to their contributions to this Nation through their personal, innovative achievements. We lead the way in innovation, China leads the way in second-rate knock-offs. While the United States has the guaranteed Rule of Law, China has no such legal consistency and while the United States has some of the best labor laws and standards in the world, a lot of China’s wealth stems from the low-manufacturing sector which is propped up on the backs of millions of disposable peasant laborers who have little rights at all.
One would think my outlook should be the one in dismay, as the future belongs to my generation, and there are constant assaults on American Liberty and Independence both at home and abroad.
As a twenty-nine year old American looking at his nation’s history, its present situation and the possibilities of the future – the prognosis should be pessimistic and grim. Many of my peers foolishly believe socialism, race-baiting and class warfare are sure ways to prosperity and happiness. They do not just scrutinize the National Symbols – they fully attack them and wish to destroy them – and they are looking to replace them with a system so foreign, so contradictory to the American ethos – that thank God for the first Ten Amendments which help us to defend, fight against and secure our ancient Liberties from those who would seek to abolish them, whether wittingly or through ignorance.
With all this, I find strength in our history and the bloodshed and sacrifice it cost to achieve it. I find hope in the noblest aspirations of the Nation. And I find comfort in the American People, in that no matter how much either extremity preys upon their uncertainty, their fears and their passions – that we still “hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Therefore, so long as Old Glory yet waves, I’ll never despair. Happy Independence Day.
Respectfully Submitted,
Andrew R. Melillo
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