art credit: CertainlyHer
The
media narrative on American politics has become so tedious you don’t have to
listen anymore. Every story seems to follow a formula, and never more so on
than on the Martin Luther King holiday. Every headline proclaims how black
Americans are horrified at Trump’s insensitivity to the historical plight of
blacks in the civil rights movement. After all, he attacked Rep. John Lewis,
which apparently violates some canon of the civic religion.
I
had no interest in engaging this debate, but I did call a Lyft car this morning
and my driver, a black woman raised in poverty, was very interested in doing
so. The news was on and blaring how Trump was attacking the CIA, which made me
laugh, and I said, “I’m no Trump supporter but that’s funny.”
She
immediately shot back, “What do you not like about Trump?” I said a few things
about his trade policies, but she was having none of it.
“Here
it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and I’m supposed to be all upset that Trump
attacked John Lewis, but Trump is right. Lewis said he is not a legitimate
president, so yeah Trump got upset. What exactly is Lewis doing to improve the
lives of the poor in this town? Nothing. At least Trump has some ideas. He
seems to care.”
Ok,
now I’m listening.
“I’m
glad Lewis marched in the protests so long ago,” she continued, “but you have
to do more than march. That’s all these people do is march. Meanwhile, there
are sections of Atlanta I’m afraid to drive in. And I say that as a black
woman! It’s not even about race. Many blacks in this town live better than
white people anywhere in the world. But there’s whole communities that have
been forgotten. They are paid off with welfare checks but they don’t have
skills or jobs, and they fear for their lives on their own streets.”
She
was just getting going, so I wondered how far I could push this. What about
Obamacare?
Explosion.
“Don’t
get me started. My premiums are through the roof. I can’t afford it. Because I
drive all day and night making money, I’m not poor enough to get any subsidies.
So this year I’m going to have to pay $750 on my tax return because I can’t
afford to buy insurance. But I can’t afford the health care either! And have
you seen those deductibles? If anything should happen to you, you go bankrupt.
I’ll tell you who benefited from Obamacare. Not the poor. It’s the insurance
companies and the government.”
I
pointed out that Hillary Clinton said she would try to improve it.
“You
kidding? The whole campaign, she defended all this #@#$!. She is just like the
rest of these people, all talk, no action, just like Trump said. She has been
pushing a pen for 30 years. She is not affected by high premiums. Her health
care is covered. She has no idea what the rest of us are going through.”
But,
I said, Trump is rich and well-covered too.
“Yeah
but he starts businesses and has to pay workers. He knows how to create jobs.
People say he went bankrupt sometimes. That’s what you do if you are
hardworking and trying to try new things. Bankruptcy is just part of business.
You win and lose but at least he knows how to learn and respond. The rest of
these people don’t do anything but give speeches and defend the way things are.”
Read
the rest here.
Meanwhile,
over at PJ Media, Walter Hudson shared some thoughts about why we celebrate the
life of Martin Luther King, Jr:
Whoever King really was,
whatever he sincerely believed, the image of King worth celebrating was
presented in that 1963 speech. We aspire toward a world where children
"will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character." That vision of racial reconciliation, of judgment according to
merit, speaks to each and every human being. It's something we can and should
get behind. It evokes the American spirit, a point emphasized when King cited
the Declaration of Independence. Ninety-four percent of Americans came to favor
King because they associate him with that dream, not because they support
whatever radicalism he later embraced.
More
here.
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