Looking For Truth

My niece had dinner at a restaurant in Tulsa. She’s a journalist who strikes up conversations wherever she is. The owner’s daughter complained about the recession and said she was making a lot more money when Trump was in office.

What recession?

Was she comparing pre-Covid years to the shutdown years?

It has become quite clear that people believe what they choose to believe. How else can Donald Trump be trusted by so many people? We know his former vice president and several members of his cabinet don’t trust him.

One woman interviewed at the convention praised Trump, the businessman. “America should be run like a business,” she said.

First, how can a man who burned through his inheritance, who filed for bankruptcy as a business practice, skimming off the profits and hanging partners and contract labor out to dry, be considered a good businessman?

Second, why do we want America run as a business where much of the profits benefit the owners and managers at the expense of the people who do the actual work, or in this case, pay the taxes?

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the GOP convention’s messages were based on lies and misinformation.

Violent crime is not at an all-time high. According to FBI data, the violent crime rate in 2022 was 370 per 100,000 people, and the rate has continued to drop. When the 2023 rates are released, it could be the lowest violent crime rate in 50 years.

The economy is in shambles, they said. Perhaps they should talk to the rest of the world about that.

While the stock market isn’t the economy for people living paycheck to paycheck, it should mean something that the Dow, the S&P, and the Nasdaq have all reached record highs this year. The unemployment rate that spiked in March and April of 2020 because of the pandemic is now near a record low. Wages are rising, and the rate of inflation has fallen to 3%.

Despite what speakers at the convention had to say, two things are true about the 2020 presidential election: Biden won and Trump and Co. tried to overturn the results.

Noncitizens cannot and do not vote. Voting irregularities are rare and small in number. Voting machines are more reliable than paper ballots counted by humans. But there are ways to make the system even more fair. We can do something about Citizens United and the unlimited spending by wealthy donors that it allows. And we can get rid of the Electoral College so that the actual votes are what count.

Politics are hard to stomach these days, but even in the chaos we have a clear choice. Democrats get things done for the people.  Now, the party better get it together, coalesce behind our candidate, and point out the lies and actual failures of the GOP candidate.

I’m clinging to hope. Surely a convicted felon, sexual predator, and self-serving liar will not be able to do the bidding of the Heritage Foundation for the next four years. I need to believe that Mom was right when she said, “The truth will stand when the world’s on fire.”