TheWiseOldFart

  There are two days in my life I will always remember. I was a senior in high school on November 22, 1963 when a truly great president, John F. Kennedy, was murdered in Dallas Texas. I was out for a morning run on September 11, 2001. As I was coming up the street on which I live, my wife was in the front yard waving at me. I thought it was because my mother, who was under hospice care, had passed. She led me inside to watch the television. What I was seeing seemed unreal. My emotions were immediately out of control. Sadly, the cowardly and tragic events of 9/11 produced changes in our country which continue to cause harm to the principles of our nation. The intentions of the First, Fourth, and 14 th Amendments to the Constitution were greatly damaged with the passing of the Patriot Act, and the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE. 9/11, and the passing of these two unconstitutional actions happened under the watch of George W. Bush. The Patrio...

A voluntary enlistment program depends on making a partial or lifetime career in a branch of our military attractive. It doesn’t help when the “Commander-in-Chief” of our military forces abuses and disrespects the men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives for their fellow countrymen if necessary. In 2001, George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan. The purpose was to capture or kill the architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden. He failed but decided to leave our military in a foreign country. They remained for 20 years. In 2003, Bush illegally invaded Iraq. He lied to the U.N., Congress, and the American people, claiming Saddam Hussein was harboring “weapons of mass destruction” for bin Laden’s terrorist group, Al Qaeda. This forced many of our military to serve as many as 3, 4, and even 5 tours in the Middle East. It was no surprise that this resulted in physical injuries as well as PTSD for thousands of young men and women who were used as tools by a politician. In 201...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   For as long as I have been a political writer, I have claimed that Ronald Reagan is responsible for two things: our nation’s financial woes and the demise of the Grand Old Party. He not only admitted that his administration supported the super-rich, he bragged about it. He told his party and his wealthy supporters that “greed is good.”   Reagan was also responsible for the demise of the Grand Old Party, completed by Trump in 2017. He demanded complete loyalty and support from every Republican while abandoning the principles and standards of the former Party of Lincoln. He moved his party even farther to the right and extremism with his war on the working class, minorities, women, and non-Christians. Reagan is on my list of the five worst presidents in history. His fiscal policy of “supply side economics,” better known as “ trickle-down economics,” not only reduced the quality of life for most Americans, tax breaks for the super-rich and corporations...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   It began in 1981. It was a slow but study process. First, Republican politicians had their free thought removed. They were required to obey Ronald Reagan without question. By the time George W. Bush was given the Electoral College by the Supreme Court in 2000, complete loyalty and the surrender of dignity, principles, and morality began the absolute demise of the Party of Lincoln. Between 2017 and 2021, the Republican Party imploded and right-wing politicians became Republicans in Name Only. We should all demand that right-wing politicians change their party’s name to something more realistic. “The Donald Trump Party” is too pretentious. However, “The American Fascist Party” would be accurate and apropos. Every politician sitting on the right side of the aisle has surrendered themselves and their future to the worst man in the world, Donald John Trump. Every RINO in Washington has violated their oath of office in which these words are containe...