Economics vs.
Ethics or, what’s not to like?
Shannon Bohrer
(10/2019) The country we live in
seems to be divided along party lines. We hear complaints
about the president from the opposition party and
sometimes from members of his own party. We also hear
praise from members of the presidents’ party, telling us
how good things are. His supporters say they like his
policies, but wish he did not tweet so much. Defending
complaints about him is almost becoming routine for some
of his supporters. From my perspective there is really no
defense for his constant dishonesty and words that seem to
divide us. But, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
We are a free nation with the freedom to criticize our own
government, which is a good thing.
President Trump supporters mention
that they like his policies and deregulations and some say
they really like the economy. His supporters like to give
him credit for the economy but they should also give
former President Obama some credit. Our economy grew for
eight years under the previous administration and has
continued to grow under Trump. So, with those facts maybe
both deserve credit.
A number of people defend the
president by saying "My 401K is doing very well," as if
nothing else matters. What I have noticed is that when
people mention how well their 401 is doing under Trump,
they never mention the trillion dollar deficits.
Apparently, their 401K performance justifies everything
else that he has been accused of doing. Not everyone may
agree with that, it’s just my opinion. I think at times we
can all be guilty of justifying our positions, finding
what we want to believe and rationalizing what we see to
support our positon(s).
In a recent
issue of the Emmitsburg News Journal, the author of the
"American Mind," whose column appear to the right of this
one, wrote his column supporting the President. The title
was "On your mark, get ready…" and toward the end
of the article he says, "What’s not to like about this
Presidency?" While I disagreed with much of what was said,
the article was well written. After reading the article my
first thought was that sometimes people are willing to
trade the things they may not agree with for an economic
value. I am not accusing this author of being
disingenuous; he may believe everything he said in the
article. What I am saying that there are some presidents’
supporters who have chosen economics over ethics.
The article touts the low
unemployment numbers, the re-worked NAFTA trade deal and
the tax cuts. He says that blue-collar workers are
optimistic, job satisfaction is up and there is optimism
in manufacturing. What he does not say, actually says a
lot. While the good news is related to economics, not all
of the economic numbers are good. The federal budget
deficit projection for fiscal year 2020 is $1.10 trillion.
In the 2019 budget the deficit was $1.09 trillion. Adding
over a trillion dollars a year, is not good fiscal news.
Under the Obama administration the first year deficit was
1.4 trillion, which occurred during the financial
meltdown. His budget deficit for 2016, his last year in
office was 548 billion; about half of what this president
has for just this year.
A major factor adding to President
Trump’s deficits, include his tax cuts. Sure, the economy
is good, if you borrowed a trillion dollars each year you
can live well. The problem is what happens with the bills
come due. There is a lot - not to like about the fiscal
management of this presidency.
Aside from the fiscal issues,
there are other reasons to be disappointed with this
Presidency. The following list is not all inclusive, that
would take a much longer article.
- "President Trump’s refusal to
even use the phrase alt-right has many white supremacist
gleefully praising him as their ally in the White House"
I don’t believe that all of his supporters are white
supremacist, but his refusal to call them out, is not
the ethics I can support.
- Under this administration, our
civil rights have been under attack. Our Justice
Department has been seeking out of court settlements,
instead of going to court, over consent degrees. The
justice department has been trying to cut the civil
rights division, including the Environmental Protection
Agency’s environmental justice program.
- Rolling back civil rights for
the LGBT community. This included a ban of transgender
persons in the military. Civil rights are only
important, when everyone is entitled. You may not think
that is important, until someone comes for your civil
rights.
- Not standing for the rule of
law. At one speech the President encouraged the police
to assault those being arrested. He has criticized
federal law enforcement and the courts when they have
ruled against him. The rule of law is the centerpiece
for a civilized society.
- The President’s failure to
acknowledge the Russian interference in our election. He
not only refuses to acknowledge it was done, he said in
a press conference that believes Putin, and disbelieves
our intelligent agencies. He said that Putin offered
Russian services to help investigate our voter fraud and
the hacking of the Democratic Party computers. Think
about that.
- Over 1,000 former federal
prosecutors signed a letter, stating that the Muller
report outlines 10 instances of obstruction of justice
and that if the president was a citizen, he would be
charged with crimes.
- The President complains about
the lack of patriotism of his distractors, but he
disrespects a Gold Star family. Then he disrespects and
complaints about Senator McCain, a man who served his
country for 60 years, 5½ of which as a prisoner of war.
That is not patriotism.
- The President and his family
are prohibited from sitting on none-profit charitable
organizations in the state of New York. The president
collected monies for charities and then used them for
himself and his family as personal slush funds.
Literally - that is stealing from the poor.
- The President clearly admires
dictators, thugs and tyrants, and then is openly
displeased with our democratic allies. He has no
knowledge of history and we are likely to stumble into
war, because of his actions.
- In May of this year it was
reported that the President made false and misleading
claims 12,019 times in just 928 days. You can say that
everyone has lied or mislead someone, but 13 times a day
for 2 ½ years. How can anyone tell when he is not lying?
The president of the United States
chooses economics over ethics, and that dictates his
actions. From my perspective, "What’s not to like about
this Presidency?" is substantial because of his lack of
ethics.
Read other articles by Shannon Bohrer