Fatherhood

            I was happy to see that mine was not the only letter to the editor last week [Perquimans Weekly 3/28/18] praising James Rennie for speaking out to his classmates on their individual responsibility for each other.  I would like him to go even further.

            One of the great shortcomings of our society is the failure to adequately impress upon our young people the responsibilities of fatherhood.  “Graduate from school, find a good job, get married, have children—in that order” is more than a good idea; it is arguably the key to success, not just for future parents, but most importantly for their children. Nothing contributes more to perpetuating the cycle of poverty and increasing the probability of juvenile delinquency than births out of wedlock, single parenthood, and the absence of a male role model in the home.

            There is no question that an increasingly secular society that rejects moral standards is very much at fault. It idolizes money and power; it mocks religion and the values of a cultured society; it celebrates an entertainment industry that preys on youthful fascination for violence and titillates pubescent curiosity about sex with pornography; it champions the aberrant above the traditional and denies the rights of the unborn. In short, it destroys the innocence of our children.

            It is an almost impossible task for untrained minds to discern the truth in a media and academic environment that too often bends the truth to promote a progressive society that our founders would not recognize. Yet, there are young voices, like James Rennie’s, that are heard in the wilderness. They need to be encouraged to speak out about responsibility and accountability—about young men and their need to acknowledge and embrace their future roles as responsible fathers.

Keep talking, James

            Bravo to High School Class President James Rennie for showing true leadership in addressing his fellow students on the subject of school killings [ref. Perquimans Weekly 3/21/18]. He makes a point that few others have raised. While guns have been used in school massacres, guns by themselves are not the problem. The solution lies elsewhere. And part of the solution is with students who must bear some of the responsibility. They themselves need to change in the way they interact with potential killers who are isolated or show signs of hostility. That’s a wise insight from a young man who wants to do something about the problem.

            Blaming the Second Amendment or the NRA misses the real target. Responsible gun owners are not the ones who do the killing; it’s the bad guys and the psychopaths who can always find a way to get their hands on a gun. And if they choose not to use a gun, they can build bombs, as we’ve seen just recently in Texas. Or use cars, or poison, or fire.

            We can debate arming teachers, restricting gun ownership, improving background checks, or re-examining mental illness policy. But these approaches only deal with the periphery of the problem whose true causes lie in the decline of moral values as seen in the breakup of families and the absence of fathers in the home, the increase in out-of-wedlock births, the crushing dependence on welfare, religious faith replaced by greed and self-indulgence, the insatiable demand for drugs, and the corrupting influence of our entertainment industry.

            All these causes need to be addressed. But James Rennie is right. The solution starts with each one of us and the part we all play in society, beginning with how we take heed of those around us, whether in the classroom, the office, or the home. Keep talking, James. You’re off to a good start.

           

March Madness

            It’s March Madness. We associate the term at this time of year with the NCAA basketball tournament, but we could just as easily use it to describe the tone of mainstream media’s reporting on White House personnel matters. Turbulence, shake-up, wholesale overhaul, chaos. Words like these appear to be mandatory in every media report. Trump-hating commentators and talking heads are practically giddy over the President’s seeming inability to retain the people he appointed to key positions. Gone are Tillerson, Hicks, Porter, McEntee, and Cohn, and these are just the ones out the door in recent weeks. According to the Washington Post, Shulkin, Sessions, Carson, McMaster, DeVos, Pruitt, and Zinke are already forming a line by the exit. Even Chief of Staff John Kelly is rumored to be on the list of targets likely to hear Trump’s “You’re fired!”

            Of course, there will be replacements; there is never a dearth of candidates willing to submit to a Donald Trump loyalty test for a chance to work 18-hour days in his administration. Look for familiar names like John Bolton, Pete Hegseth, and Keith Kellogg to get an engraved invitation to sit in the boiling cauldron. If filling their posts requires Senate confirmation, the invitees may want to reconsider after witnessing Mike Pompeo’s and Gina Haspel’s upcoming torture on the rack of the Democrat Inquisition before assuming their jobs as Secretary of State and head of the CIA.

            President Trump is defiant, of course. “I think you want to see change,” he says. “I want also to see different ideas.” That is not likely to reassure a staff described by the Post as gripped by fear and uncertainty. “Everybody fears the perp walk,” says a senior White House official.

            It’s not only the White House that is afflicted by March Madness. Many FBI and DOJ operatives like Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, and Bruce Ohr deserve to be fired, even prosecuted. And when coupled with the rash of resignations under the Capitol Dome for illegal and immoral behavior, we have a picture of Washington that resembles a Jackson Pollock painting.

            Will the last one out the door please turn off the lights.

To Honor or Not to Honor

            Perquimans County will celebrate its 350^th anniversary on April 27-28 with Riverbash, a festival that promises to be the biggest and best party we’ve ever had in Hertford. Anyone familiar with the history of Perquimans County knows there is much to celebrate.

            Many of the older residents of the area can remember a period when Hertford was a lot livelier than it is now. I’m referring to the war years when sailors from Harvey Point would come to town to enjoy free time away from the base. I can imagine many of them at a Saturday night dance or holding hands with a local girl at the movie house behind Erie Haste’s hardware store.

            Harvey Point wasn’t the only military installation in the area. A much larger one was the Elizabeth City Coast Guard base where American pilots joined others from Great Britain and the Soviet Union to train for Project Zebra, a secret mission to bomb German submarines. A year ago, the Elizabeth City town council voted unanimously to honor these airmen with a statue of an American, a Brit, and a Russian standing together as a symbol of the cooperation between war allies. The bronze memorial costing a million dollars would be paid for by Russia. Not a bad idea, it seemed at the time. But now, in a 5-3 decision, the council has nixed the project.

            One councilman doesn’t want it because none of the figures are black or female. A second doesn’t want a statue that would block the view of the water. A third said it would remind him of Stalin and might be a Trojan horse with equipment to hack computers. Forgotten is the primary reason for the statue: honoring our veterans and our allies in a war against evil. Myopia, it would seem, is a common affliction among local officials from Charlottesville to Elizabeth City.

            As for me, I’m looking forward to Riverbash and the celebration of Perquimans County’s long history. As we party with food, song, and dance, I hope we will not forget to salute the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country both in war and peace. That’s a part of our history we should always remember. And honor.

Trump Worries Me

            President Trump’s decisions are becoming increasingly worrisome. His supporters have been willing to put up with his impulsive and often nasty tweets, not to mention revelations about his past sexual escapades. That’s because he was making sound decisions in appointing conservative justices, reversing Obama’s suffocating regulatory excesses, and leading the way on energy, defense, and tax reform. Unfortunately, his over-sized ego and delusional belief in his deal-making ability, coupled with his dreadful personnel management and shallow understanding of economics, are threatening to alienate even his most die-hard supporters.

            Last week the President lost his Communications Director Hope Hicks, policy advisor Reed Cordish, and press aide Josh Raffel. That’s after staff secretary Rob Porter was forced to resign the week before. And let’s not forget the departures of Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Dina Powell, Michael Flynn, and Tom Price, all key players in Trump’s administration. Most notably, one figure who has not left is Attorney General Jeff Sessions, despite being repeatedly berated and publicly insulted by the President. This doesn’t speak well for Trump’s ability to retain good people and manage the few loyal supporters he has left.

            Last week the President also held meetings to discuss school security after the horrendous massacre in Parkland, Florida. He called the meetings ostensibly to listen, but they ended up a platform for Trump’s questionable ideas on gun control that alienated Republican congressmen and the NRA. Worse, his proposal to seize guns was absolutely contrary to the Second Amendment and repugnant to every law-abiding gun owner in the country.

            Finally, the President said he would impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum, proving once again that he hasn’t a clue when it comes to the benefits of free trade. If he goes through with this harebrained idea, it will invite retaliation from other countries, cause the value of the dollar to plunge, increase the price of imports, and boost inflation. Trump doesn’t even seem to be aware that these higher tariffs will likely result in job loss in every American industry that relies on imported metals. The reaction from Congress and business leaders to Trump’s announcement was instantaneous and uniformly negative. The stock market plunged, settling at a loss of 420 points by the end of trading, down more than a 10% since its all-time high on January 26, barely a month ago.

            So much for Donald Trump’s recent rise in popularity polls.