Political Place: December 7, 2023

In some circles, MAGA (Make America Great Again), is considered profanity. Some politicians use MAGA as a negative descriptor tied to the opposing political party. While some members of the opposing party believe that America can be great again.

Some citizens believe that America was never great while some citizens believe it’s still the greatest place on earth.

One viewpoint is that America was and is the world’s greatest military power. Members of the European Union believe that their freedom depends on America being the policeman of the free world. They have refrained from funding their own military establishment with the hopes that America will come to their rescue and save their behinds if it’s ever necessary.

NATO countries were warned, during the prior administration, that they needed to live up to their charter and spend two-percent of the GDP on the military. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call and some NATO members have increased their defense investments.

Other countries view America’s military with disdain and say that they won’t be bullied by America. They like to thumb their collective noses while they rattle their nuclear sabers and hope that no one calls their bluff.

The lack of a real victory in America’s longest non-declared war, punctuated by the disastrous exit, and coupled with the non-military societal politics being implemented by the current Department of Defense management suggests that perhaps the U.S. military’s reputation has become tarnished.

There is also the reality that while the American military was deployed, many unfriendly countries built their militaries unabated. America spent human and economic resources while others simply invested and expanded their capabilities.

Another American viewpoint is that America’s greatest strength is its economy.

It’s true that American companies dominate some sectors. Two barometers of economic strength are trade balances and debt. Neither of those indicators have healthy positions for America.

Agriculture has long been a strong point of America. At one time Agriculture was significant in the trade balance skirmish. Today the combination of lower American production and other nations adopting America’s technology to increase production has shifted the scales.

Some blame lower farm output on the reduced number of family farms and the increased number of corporate agriculture entities. Others blame the loss of farm land to Amazon warehouses and residential sprawl.

Perhaps the greatness of America needs to be reevaluated. The U.S. military, the economy and agriculture were, like Camelot, once upon a time, the greatest. Maybe now not so much.

The current resident of the White House uses MAGA as part of an attack of the opposing political party. As if to say that all MAGA supporters are Republicans. It is hard to imagine that not a single Democrat doesn’t want to make America great again. And, how about the independents? Some independents must want America Great Again.

It is speculation that any number of Americans wish to see the country great again. Current political polls suggests that more than half of Americans have negative opinions of the current State of the Union. Those feelings stem from the price of things. The cost of a gallon of gas, a dozen eggs, bread, and milk. The cost of money has put many out of the real estate marketplace and dimmed the hopes of owning their own homes.

The unindicted co-conspirators to the smearing of America are “the media” and academicians. On the surface, in “the media” the current administration can do no wrong while the former administration is the spawn of Darth Vader. Conservative speakers are banned from college campuses.

Why, then, is the current administration against MAGA? Is it that Bidenomics is the Democrat’s attempt to achieve greatness? Polls suggest that so far, it’s a failure.

Is it that MAGA is a key slogan of the prior administration and that the continued use of it as a derogatory by the current administration is a means to rally those that fear the return of the 45th President?

Can America ever be great again with the lack of bipartisanship in the government? Congressmen that are “me-me” and not “us-us” are failing their constituents. The inability or unwillingness to negotiate critical spending bills shows that the representatives do not have the skills once learned in kindergarten and should not be re-elected.

MAGA should not be just a political or anti-political slogan. Whether one believes that America was never great, is great or could be great again is unimportant. Americans make America great, whether it’s as before or again.

David Goode
Sun City resident

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The sympathetic pillar of this new SAFE-T Act signed by Governor Pritzker is a fallacy produced by the leftwing political organizations. Innocent people do not languish in our jails.

A defendant’s pretrial detention is already determined by a lengthy review process:

1. A Judge evaluates the evidence against defendant and determines whether there is sufficient evidence that the defendant committed a crime and should be held over for trial, if not, the defendant is immediately released. 2. A judge determines from the defendant’s criminal history their probability of failing to attend court on their trial date. If the history is good, the defendant is released.

3. A judge determines if the defendant is a threat to the victim or society in general. If no threat is found, the defendant is released. These rules of bonding will no longer be used in setting a cash bond for criminal activity under the SAFE-T Act. There will be no cash bond. The vast majority of defendants will be set free regardless of these important mitigating factors. I do agree that some people do fall through the cracks in our criminal justice system, but that likelihood is extremely rare and can easily be corrected. After January 1, individuals arrested for a myriad of violent

crimes will be immediately returned to the streets to continue to ply their criminal trades. If arrested again, that individual will be returned to the streets again and again. If a defendant fails to attend a court date, he will be arrested and immediately returned to the streets without bond. A defendant’s past history of fleeing the police or failing to attend a court date cannot be held against him in setting a bond. Very few criminal violations will allow judges to detain an arrestee. An arrestee’s rights supersede those rights and protections of a victim. Many crimes won’t even allow for arrests; written citations will be issued and the police will sim-

ply leave with no other recourse. This new bonding system signed into law will do much more harm than the good it’s pretended to accomplish. Chicago and Cook County are great examples of how the future will look. Cook County already practices much of the SAFE-T Act and crime is rampant. Areas in Chicago are more violent than cities in Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Chicago as of this writing for 2022:

Total shot 2,952

Total killed 525

Children, 0-12 yrs. old, 24 shot and 8 killed

Teens, age 13-17, 194 shot with 34 killed

First 10 months of 2022, 1,294 car jackings A person in Chicago is murdered every 12 hours.

Police related shootings, 16 shot with 2 dead.

Reference, heyjackass.com/

If this sounds good to you, keep voting those same politicians in office. But don’t complain when you and your family are visited by crime.

Larry Casey
Sun City resident

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