New normals have been part of the fabric of life in the 21st century. The Treasury Department of the government prints money as fast as it can. Spending in the 20th century went from hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions. Now it is trillions. There is a great perceptual divide. Once minor divisions between political parties have widened into a vast chasm. Imagine the scenes from a marriage with the strife between a couple who belong to each party. Two words permeate the American political scene now- trillions and polarization. President Biden will have to be part magician to unite the country.
A month before Trump occupied The White House Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a TV interview that,”I’ll make a deal with you Donald. You be an entertainer, and I will be President. It will work out better.” Schwarzenegger knew what he was talking about since he was a star in science fiction movies.
A con man in a dictionary is someone who defrauds swindles or acts in a con game to persuade what is false its true. The first con man was Speaker of The House Newt Gingrich. He said many times that people could blame big spending liberal Democrats for all that was wrong. This was at a time when under President Clinton the government debt went down each. Congress had to follow a pay as you go rule. There must be a cut in spending to compensate for each increase. The rule vanished after Bush was narrowly elected. Voters like Bush a bit more than Al Gore. Gore was an expert on everything. Bush seemed like a nice guy you might have a cup of coffee with. Bush was a bigger con than Gingrich. He said in March 2003 that the war in Iraq would be over soon and cost between fifty and sixty billion dollars. A Pentagon statement in March, 2020 said that all wars in the Middle East cost each US taxpayer $7,623. 21 million residents of the Middle East have been displaced from their homes. 801,000 have died. 335,000 were civilians. There was an article in The New York Times in November, 2020 written by Amanda Macias. The article said that since 2001 $6.4 trillion dollars have been spent by our government in the Middle East.
Now there are huge, complex challenges confronting Joe Biden. He is honest and actually wants to do whatever is possible to solve major problems confronting the US, and with climate change a challenge fo all of planet Earth. Trump’s impeachment is little more than an asterisk now. Nothing in the First Amendment says that Trump’s words in a trial can’t be used against him. However just like the first time Trump won’t be convicted with few Republicans endorsing it. The creative news network Fox plus most of the fanatical base of Trump still believe in him. Biden wants 1.9 trillion from Congress. Republicans think it is too much now with the Federal budget deficit so high. They didn’t care last year when they all voted to pass a bill for 2 trillion for stimulus checks for $1,200 per US citizen and other add ons. Now Republicans think 1.9 trillion is far too much for Democrats. Biden and Democrats will force the bill through somehow. Just wait till a few months down the line. Sen. Bernie Sanders says Joe will want to deal with climate change, infrastructure, and other other issues. There were a record number of hurricanes in 2020. On Sunday, January 6, waters from a melting glacier in the Himalaya Mountains burst a dam in a narrow gorge. A small village was downriver. It will take time to know the total number of casualties. Climate change is very real and becomes more of a threat to civilization as time goes by. We shall see if enough can be spent soon enough to ameliorate that problem plus others.
The only thing on many voters minds- give me my $1,400 stimulus check.
Deuel Woodward resides in Chula Vista.
