As a divided nation, we have allowed ourselves to become petty and small. To trade in snark and smears. To rely on the color of a person's hat to assess the substance of their soul. Oh, Democrats love to talk a big game about unity, peace and prosperity. But precious few today muster the requisite courage to actually see their opponents as nuanced human beings. Instead they surrender to the peer pressure that traps them in the cheap sugar-high of "us versus them." And in their addiction to division, judgement, sarcasm and shame, they have broken our nation, our economy, our border, our cities, our Constitution, our world.
The result is lofty speeches and a decaying country. A candidate who promises to fix the very mess that she created, who ignores the chronic disease faced by well over half of all Americans. More of our brothers and sisters slipped into poverty in 2022 than any year in the last half century. Biden and Harris have overseen increases in homelessness, overdose deaths, suicides and incarceration rates -- all reversing steady declines during President Trump's last term.
On Harris' watch, the average mortgage payment has doubled in four years. Paychecks buy 21% less than they did when she took office. Today, we have more children living in poverty than any developed country except Romania. Our life expectancy sits right above Algeria. In the face of these failures, Harris speaks of hawkish investments in militarily lethality, flaunts endorsements from our abusive security services, and mocks the idea of diplomacy with adversarial foreign leaders. She talks about lowering inflation in the same breath as she promises to print more inflationary money to send more weapons to explode in foreign skies. No wonder more people died around the world from war and violence in the first two years of her term than in all the four years prior. It is Orwellian madness. "War is Peace and Peace is War."
Enough!
On Friday, I watched 20,000 beautiful Americans from the "other team" rise to their feet and cheer with open hearts for the health of our children, for honest government, and for peace in the world. In that moment, there were no teams at all. No us, no them. Just parents and neighbors and friends, united in their desire for their country's health and freedom. I stand in awe of the courage and leadership of the great Americans who have given us this gift -- President Donald J Trump; Robert F Kennedy, Jr.; and Tulsi Gabbard -- as they walk the walk of putting country over party, while so many others will only talk the pretty talk. May this alliance bring us all together, across party lines. May it sound the death knell for those corrupt forces that gnaw away our freedoms and divide us while embezzling our wealth. Together, we will make America great again. We will make America healthy again. And we will prove that small-mindedness and tribalism will always be outshined by goodness, fellowship and mutual respect.
Guest Essay - Amaryllis Fox Kennedy