To the editor:
George Allen is frustrated with the Daily Journal and contributors such as John Krull and David Carlson (“Reader frustrated with columnists in newspaper,” May 25) and perhaps with reason, but they can defend themselves. It’s his apparent monopoly on common sense and insight into public opinion that I take objection to. Allen listed four main points:
- “Donald Trump is not a conservative.” Allen says he is. If so, he’s conservative as a matter of convenience and expediency. Conservative icons Bill Krystal, George Will, John McCain, et al, certainly didn’t and don’t think so, and his pre-2016 public pronouncements clearly underscore this. Trump is no Reagan who famously quipped that the Democratic Party had left him; rather, Trump chose to run as a Republican because it was the path of least resistance and easier to exploit and bend to his will.
- “He’s not draining the swamp.” Allen paints with a wide roller here while avoiding specifics. But two points: Point 1 — How do you rail against your opponent’s ties to Wall Street and then bring those very people into the “swamp?” Point 2 — We have term limits — they’re called elections.
- “Now he fired the FBI director.” Here Allen is amused. What he misses is the seriousness of dismissing the man in charge of the investigation into the person doing the firing. For all of Comey’s faults, few viewed him as partisan.
- “This is a time of testing. Who will answer the call?” What call has Trump answered? Has he spoken forcefully on the racist and antisemitic actions of his supporters? Has he championed the needs of the poor, the needy, the infirm among us? Has he made a single move to unite us as a country or society?The answer is clearly no, but Allen would have the majority of the electorate who voted against Trump to simply get over it. Allen is right about one thing –- the election is over, but there is another in less than 18 months and another in 2020.
It’s become a sport. It’s about who’s side wins instead of what’s good for the country … and in this country and in Johnson County we play the full nine innings and we’re only at the bottom of the first.
My real issue with Allen isn’t his anemic and amaurotic support of a man who is president in name only, but in his promotion of one of his sovereign’s most often implied principles, (assuming he has any at all) and that is that it is somehow more virtuous to “make payroll” than to earn a pay check.
I’ve had plenty of experience doing both and never saw the advantage of placing a moral difference on them. It’s really a chicken and egg kind of arrangement. But I don’t want to “run afoul” of Allen’s common sense.
Ron Ping
Bargersville
