Doug Smith: Author, historian, patriot and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

Doug penned this column on January 20, 2017, before, during and after the Trump inauguration:

This is the last article I will begin to write during the Obama administration.

Later today, Donald Trump will be sworn in as 45^th POTUS, and the liberal progressive statist utopian leftists will be doing a lot of swearing as well.

But I digress.

Barack Obama leaves office today, causing many on the right to breathe a great sigh of relief, after being somewhat fearful 8 years ago that we might not survive him. Many on the Left are in tearful hysterics, certain we will not survive a pragmatic semi conservative succeeding a dedicated Leftist Radical. Everyone, just take a big deep breath. We survived 2 World Wars, are fighting a 3^rd one, survived several Depressions, the Soviets, numerous economic downturns, and attacks on our way of life and our core institutions from within and without. The Snowdults (my own term, do you like it? These are folks over the age of 18 who apparently have none of the requisite skills or knowledge to function in the world as what were previously called adults, do, despite many their age pounding the ground with a rifle, driving a Submarine, or holding down 2 jobs to support a family.) retreat to color and play with puppies and weep inconsolably that things are not fair, like a 3 year old, but yet here we still are.

We have survived Barack Obama. We are about to start cleaning up his mess. We did not get the POTUS to do so that many wanted, but we did reject one who was more of the same, with less charm and more greed. I was not a Trump guy, but found him clearly and vastly preferable to HRC. I remain a conservative and patriot, believing in this country as truly exceptional and unique in history, and believing the values we have mostly espoused are those most likely to move us in a better direction.

As Ooopsicus, that 4^th century Roman mostly remembered for his quotes, “Jupiter’s nose hairs, look at all the Visigoths! And, Honey, get the kids, we’re moving to Britannia. “once said “Goth Darn it, nobody is too big to fail. “

And so, I have a few observations on this day of transition, which will perhaps be a cusp in the history of our nation.

1. There have been several cusp events in the last century that shaped us. Kennedy and Vietnam, Carter and Iran, Reagan and Russia, Bush and 9/11 key among them. These were significant emotional events, and shaped how we perceive and act. This could be one of those. We shall see.
2. When you’re in command, Command! When you win, act like you’ve won. Don’t apologize for governing differently than your opponents. People elected you based on what you said you believed, and they expect you to act reasonably like it. When someone like the GOP tries to win with one idea, then move away from it because their opponents talk badly about them for it, their friends and supporters will play a trump card. ( I couldn’t resist)
3. “The Crown must not only act generously, the Crown must be seen to be acting generously. “ In short don’t let your enemies or your adversaries control the narrative. The biggest mistake the Bush 43 administration made was the choice to “ Stay above the fray, “ and not respond to the lies and character assassinations of the opponents on the Left. Conservatives have paid the price for that for over a decade, as the Left got away over and over with characterizing him as an incompetent fool of a cowboy. Even today, after years of recounts have shown that Al Gore did, indeed, get thumped in 2000, despite trying to suppress military votes (No, Big Al, we have not forgotten that), despite using the courts, which are the ballot box of choice of the Left, and spending millions, and even the NYT conceding quietly that Gore lost, Bush won, Lefties will still parrot the narrative. So, despite the jokes and shaking heads about Trump Twitter, he should not let the Left control the narrative.

As I continue this article, Donald Trump is now the 45^th President of the United States. Regarding the Liberal Women’s marches this weekend, a few notes.

1. Conservative women or women’s groups were systematically disinvited from the march.  But it is all about women’s rights. And Donald Trump’s mouth. Sure.
2. Most who marched voted for Hillary or Jill. Typically, they don’t accept the results of the election, and so they march. Screaming in the streets is not how we distribute power. If they voted, their votes were counted, and that is that. (But what of the ones who marched in other countries? Answer? I don’t care. It is not your country. You don’t get to pick our leaders, or our policies.)
3. I note that there were no marches in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, or Nigeria. I note that none of the crowd from this weekend marched against Boko Haram, who quite literally captured schoolgirls and forced them into slavery. But at least they held up some signs on Twitter. Thank God for their help. Otherwise, all those victims would still be in slavery. Oh, wait…
4. So, since we are debating numbers who attended the Inauguration, are there more or less women protesting the boorish behavior of Donald Trump than there were protesting the boorish behavior of Bill Clinton? Oh wait, that’s right. Leftie women went on the talk shows to insist that they would take the place of the objects of his peccadillos. As long as he voted right. Or rather, left. Hypocrisy, anyone?
5. Also on the subject of how many attended the Inaugurations of Trump vs Obama, remember all the threats of violence, protests, and violence actually perpetrated around Obama’s weekend? Of course you don’t. But you know what, keeping Andrea Bocelli from singing at the event (Classy, Lefties, very classy. You made death threats and threatened to end the career of an enormously talented blind man. Oh well done. Bask in the pride of your accomplishments.) doesn’t change one thing. Maybe it is high time we got away from having the Hollywood A-listers involved. But with or without Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, or Meryl Streep, Donald Trump is still President of the United States. Maybe he will get back to a Teddy Roosevelt tradition, a day a year on the lawn with a lemonade just chatting with the folks who want to come and greet their President.
6. Since I have been politically aware, and able to vote, we have had Reagan, Bush, Bush, and Trump. It seems, according to the Left, that they all wanted to kill grandma, starve children, enslave minorities, start a nuclear war, and take the vote away from women. Evidently they all fell short, in that women, and minorities, and grandmas continue to flock to the US, not away from it to the socialist utopias of Russia, or Cuba, or even Venezuela. The US is still, 8 years of damage by Obama s radical leftism notwithstanding, the best place in the world to live regardless of your race, or sex, or class. Rosie O Donnell has not, and will not, keep her promise to leave the country if her favorite liberal is not elected because there is no better place to go. I remember all too well the hysterical lies and misrepresentations of the left when, under Clinton, the Dems proposed increasing the amount spent on school lunch programs, and the GOP countered with a smaller increase. HORROR! The GOP wants to cut school lunch programs. Please, I can’t learn if I’m hungry. Don’t make me go to school hungry. Disgusting, and typical Lefties.  Thus has it been, and thus is it still.

You know, after a while, it stops resonating with a lot of people. The Left, like Nancy Pelosi weep about how many are going to lose insurance when Obamacare is repealed, but never admit how many have lost, or given up as unaffordable the insurance they had because of Obamacare. They tout the low unemployment, but ignore that 90 plus million not working, the much higher percentage of jobs that are part time, temporary, and lower wage than they were before. They ignore that the average Joe has not seen a real increase in take home pay in a decade, but has lost ground. They point to the handful of cherry picked successes, and ignore the larger, broader failures.

But when it comes to “kitchen table issue”, the folks trying to pay for food, and insurance, and medicine, and rent, and energy, the folks know how it is for them.  The folks know how it is for their neighbors. The folks no longer have much interest in what liberal millionaires have to say about how great things are.  The folks are not impressed by rioters, and the same old stuff of the Left. They shake their heads and think, Wow, these guys really miss the 60s, don’t they?  Then, they look in their bank accounts, and their refrigerators, and they know.

And they say so. And Said so. They said so in 2010, 2012, 2014, and last November. They said, you guys are not getting it, and we are going to vote for a change from what you are doing.

Obama s administration was a failure. It damaged the country. It damaged the Democrat Party. And the very vocal ones, the ones who get on TV, continue to double down on the same bet, and shriek and weep for the Halcyon days of Obama.

So we as a nation, and the GOP as a party, and Trump as a President have a moment of real opportunity. It has taken 3 elections, but the legacy of Obama has been decimating the Democrat Party and giving Trump the Presidency. The hard Left is still hysterically trying to reclaim what has been resoundingly rejected in 3 successive elections. 4, if you count the fact that the Clintons in the person of Hillary have now been rejected twice.

If they continue as before, and I’m sure they will, and if the GOP and Trump take the message of these elections and govern according to the promises they have made, they have a chance to prove the validity of ideas of limited government, individual responsibility and liberty, American exceptionalism, strong defense, and identifying and hitting hard at our enemies, and being the greatest friend to our friend.  If they are true to their promises, the country can bounce back and be even stronger than ever. A President Trump can ask in a debate in 2020, Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago, and get the answer on Nov 8, absolutely!  The Democrat Party, having cast its lot as the party of fringe interest groups, and abandoning its traditional constituencies of working class Americans, and failing most of the groups it claims to support, is poised to be marginalized for a generation.

It is a time to choose wisely, and consider what is truly important to us as Americans. That is true for the GOP, the POTUS, and we, the people. In 2008, Barak Obama had the White House and both Houses of Congress. He made choices with that political capital, and we are where we are.

The people have spoken, and now here we are.

Choose well, Mr. President.

Tags: DOUG SMITH, free state patriot, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP