Throughout many parts of America, in California and even in our City Council and school boards, the liberal agenda is on the rise. And no disrespect to my liberal friends, but at some point, we must deal with reality. Crime is up. Homelessness is at an all-time high. In California we spend some of the highest dollars per student in the country and have some of the lowest test scores in the country. Gas and state taxes are some of the highest in the nation.
The socialist reaction against common sense implies the American people cannot be trusted to make their own decisions. Sanctuary cities and states welcome the loss of freedoms and rights and centralized control without parental or citizen involvement and having freedoms being temporarily or permanently suspended. Disingenuous policies that purport to help “level the playing field” do just the opposite. Rights and norms long thought of as American are whittled away decade after decade until it might be too late to overcome the damage done.
It is now America’s turn to push back against socialism. The American people are taking back our schools, our streets, our cities, our states and our borders. The easy manipulation of data is done with a complicit media that will not ask the tough questions, such as, “Is what we’re doing for the last many decades working?” Clearly, it’s not.
Things were getting substantially worse with the slide toward socialism. We have a president and Congress, with the support of the people, that wants America to take back our rights and freedom. On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued sweeping declarations and executive orders to restore America’s greatness at home and abroad and restore the freedoms and rights we so richly earned and deserved.
We are now prosecuting criminals, eliminating no-cash bail and sentencing criminals for the crimes they commit. No more breaking the law and committing crimes and not being held accountable. Law and order is returning – there’s a strong deterrent in that. Just look at Washington, D.C., in the past weeks.
Socialism rarely arrives overnight. It grows in small steps, small enough to be excused, to feel good about or to feel justified that you’re doing the “right thing.” This is how socialism grows. Not through a single event but chipping away at the freedoms and rights of the people. No country in history has survived socialism without restricting freedoms and rights. There are some cities where avowed socialists are running for mayor. The American people need to wake up.
Government officials, bureaucracies and many school boards started with selective elimination of citizens and parents’ rights, and the forced integration of policies without communication or voter approval. They just did it, whether it’s books in school, telling you what you can build and where you can build and what you can drive and how many gallons your toilet can use, they’ve chipped away at our rights.
We now face a redistricting plan being promoted by our governor and state legislators that will continue to erode the voice of the people. The initiative on Nov. 4 must be rejected.
When socialists call groups of Americans that simply advocate for our freedom and rights, “dangerous extremists,” and say the same about parents at a school board meeting, our democracy will continue to erode. The danger isn’t only from bureaucrats and government officials who oppose the president and the people. The danger is to the innocent Americans being swept up by forgoing our rights and freedoms. Once the public accepts the collectivism of socialism in our schools, on our streets, and in our homes, this tool will be there for any socialist government, official or bureaucrat to use at any time.
This is about a slide toward socialist government. As far as socialists are concerned, it’s about government officials, bureaucrats and left-wing media maintaining and wielding power, influence and political control. They will decide who wields that power and when. That power will be applied selectively to eliminate the rights and freedoms of the people.
Without President Trump and his administration, it might’ve been too late. But I, like most Americans, remember our freedoms, remember our rights, and remember that government is here to serve the people, not dictate to us their liberal socialist agenda.
Mark White
Santa Clarita
