Judging good and evil

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

I read a set of phrases the other day I wish I could claim as my own: “If Donald Trump is so evil, didn’t he have four years already to be evil? If the Democrats are so good, they have been in charge for 12 of the last 16 years, haven’t they had time to do all the good they say they can?”

My challenge to you is to state some evils Donald Trump has perpetrated on the citizens of the United States. I am not talking about personal morality here. If you want to talk about that, I can bring up Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (and her husband).

The second part of the challenge is this: tell me what the Democrats (Obama, Biden, Harris) have done to improve your lives since 2009, when Obama was sworn into office?

When my mother-in-law was living, she would judge doctors by how nice they were to her.  

Nice? That can be a benefit, but I want the BEST doctor I can find for whatever ails me.

Same with politicians, especially presidents. I want the best for the CITIZENS of the United States.  

We have lots of things wrong in this country, things that have turned toward the worse in my adult life.  

Public education is a good example, particularly in the large cities. It seems as though in these places, school systems are operated for the benefit of the teachers’ unions.

Federal regulations are choking us. For instance, I know a gentleman here in Georgia who runs a shop that only resurfaces heads for diesel engines. He and I were talking, and I said, “don’t the owners take care of the equipment?”  

His response was this is not the problem The problem is the regulations on modern diesel engines make them almost unworkable. The rebuild cycle has become much shorter in recent years as the regulations have become more stringent.

One can turn to almost any area of personal life or business and find the same. The federal bureaucracy hires more and more people to turn out more and more regulations. It is a hidden tax.

But back to good and evil. I think it is evil for the government to have the stance that we need more and more regulations. It is evil to put teachers and bureaucrats in charge of our children – and I am not talking about when there is a clear and present danger in the home – I am talking about an environment where children are taught in schools to hide discussions and decisions from their parents.

I could go on and on. The point is the America of today is nothing like the America of my youth, and I would hazard about 90 percent of the changes have been evil.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.

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