AMERICA IN NEED OF REGENERATION!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

PRESIDENT IS NOT 

CONSOLER IN CHIEF!

by Steve Fair

     Is it the job of the president to sooth the nation during difficult times?  Is he the consoler in chief?  Most liberals and some conservatives believe that is the case.  After the protest in Charlottesville, VA by a white supremacy group protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee erupted into a riot between the protesters and the anti-protesters, President Trump addressed the nation and said that ‘many sides’ were to blame for the violence that left one woman killed and 19 injured.  Because Trump didn’t specifically single out the white supremacy groups and condemn them, the mainstream media and politically correct went crazy. 

     Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said the white supremacy groups were not patriots and got out of bed every morning to ‘hate people and divide our country.” "Let's be honest, they need to leave America, because they are not Americans," he said.  There is just one problem with that- in America, everyone has the guaranteed right of free speech.  It’s in the first amendment to the constitution.  Should we deport everyone who disagrees with us? 

     We have reached a point in America where no one tolerates anyone who disagrees with them.  Republicans and Democrats fight among themselves and no one is willing to compromise on anything.  The infighting in the Republican caucus is why nothing is moving through Congress. Civil debate is dead.  Ideological purity is not just desired, it is demanded. Anger and bitterness reign the day, fueled by intolerance.  Both sides blame the other.  The tolerant will not tolerant anyone who disagrees with them.  A college professor commenting on one of my recent columns says he believes America is on the brink of civil war.  I doubt that because the will to fight long term is probably not in either group’s DNA, but who knows. 

     So should President Trump have named the so-called right wing groups who organized the protests and condemned them as ‘hate groups?’  Probably, but you may recall President Obama made a similar mistake when he refused to call out ‘radical Islam’ as the perpetrator after the Paris attacks.  The firestorm over Trump not naming names is a hundred times worse than when Obama failed to do it.  A president has the ‘bully’ pulpit and can use it to console, but according to the constitution, his primary job is twofold: to be the CEO of the federal government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

     So how do we fix this divide in America?  First, we recognize that we are dust of the earth and humbly acknowledge that only the Creator is omniscient.   Second, we recognize that in America every citizen has the right to express their opinion, even those who disagree with us.  Third, we stop the name calling, the lying, and the retaliation and strive for honest civil debate.  Fourth, we pray because until God moves on the heart of the unregenerate, none of the first three will happen