Street Smart

Napoleon said, “Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake.” Recent events and behavior of the left are mistakes that will ensure a strong conservative voter turnout for the 2020 elections. The same voters who elected President Trump in 2016 will do it again in 2020. While remaining relatively silent compared to liberals, conservative voters are burning with anger because of what we see. I’ll try to explain my point with a couple of recent examples.

Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe’s disrespect for the American flag and our National Anthem is a great place to start. I have absolutely no respect for these two individuals and consider them to be nothing more than self promoting posers. Their disrespect for our flag and National Anthem is nauseating and beyond disrespectful. I am not suggesting that anyone’s right to protest should be restricted. On the contrary. The uniquely American right to protest is part of what makes our country so great and is an important privilege. What these two fools don’t understand is that this “uniquely American” right to protest was guaranteed to them by the sacrifices of veterans who fought for the very flag they’re insulting. I have three grandchildren entering military service this year so this is particularly offensive to my wife and I! If they feel compelled to protest, they absolutely have the right to do so…just do it at an appropriate time and location. Additionally, think about the disrespectful manner our flag is handled. People watching the World Cup saw an example of this for themselves. Consider too, the fact that burning any flag other than our own would immediately be considered a hate crime. However, burning the American flag is viewed as “exercising First Amendment rights.” The left supports such behavior, but it’s all wrong in my view and conservative voters like me are angry.

Next we have Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). On July 2, AOC pretended to tour a detention facility at the border in Texas. After leaving the facility, she adamantly claimed that female detainees were told by Border Patrol Agents to “drink out of toilets.” Unfortunately for AOC, her claims were debunked by two sources. First, actual photos of the toilet facilities in question, accompanied by an explanation of how the plumbing works. Second, statements by members of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference who toured the facility the following day. They saw none of the ‘atrocities’ cited by AOC and, in fact, stated, what they had seen was “drastically different.” Oops!

Last month, our own Governor Steve Bullock made the decision to lower the Montana State flag and raise the Gay Pride flag in its place. An absolutely pathetic gesture on two counts. First, lowering our state flag in favor of any other flag is entirely disrespectful. Second, his actions were completely transparent! He only made that decision because it was politically wise. This guy wants to be the president. He was simply pandering to a voting block. That’s it! Now some are going to say that I’m bashing the LGBTQ movement. I’m not. I think the Governor can fly whatever flag he wants…just not in place of the state flag. In my mind, there are three flags that should officially fly over the Capitol; The American flag, the Montana state flag, and the POW/MIA flag. All others are subordinate and should be flown separately. The simple resolution would be to install a new and separate flagpole for any cause he chooses.

Next we have a little-known event called AfroFuture Fest in Detroit. Turns out the promoters for that event wanted to fix the pricing. I learned two new acronyms as a result of reading about this…POC and NPOC. POC means people of color. NPOC means non people of color. I’m glad I learned about this acronym. Now when I hear or read about AOC I can giggle at my own private joke. The event promoters made the decision to charge POC one price while charging NPOC twice the amount. The logic was that NPOC made more money than POC and could afford it. Once the scam was discovered the pricing policy was changed. I wonder though, what would the media coverage have looked like if the facts had been reversed? I’m a country western fan. Imagine the media outrage if a country music event was held and there was a different pricing scheme charging POC twice what NPOC were charged! Does anyone remember reading about any of this in the mainstream media? Me either! Liberal media is reluctant to focus a report on any behavior casting the left in a negative light.

These are only a few examples, and similar things keep happening. Here’s the bottom line for a guy like me. Our nation was built on a foundation of certain values. I know (and history will attest to the fact) that we have become the strongest nation in the world by adhering to those values. For me, it’s God, country, and family. "Self" simply doesn’t factor into this equation. Some will say that mine is a pretty simplistic view. I would counter with the fact I’ve learned, through a lot of living and painful lessons, that if you focus on those three things, everything else will fall into place. In my mind, the liberal view seems to promote ‘individual agendas’ over what’s best for the common good, and that philosophy, if left unchallenged and unchanged, could destroy our country.

Blaine Blackstone is a retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant who enjoys the simpler life in Thompson Falls. He can be reached by email at [email protected].