Heed the Advice of Abraham Lincoln

Let’s Heed the Advice of Abraham Lincoln
The View from the Middle

My favorite President, Abraham Lincoln, once famously said, “If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will.” This was just part of President Lincoln’s effort to encourage Americans to take off the blinders of hate and prejudice and don the lenses of balance and truth. The President knew instinctively that if he could get people to open their hearts and minds, he could remove the wedges of division that had been driven into America’s conscience and unite the country.

The same maxim can be applied to a country. If media and politicians continue to focus only on the negative (90%+ of the coverage of this administration is negative) it will mislead and discourage the public and turn citizen against citizen in America. And as if the negative emphasis is not enough, we are now plagued by a proliferation of “rush to judgement” journalism and even intentionally fraudulent accusations.

A recent example of journalistic incompetence is the story about the Covington Catholic student, Nick Sandman, who was accused of accosting a Native American Indian, Nathan Phillips, and spewing hateful, bigoted rhetoric. The story spread like wildfire throughout the mainstream media. The only problem? The story was completely inaccurate. Nathan Phillips actually advanced on Nick Sandman, and the hate filled rhetoric came from a small crowd of Black Hebrew Israelites who were verbally attacking the Covington Catholic students. But after the 100 minutes of initial reporting and the 10 seconds of retraction (exaggeration intended) the stench will remain on the MAGA hat wearing students and on Donald Trump and anyone who supports him. Mission accomplished.

And then we have the pinnacle of “looking for the bad” and that is deliberately lying to fit a narrative. Jussie Smollett is the most recent example of the hoax reporting phenomenon, but reporter Andy Ngo has published a long list of these counterfeit claims. Jussie reported to the police in Chicago the two white men wearing MAGA hats attacked, him, beat him up, poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck. Since this is just the kind of picture that some of the media and some politicians are hoping exists in this country today, the story absolutely exploded across TV, radio and newspapers around the world. Again, the problem is that it appears that this story was a hoax, invented, staged and executed by Jussie Smollett. No matter. The picture of the white, MAGA hat-wearing thugs has been indelibly etched onto the minds of an eager public just waiting for affirmation of their worst beliefs.

But let me shine a little light of truth, encouragement and hope on this dismal picture. This is already the greatest country in the world, and it will only get better because of the wisdom of our founding fathers who put in a self-correcting system of government tethered to our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.

Our capitalistic, democratic system has delivered the world’s largest economy and strongest military. We are arguably the freest country in the world when you combine economic, personal and religious freedom. We fought a bloody Civil War to eradicate slavery in this country and saved the world at least two times in our two world wars with precious loss of life and resources here.

We have also made tremendous progress against discrimination and prejudice. In 1870 we finally had the first two African American members of Congress in Senator Hiram Revels and Representative Joseph Rainey. By 1965 we had only progressed to six members in the House, but today we have 55 Black Senators and Representatives (over 10% of the total of 535) and we have finally experienced the first two Black Attorneys General in Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Under George W. Bush we had our first African American Secretary of State in Colin Powell and in 2008 we elected the first Black President of the United States, Barack Obama.

But, for me, maybe the best evidence of the progress we have made in racial harmony is anecdotal. Brenda, my wife, and I are very active in our grandchildren’s lives, and we are constantly blessed to witness them interact with children of other races at school and in the world in general. If they are any indication, their generation may be the first truly colorblind citizens, and that’s a good thing.

America is still the best country in the world in which to live in today, despite all the mud-slinging from the media and politicians. Our economy is the biggest in the world by far. Our stock market is approaching an all-time high, again. Unemployment is hitting record lows for Blacks, Hispanics and Women and is the lowest for all Americans in decades. There are actually more jobs available today than there are people who are unemployed, and wages are growing at the highest rate since 2008. Of course, you won’t hear this on most newscasts, which represents journalistic malfeasants. Is it any surprise that our trust in the media is scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel?

In my opinion there are three things for Americans to be concerned about today. First, our debt. We have just surpassed $22 Trillion, and I will be looking for this Administration to show some progress in this area over the next two years. Second, our moral compass. I have heard cheers for passing legislation that would allow an abortion of a child while the mother is giving birth even if the mother’s life is not at risk. This is a fundamental lack of respect for life that will decimate the very fiber of our society.

Finally, we need to avoid electing candidates who want to “fundamentally change” our country or our current economic and governmental system. We have a past to be proud of. Our current situation is strong both economically and even culturally, and our future is bright unless we abandon the self-correcting ship that brought us here. May God continue to bless America.