THE VIEW FROM THE HEARTLAND 10/ 2021

 THE.VIEW FROM THE HEARTLAND

The vast farmlands and rolling plains  between “La La land” of the west coast and the gritty, densely packed megalopoli of the east is our American heartland.  It is from these  open skies, spired forests, sun drenched farms, rangelands, and industrial centers that our people come, and here too we find the home of our traditions,  of our common-sense, our inventiveness and practicality which made us a great nation. It is here we can count the pulse of the American core.  

The pulses of the American heartland in October of 2021 can be best described as “fear driven tachycardia” (fast heart rate).  I report here that the dominant  emotion  of the nation’s heartland  is fear and disbelief.  

Fear of an unpredictable future, punctuated with a series of leadership generated mounting crises from Afghanistan to Del Rio Bridge. The fear is heightened by the fact that these chaotic events are strictly ignored by our elected officials in Washington and by the media which guard their fragile reputations for with no attention they can not be remediated. 

We fear a future of unimaginable government expenditures, and consequent massive national debt, higher taxes, shortages of vital goods, inflation, and insecurity from domestic mob violence and foreign violence too. 

We fear the spike in violence on our streets and in our communities fostered by lax enforcement and a judicial system which has become “arrest and release”. No trials no punishment and no end in sight for relief from criminal acts for the innocent citizen. 

Waves of uncontrolled robberies ignored by the leadership in certain cities have stripped the shelves of vital pharmacies clean. These vital service providers  have closed and only the communities suffer. 

We fear the abdication  of a rational unbiased news media, which we once  depended on to critically evaluate our leaders and their policies,  but who instead have become  propagandists for only one party.  

We fear for the military leadership which is dominated by some who would put their politics before the Constitution to which they swore allegiance.   

We fear for our Justice system and our  governmental institutions which have forgotten that they serve all of the people not just those who complain the loudest.  

We fear the loss of “the best person for the job” (or seat on a committee or place in a school) regardless of race, creed, origin, or sex. This loss can only lead to mediocrity and decline. 

We fear the erosion  of freedom of speech—our proudest  constitutional right—can only harm us, limit free expression and open discussion and foster division and misunderstanding. 

We fear for our future elections. Will they again  be subjected to manipulation by media, powerful monied interests, and the left leaning tech barons?  

We fear for our children who are buffeted in our own schools by those who spout fringe and radical concepts ( falsely claiming support by science) regarding race, gender and corrupted histories of our great nation’s past. 

And we fear and stand in disbelief that our great nation has been taken to such a parlous state in such short order by incompetent and leadership. 

These are some of the views from the heartland.  

We have hope and confidence too. Hope that our nation will surmount the threats we face today and confidences in the American electorate  that given the freedom of  our elections we can reinstate a unifying leadership and bring back our nation to health. 

Without a  “heart” there is no nation.  Those in Washington DC seem to think the “nation” ends at the 495 Ring Road,  please take note: your  cushy jobs may depend on how well you remember those who reside outside of the ring road where the heartland begins.