The right’s ‘traditional’ ways fade out
“The long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all and not just some,” Barack Obama observed four years ago in one of the more memorable lines from his farewell presidential address.
That is indeed our great historical tradition. And we have strong reasons to believe it will survive, and maybe our democracy along with it. That’s thanks to our steadily diversifying demographics — and despite the currently loud chorus with a much narrower perception of the traditional American way of life.
That view is mainly rooted in a very different time, of course. In the 1950s, about 90% of the nation’s people were non-Hispanic whites. Now, that figure is closer to 60%.
A survey released in February by the American Enterprise Institute, a generally conservative think tank, found more than half of Republicans (56%), a third of independents (35%) and 1 in 5 Democrats (22%) agree with the proposition: “The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.”
The pollsters apparently did not define what may be alarmingly fading away. But given recent events, especially that attack on the Capitol, for millions of those Republicans it’s clearly the time when white was the nation’s dominant color.
But many Democrats and independents, it’s safe to assume, had something else in mind: a loss of faith in American institutions and decline in community common sense.
The unwillingness of so many to accept the clear-cut, fraud-free outcome of the 2020 presidential election underscores such a loss of confidence in American democracy. In the poll, 66% of Republicans said President Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate and 73% said his election left them frightened, angered or disappointed.
And the widespread acceptance of conspiracy theories defies common sense: Only 3 in 10 Republicans outright rejected the QAnon claim that
ing off the production line, the program office reported.” Translated into English, the F-35 is not ready to be used as intended after years of delays and cost increases.
One of the biggest problems is this program has already been deemed obsolete by some experts in the field.
Sean McFate, a Georgetown professor and five-times published author wrote in The Hill last month, “as a war machine, the F-35 is already obsolete junk.” He points out “the United States has been at war continuously since Sept. 11, 2001, yet the F-35 has flown zero combat missions. Zero.” In other words, it may have utility in flying over MLB baseball games and NASCAR events, but as a combat aircraft, it is not great.
Experts in the field are horrified at the cost. McFate tags the cost at $1.7 trillion. Bloomberg reported on Sept. 11, 2020 “the Pentagon’s five-year budget plan for the F-35 falls short by as much as $10 billion, the military’s independent cost analysis unit has concluded, a new indication that the complex fighter jet may be too costly to operate and maintain.”
Only in Washington could an accountant miss the mark on cost by $10 billion without being fired.
In this case, Congress just appropriates more money for the program to cover shortfalls.
The Bloomberg report indicated that “the Defense Department’s blueprint for the next five fiscal years calls for requesting $78 billion for research and development, jet procurement, operations and maintenance and military construction dedicated to the F-35 built by Lockheed
Martin Corporation. But the cost analysis unit estimates $88 billion will be needed.” Considering how hard it is to get Congress to spend $10 billion on anything, it is shocking that nobody blinks an eye when a contractor comes in $10 billion over budget.
When taxpayers hear that the F-35 lacks “full-rate production” they should understand that this means they are getting taxpayerfunded incompetence and more government overspending.