What is it that President Trump is up to?
What's all the commotion about?
Have you figured it out yet?
Do you know what it is he's trying to accomplish? Do you get it?
Well, here's a brief primer.
President Trump wants us to not only dream big dreams again but he wants us to make those dreams a reality. He wants America to soar again. Think building the interstate highway system and landing a man on the moon and vanquishing the Soviet Union. Those are the types of Big Things that he wants us to once again put on our plate. And he's in a hurry to do it because he knows that he's really only got about six to 12 months to get the ball rolling.
Yes, it can sometimes be difficulty to follow Trump's agenda because it does not follow any one ideology. Rather, it takes bits and pieces of many theories and ideas and concepts and puts them together under a populist umbrella that can only be called Trumpism.
President Trump wants us to look inward and strengthen our own country but he also wants us to conquer radical Islam and bring down ISIS. He seeks to make the world more secure without engaging in US style nation building. He wants us to build the world's strongest economy but he's not out to do it with unlimited free trade. He wants to eliminate government waste and over expenditures but he also wants to spend a trillion dollars or more on infrastructure. He wants to cut taxes but not reduce revenues pouring into government coffers. He wants to look out for the environment but not necessarily eliminate fossil fuels. He's out to boost educational standards and produce better students and workers but don't count on any blank check for public education. Yeah, he likes hard-working union members (they're a big part of his constituency) but not necessarily the union leaders who try to boss those workers around. He wants to get rid of Obamacare but not deprive anyone of affordable health care.
All this can seem confounding. But when you think about it a bit, it isn't. And what it all means is not only novel -- groundbreaking, really -- but also quite thrilling.
Obviously, if we strengthen our defenses and build up our preparedness to a staggering level and signify that we're really ready to use what we have, some of the world's bullies are gonna back off. They simply won't have any choice.
And if we cut taxes, more revenue (not less) will pour into government coffers. This has been proven time and time again.
If we cut regulation and unleash capitalism, business will grow and more and better jobs will be created. The economy can get back to growing at three percent (or maybe even a lot more) again.
If we force some of our allies or would-be allies to do more for themselves and rely less on us, then we will have more money to spend on our country and our own needs. And maybe we won't have to fight other people's wars anymore.
If we stop spending a fortune on nation building, we may be able to begin to do something about our crumbling infrastructure. We can build a new America -- an America by us, for us.
If we have the courage to lead the world in manufacturing again and the guts to truly innovate, then we can become more self-sufficient and rely less on others.
If we begin to marshal all our energy resources, then we may not only have enough for our needs but also for others in the world who can make good use of what we have.
If union workers are free to chart their own paths in their own ways, they may show their leaders (and all of us) a thing or two about work, productivity and the bottom line.
If we stop running a charity service -- dolling out dollars all over the world and running up our debt even further -- and start acting responsibly, the world may buy from us more and take from us less.
If parents and students are free to choose schools (including charter schools, magnet schools, private schools or even home-schooling) then we'll finally have a sensible education system that selectively serves all students and sends them out into the world delivering on their maximum potential.
Likewise, if all of us are free to choose our health care in this same manner, we might have the kind of individualized care we want and at a lower cost.
A lot to accomplish, huh? Does it seem like a high stakes gamble? Perhaps. But Trump is a high stakes guy. And he's often seen skies-the-limit possibilities where others have only seen a lost cause.
Remember the song Trump had blaring at all his rallies? Remember it? It said "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you find you get what you need." The choice of that song was no accident. Trump picked it himself.
To begin to understand the Age of Trump, stop thinking so much about what you want and start imagining and thinking about what we all need. We need to throw back our shoulders and get to work. We need to take responsibility for ourselves. We need to rebuild our country, from the bottom up. We need to secure our nation, strengthen it and begin providing for ourselves again.
America, we need to take care of business -- and we need to do it now. Avanti!
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