Why is it most all granola-crunching progressives, (and a significantly large percentage of libertarians), get all creamy when they see restaurant menus that virtue-signal their “Locally-Sourced Ingredients” and also share all those “Shop Local” memes — but, any “America First” admonitions, from either politicians or pundits, are condemned as “dog whistles” for fascist, racist nationalism?

I remain proud of the American Experiment — as first undergirded by the intent and purpose of the US Constitution — that unleashed a spirit of innovation and free enterprise that allowed us to leap frog past every centuries-old society on the planet in terms of economic freedom and prosperity. If your American family income is only $10,000 a year, you are wealthier than 84 percent of the world. If it’s $50,000 or more a year, you make more than 99 percent of people in the rest of the world. American’s living below our arbitrary “poverty line” eat better, consume more, and have larger homes than 50% of those living in Western Europe.  

I’m proud that my country was one of the first to throw off that “cruel war against human nature itself . . . of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. [Who was] determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold.” (From Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence.) A country that sacrificed hundreds of thousands of its own to end slavery. A country where 100% of the votes to amend the Constitution, making slavery illegal and freeing blacks were cast by white men. Indeed, the same country where people of all races, religions, and creeds make incredible sacrifices to cross into our country each year for better opportunities and better lives for their families. (By contrast, there are no boatlifts or refugee caravans of Americans struggling to seek a better life in China, Cuba, or Venezuela. Neither to Canada or Europe, for that matter.)

I’m proud to live in a country where my own band — with it’s collection of Asian American, Black Americans, and White Americans — share the stage with each other and never experience prejudice from venues, buyers, promoters, or concert-goers because of our diverse skin colors.

“America First” is not a dog whistle for white supremacy or an isolationist clarion call. Quite the opposite. The Gipper put it best:

“America represents something universal in the human spirit. I received a letter not long ago from a man who said, ‘You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won’t become a German or a Turk.’ But then he added, ‘Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.’” -Ronald Reagan

Yet, we now live in a time where almost half our citizens believe almost everything is wrong with America, and are willing to trade away both our Bill of Rights and our position as “first” in the world for this newly reinvigorated infatuation with Marxism. This, despite the 20th Century’s massive experiment with those ideas that proved communism — in all its variations — to be the deadliest, most destructive, oppressive, anti-liberty political ideology of all time.

In my adult life I have been a registered Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian. I no longer associate or ascribe to any Party line. I am now an American . . . first . . . and only. As such, I cannot support any candidate representing the demonstrably neo-Marxist Democratic Party. I cannot support any 3rd party which lacks the mathematical possibility of making any difference in policy — especially the LP which has on its top ticket someone who openly coddles the self-identifying Marxist elements of BLM and Antifa. And while I have roughly 50% antipathy for the policies and behaviors of President Trump, I am willing to give him four more years of judicial appointments, business deregulation, Middle Eastern peace deals, Deep State revelations, mainstream media antagonism, and his America First spirit which has emerged in many other of his initiatives, (misguided and otherwise.) Not to mention, Joe Biden and his puppet masters have promised us federally-imposed tyranny in the form of continued, draconian COVID-19 lockdowns and national mask mandates. Something Trump has proven himself unwilling to do.

In The Hollywood Squares vernacular . . . “Peter, I’ll take President Trump for the block.”

I just hope it buys us enough time to beat back those darker forces intent upon America’s destruction.

#Trump2020