State of the Union addresses have become platforms for presidents to advocate their policies, rather than honest assessments of the actual condition of the nation. This year’s edition was no exception, and it contained numerous factual errors. The New York Analysis of Policy & Government outlines some of those errors, and provides an example of what a truly honest and precise report would have contained.
MISSTATEMENTS IN THE STATE OF THE UNION
The president said the only threat to the U.S. was from failed states. One supposes he forgot about Russia and China.
He said the Cold War was over. Apparently, Putin didn’t get the memo.
He talked about how he successfully responded to the invasion of the Ukraine. The Ukrainians would disagree.
He claimed America’s standing was higher than ever. America’s allies would disagree.
He bragged about opening up relations with Cuba. Didn’t he realize that massove amounts of political prisoners were arrested after that opening, and Havana has invited the Russian Navy back in?
He touted our partnership with the world in dealing with Syria. Hasn’t he read the headlines–the partners he is talking about are Russia and Iran, and they are there only to expand their influence.
He used the analogy of beating the USSR to the moon, but he is the president who put America’s manned space program in hibernation.
He again claimed that there is no credible disagreement about his climate change views. Apparently, he failed to read the letter sent by 31,000 scientists who do disagree.
He said his first priority was going after terrorists. Under his watch, terrorists have reached their greatest extent of power.
He said he begins every day with an intelligence briefing. Records reveal that he misses over half of all national security briefings.
He encouraged the American people to come together and put partisanship aside. But he is the president who, far more than any of his predecessors, misused federal agencies for partisan purposes and spent more time criticizing the opposition party than any of his predecessors.
He spoke of creating jobs. He ignored the fact that, for the most part, the only jobs created were low paid with no benefits.
WHAT AN HONEST STATE OF THE UNION WOULD HAVE SAID
The state of the union this year is perilous. In matters both foreign and domestic, America faces an array of challenges unparalleled in our history.
The terrible Great Recession that began in 2007 was the result of horrible mistakes made by progressives in Washington. In a good-hearted attempt during the Carter Administration back in the 1970’s to provide more housing opportunities, we mandated that lending institutions provide loans to people who really couldn’t afford them. President Clinton made that program even larger. Of course, it was inevitable that the effort would lead to disaster, and it did. The problem is, Washington still hasn’t learned its lesson, and it continues to engage in efforts that inadvertently harm the economy and destroy job growth.
America’s corporate taxes, highest among any of our trading partners, drive jobs right out of the nation, as do our increasingly rigorous regulations. The Affordable Care Act encourages employers to keep their workforce small and to hire only part-timers. The effect of all this on the middle class has been devastating. We need to do better next year. President Clinton’s tilt towards China in opening up world trade to them ravaged manufacturing employment in the U.S., virtually eliminating the type of employment that actually created the middle class.
Middle income workers aren’t the only ones who have suffered. Due to our lack of border control, the nation has been flooded with illegal immigrants who have taken jobs at the extreme lower end of the pay scale, displacing American workers. The unemployment rate of inner city youth, especially those of color, have is particularly worrisome.
Our seniors have been deprived of cost of living increases a record amount of time during the past seven years, and again this year they will not receive even a penny in cost of living increases in the Social Security benefits that they themselves paid for during their working lives. Instead of paying them what they truly deserve, Washington, during the past seven years, has increased the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by an extraordinary 41%. It is morally wrong to deprive seniors who have worked all their lives and paid taxes in order to provide more benefits to younger, healthier individuals, some of whom are not even U.S. citizens.
Abroad, America faces dangers that result from an irrational belief that if we pretended foreign threats didn’t exist, they would just go away. We slashed our defense budget, withdrew troops and equipment from key posts across the planet, and distanced ourselves from our friends and allies, endangering our security and theirs.
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We ignored, except for a few symbolic gestures, China’s aggression and its’ rise to become the most feared power in Asia.
At a time when dangerous and erratic regimes, such as those in North Korea and Iran, are rushing to build intercontinental ballistic missiles, we have failed to move ahead on a reasonable basis with anti-missile defenses.
Almost all of our actions during the past seven years have served to strengthen terrorist forces. We prematurely withdrew our military from Iraq, allowing ISIS to come to power. We encouraged the overthrow of established Arab governments, allowing extremists to gain greater influence. We announced a withdrawal date for most of our forces from Afghanistan, which means the Taliban will return to power. We did nothing, absolutely nothing, to save our ambassador and his staff in Benghazi, and also did nothing to retaliate for that vicious act. We have ignored the growing presence of terrorist forces, including ISIS and Hezbollah, in Latin America.
Since the end of the terrible era of segregation in the 1960’s, race relations in our country had steadily improved. Unfortunately, that progress was slowed or even reversed during the past seven years, a result of the politicization of several incidents involving confrontations between police officers and blacks. In some cases, media and Executive Branch responses to an entire incident, such as that in Ferguson which led to a significant civil disorder, were based on wholly incorrect facts.
Despite the many differences we Americans have had among ourselves over the centuries, we have been held together by our Constitution. However, during the past seven years, we have seen repeated affronts to Constitutional provisions such as the separation of powers, particularly in the proclivity of the President to ignore Congress’s role in enacting legislative-like measures as well as in the negotiation of foreign treaties. We have also seen far too many instances in which the First, Second, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments, literally half of the entire Bill of Rights, have been ignored.
The misuse of federal agencies, particularly the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice, for partisan political purposes, is unforgivable. We must assure that it never happens again by punishing those who authorized those actions. So, too, must be reinforce the time-honored practice of everyone, especially those in positions of great power, being equal in the eyes of the law and being subjected to appropriate penalties when they abuse their positions
Despite all these challenges, there is, indeed, good news. It lies within the power of the American people to correct the mistakes that have been made.
We can rebuild our armed forces, which will not only restore our national security but also put many Americans back to work in well-paying jobs manufacturing needed equipment. Our renewed strength can be used in combination with diplomacy to repair our frayed relations with allies across the globe, assuring them of our willingness to live up to our commitments, and to dissuade our adversaries from engaging in aggression.
Our reinvigorated military will be able to respond forcefully and thoroughly to any terrorist attack on American soil by striking without limit or hesitation in the homelands of those who plot against the safety of our nation.
We can take meaningful steps to develop a growing economy that produces middle income jobs by lowering corporate taxes and regulations, and by reversing bad international trade decisions that have encouraged the migration of companies away from our shores.
We can secure our borders through common-sense measures. A guest worker program can insure that we will still allow the people of our neighboring nations access to our economy, but only in positions which have first been offered to Americans.
Government spending, particularly on social programs, can be directed away from efforts meant solely to win votes and towards those who truly deserve either a helping hand or to reap the benefits they earned through decades of work and paying into social security.
The State of our Union is challenged, but hopeful.