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The ADVANCE, February 17, 2021/Page 6A
(51?e Ahumtce
A free press is not a privilege but
organic necessity in a great society.
—Walter Lippmann
COMMENTARY
out of
CONTEXT
A compilation of quotations on a variety of
issues by national, state and regional writers,
well-known personalities, just plain everyday
people and from various publications
collected by the editors of THE ADVANCE.
Quotes for our Times:
J.R. Dunn, journalist for American Think
er: Beating democrat electoral corruption.
What this means is that the Republicans
are finally going to get off their fat duffs
and do something, The GOP may not be
willing to lift a finger to help Donald Trump
or protect the Constitution, But save their
own penny-ante political careers? That's
another story, That's important, That has to
be defended at all costs.
Sally Zelikovsky, writer for American
Thinker: Destroying democracy in order to
save It.
"There's an impulse for some to say
voters decided and democracy won.
But it's a mistake to think that this election
cycle was a show of strength for democ
racy. It shows how vulnerable democracy
is." (Time magazine's "The Secret History
of the Shadow Campaign that Saved the
2020 Election" by Molly Ball.)
While this can be read to mean de
mocracy was in jeopardy until Democrats
organized the shadow campaign to save
democracy from a Trump second term,
it's really just a slick way of confessing to
rigging the 2020 election and stealing it
from Trump. Let's hope Trump's attorneys
feature these admissions in his impeach
ment defense.
Eric Metaxas, host of the Eric Metaxas
Radio Show, a nationally syndicated radio
program, and author: Why are Americans
naive about evil?.
It is a chilling thing, therefore, to see
all this playing out in America today, and
to hear many fellow Americans deem it
so extremist and radical to speak of this
that they are self-righteously "cancelling"
voices that dare to do so. Isn't shutting
down dissent not the very proof that we
have stepped away from our core values
of "free speech" already, and from genu
ine tolerance toward others? Doesn't this
show us where all of this is leading?
Zaid Jilani, journalist originally from At
lanta: Democrats go ape over DC violence
while ignoring riots, murder, and mayhem
everywhere else.
It's perfectly fine for Ocasio-Cortez to
recount how scared she was on Jan. 6,
but don't her constituents who have the
misfortune of living in such unsafe neigh
borhoods deserve the same attention?
What about the hundreds of police offi
cers who were injured during riots in her
city in 2020? ...
I'm not trying to pick on Ocasio-Cortez.
She is one of many politicians who have
adopted a mindset that says we should
only care about victims of violence if we
believe they are useful for our political nar
rative. ...
But people's lives should matter no
matter who it was who took them, and ev
eryday Americans deserve to live without
the fear of being shot or murdered just as
much as members of Congress do.
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Don’t Quit on the GOP
After losing a national
election, it’s natural that a
political party goes through a
period of soul-searching and
internal turmoil.
The Republican Party
though, has taken it to another
level.
President Donald Trump
brought most of the GOP along
for the ride during his
conspiracy-fueled attempt to
overturn the election.
His loyalists have been
scouring the landscape
searching for Republicans to
censure or primary for
insufficient loyalty to him.
The most famous
Republican House freshman
mused not too long ago about a
space laser starting the 2018
California wildfires.
And Trump has maintained
his hold on the party seemingly
effortlessly.
This dismaying chapter has
led to declarations that the
party is doomed or calls to split
it up.
A former chair of the
Washington state GOP wrote
in an op-ed in The Seattle Times
urging, as the headline put it,
“Let’s form a new Republican
Party.” This prompted a Chris
Cillizza item at CNN headlined,
“Should Republicans disband
the GOP?”
There’s been a spate of
articles by erstwhile
Republicans announcing they
are done with the party.
Jonathan Last wrote apiece
in The New Republic titled:
“The Republican Party is dead.
It is the Trump cult now.”
Washington Post columnist
Kathleen Parker declared, “The
party isn’t doomed; it’s dead.”
This seems a mite
premature about a party that
represents roughly half the
country and is on the cusp of a
majority in the House, tied 50-
50 in the Senate, and in control
of the governorships in 27
states and b oth the governorship
and state legislature in 22 of
those.
If we are going to consider
this geographically diverse
collection of officeholders —
whose careers in many instances
pre-date Trump and will outlast
him — a mere personality cult,
the word “cult” has lost its
meaning.
The fortunes of our
political parties ebb and flow
and their iterations change over
time, but they are deeply
embedded institutions of our
public life.
As Dan McLaughlin, my
colleague at National Review,
points out, the Republican
Party has, since its inception,
been a fusion of a classic liberal
wing with a more populist,
elemental conservatism.
What’s different about
Trump is that he represents the
ascendance of the populist
wing after it had long been in a
subordinate position in the
party. Even he, though, retained
key traditional policy priorities
of the GOP, from tax cuts and
judges to religious liberty and
abortion.
That said, the party does
need to get beyond Trump,
who is a three-time loser now
— in the 2018 midterms, in his
2020 reelection campaign, and
in the Georgia special elections.
In electoral terms, “all the
winning” stopped circa
November 2016.
It if feels now as though the
post-Trump GOP will never
arrive, American politics moves
quickly. Richard Nixon resigned
in 1974, leaving the GOP in
utter disarray — and yet Reagan
won a landslide six years later.
The Tea Party sprang to life
from nowhere in 2009 and had
disappeared by 2016, subsumed
into the Trump phenomenon.
There will inevitably be an
overwhelming controversy in
the Biden administration or a
crisis that moves us beyond the
politics of the Trump
presidency and the immediate
aftermath.
New issues will emerge,
and there are plenty of talented,
ambitious Republican
politicians who think they are
better suited to win a
Please see Lowry page 9A
GRITTY
Voting With the
Preachers and
Bootleggers
When I was just a little “whipper-
snapper,” there were not many liquor stores,
beer joints
available. As a
matter of fact, the
first beer store in
Mt. Vernon was
owned and
operated by the
city. To the best of
my memory,
Vidalia has always
seemed to have
places that sold beer legally, but not hard
liquor.
We have several liquor stores in the
county where I live, and it was only voted in
a few years ago. Vidalia also has liquor
stores today, but even when they didn’t, it
was always available — either at a specific
well-known location, a phone call, or at a
liquor store in Emanuel County only a few
miles up the road.
In those early days before it was
legalized, it was common to hear folks
talking about why it should be legalized. I
can still remember some of the reasons
they used: l) We’re just making the
bootleggers rich. 2) Folks are going to
drink, whether it’s legal, or not. 3) Our
neighboring county is getting all the tax
money. 4) We’ll have better control of it
when it’s legalized. 5) It will be safer for
those who do drink because some bootleg
whiskey has poison in it. 6) Drinking is OK
if it’s done in moderation. 7) Jesus and his
disciples drank “real” wine. 8) Only
preachers and bootleggers will vote against
legalizing alcoholic beverages, most people
will vote for it because they know things
will be better.
I also remember some of the bootleggers
in those days and believe me, folks, they
were not rich. In fact, most of them lived in
a small house and worked other jobs to
make ends meet. When I think about it, the
Please see Nitty page 9A
By Bennie Harbin
COMMENTARY
Opt Out of
Social Security
for Racial Equity
A recent
Reuters
headline read,
“Yellen, Rice
tout economics
as key to fixing
American
inequality.”
According
to Susan Rice,
President Joe
Biden’s new
domestic policy adviser, “The
evidence is clear, investing in equity
is good for economic growth.”
Our new Treasury secretary,
Janet Yellen, says, “I believe economic
policy can be a potent tool to improve
society. We can — and should — use
it to address inequality, racism ...”
I couldn’t agree more.
According to the Federal
Reserve’s most recent Survey of
Consumer Finances, the median
wealth of white families is $188,200,
compared with $24,100 for Black
families.
To the extent that change in
government policy can lift the
median wealth of Black families, I am
for it. The good news is there is such
an opportunity.
I have been writing about it for
many years. We should give working
Americans the option to opt out of
Social Security and use the taxes they
are paying into it to invest in their
own personally owned retirement
account.
We’ll achieve more racial equity
by allowing low-income Americans
the opportunity to have more equity
in — ownership of — America.
A big reason for the huge wealth
gap between white and Black families
is the huge gap in ownership of
equities — stock — between white
and Black families.
According to the Pew Research
Center, 61% of white families have
either direct or indirect ownership in
stocks. Only 31% of Black families
do.
Per the Federal Reserve, among
white Americans ages 35 to 54, 65%
have at least one retirement account.
Among Blacks in this age range, only
44% do.
It is true that median Black
household income is also lower than
median white household income,
meaning Blacks on average have less
to save and invest. Which is why
giving the option to opt out of Social
Security is so vitally important.
Every working American pays
12.4% of their income to Social
Security, half taken out of their
paycheck and half paid by their
employer.
This is a tax, not an investment.
The government then uses this tax
revenue to recycle and make
payments to those currently retired,
who themselves paid taxes during
their working life.
The Committee to Unleash
Prosperity, working with the
nonpartisan Tax Foundation,
Please see Guest page 10A