J.D. Vance is right: Europe is becoming totalitarian

Okay, I watched Vice-President J.D. Vance's speech at the Munich conference.  And he was absolutely spot-on.  

The same European countries we fought for and lost lives for are now becoming as oppressive as the Soviet Union was.  There is for all intents and purposes no more freedom of speech in places like England and Germany.  Dare to speak against the government and you're declared "far right" and subject to arrest and imprisonment.  Even posting a meme on X/Twitter is grounds for prosecution.  Say something about the massive problem with criminal migrants coming into the countries and that's also considered "hate speech".

And then there are the people who have been arrested for the "crime" of praying in public near abortion providers.

Europe has taken a terrible, terrible turn for the worse and is becoming the very nightmare that George Orwell warned about.  Why should the United States tolerate this kind of behavior from its supposed greatest allies?

This seems to be something that's got a lot of people hot and bothered (I can't believe the CBS reporter who suggested that the Nazis weaponized freedom of speech... what the hell planet did she drop in off of?).  The German leadership is especially honked-off that a hillbilly boy from Ohio just told them to their faces that they have apparently learned nothing from their own history.

(Vance is fast becoming the most proactive and vigorous vice-president that I have seen in my lifetime.  Maybe even the lifetime of any living American citizen.)

I'm working on an op-ed piece about this, suggesting that the United States turn off its support of countries that don't really give a damn about democracy and basic human rights.  It's time to use that "big stick" that Theodore Roosevelt spoke of.

If the countries of Europe want to be totalitarian regimes, they can do it without our help.

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Dear J.D. Vance: There are no second-class citizens

Something that bothers me about vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance...

He seems to insinuate in statements both past and recent that only people who are married and/or have children should be involved in this country's politics.  They're the ones who most have stakes in America's future, he apparently believes.

Well, what about those of us who for some reason or another never got to have that kind of lasting happiness?  Do WE get afforded a say in the matter?

I've been as loyal a citizen of this country as one could probably be, without going into the military.  I came up with American values of honesty, hard work, being the best you could be... values that made this country great.  They're values that culminated in my earning Eagle Scout and I made a commitment long ago to live my life in accordance with those virtues.

Some might call me a conservative for that, and a very strong one.  If they do, that's for them to decide.  As I've tried to convey many times however I am a man of ideas, and not ideologies.  But I digress...

I have as much a stake in wanting America to be secured and prosperous for future generations as anyone else has.  I am invested as a citizen, as a Christian, as a historian with no small grasp of the issue.  I have recently begun working with others toward putting a Trail Life troop together, mostly because I believe in transmitting American ideals to the next generation of young men so that they become the leaders God intends for them to be.

Is all of that invalidated because I have no children?  Does "Make America Great Again" have any room under its tent for those of us who life was not so kind toward?

It's almost like Vance is suggesting that there are second-class citizens in America.  And that is wrong.

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