THOUGHTS

from Richard Silvestri

(The following was submitted December 9, 2013 to TCPalm for publication on the Opinion Section as a Guest Column as done in the past. I was advised by Opinion Editor, L. Reisman to cut it to two 300-word max. letters. Doing so destroys the whole piece. Meanwhile the Right keeps getting letter after letter as well as guest columns for their viewpoint. I think it is because the main office of TCPalm is in Stuart, in Republican-heavy Martin County.) It is very disappointing for me to see daily in this paper so many opinion letters from the extreme Right and few sensible ones appearing. Further study reveals the truth, and it has nothing to do with the political slant, left or right, of TCPalm. It is because the so-called ?Libs?; Democrats; some Independents and even Republicans usually cannot lower themselves to write base and absurd commentary. The most recent attacks regard the ACA or ?Obamacare? as the Right calls it and which is close to the truth because Obama does care. Barack Obama kept his campaign promise. Does anyone recall The Space Program-that infamous ?Space Race? against the Russians-in the late 1950s when NASA could get a rocket to go anywhere but up? They went sideway, they went in circles. Some even turned upside-down. Some were blown up, others blew up on the launch pad; others were duds. No one asked for President Eisenhower?s impeachment or suggested that he was incompetent. In fact I don?t recall anyone asking for the resignation of NASA heads or from its predecessor, NACA. Today the USA is the foremost leader in space, having placed men on the moon, a robot wandering around Mars and a satellite transmitting signals from beyond Pluto. The Atlas has evolved into such a success even a space novice, private entrepreneur, Elon Musk, uses it to deliver payloads for profit. I trust it will be similar for The ACA, 50-plus years hence. The economy is back and healthy with the DJIA having broken new records and rising and in today?s December 10, 2013 St. Lucie News-Tribune is an article about Americans being wealthier than ever in history. What does the right say? Nada. Obama gets blamed for Benghazi and I have no idea why since our embassies in foreign nations should be protected by their security. Can anyone imagine the terror if Libyan military and security took over command and control of any attack on the Libyan Embassy in the USA? Recently CBS News reported that someone was in Benghazi who could have saved the day, only to find he was lying to 60 Minutes reporter, Laura Logan. That gross error has not convinced me to watch FCN, however. When the President sent fighter aircraft to Libya, a Tea Party hog-tied Congress cried foul, but when Americans died at that embassy, ?Where was our President?? they cried in feigned anguish. It?s always his fault when things are wrong, but if you ask them who got Bin Laden, they reply with nary a blink, ?The Seals.? They omit that he is Commander-In-Chief in success, also. Now the President is accused of all sorts of offenses. None of these has been serious enough to enable the Tea-Party fanatics to impeach him, despite their hold on the House. They know better and don?t try since they can foresee the ?Kangaroo Court? that would ensue. Beginning in 2010 I witnessed first-hand the machinations of fanaticism via certain avowed members of the Tea Party or certainly those who, if not members, are missing their calling. It took little time to realize that being an Independent equates to political sterility. In no way could I become a Republican, given the Tea Party takeover. I became a Democrat. It was either do that or start my own Party. When I talked then and talk now to other Democrats our thinking and saying the same things is astounding. No brain-washing; no single-source news; no ?Kool-Aid?. Said people are not perpetrators of hogwash and therefore find little to write about. Richard Silvestri, TCPA St. Lucie County DEC; Treasurer, Democratic Club SLC;