"What is Truth?"

"For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?' And then walked away..." - John 18:33-38

It's a question as old as the Bible and as new as this morning. I have commented before that one of the big problems in our modern bifurcated political world is that we can no longer agree on what is, sometimes obviously, the truth. And the question arises, why do so many believe, or excuse, what is so obviously wrong?

And, by the way, this applies to both parties, but one is in charge, so they are written about more often. But here are some examples for my Democratic friends.

You will never win the culture war, never. Latin-X? Really? Pregnant people? Come on. And just stop with the trans-centric arguments. No one with a good heart wishes them ill. Notice, I said a good heart (looking at you, Dan Patrick). But stop pretending a trans female athlete competes fairly with women. You are spitting into the wind, and that is obvious when you consider that no woman who transitions to male will win the men's 100-meters at the Olympics or try out for the Cubs.

They are less than 1% of the population, and the right beats your brains out with it. The point is made, now move on. You will go to the mat for rainbow crosswalks, which, by the way, no one cares about, even the gay community.

Immigration was a cudgel used against Democrats and they deserved it. Trump's collection of ICE goons is so over the top that even some Republicans are having doubts. But Democrats ignored the issue for so long, that dumb ideas like a border wall gained traction.

For an example of how effective that is, think Berlin.

But the biggest sin of the Democrats is distancing themselves from the working class that made them Democrats in the first place. Both my father and father-in-law were veterans who gained entry to the middle class by way of the GI Bill. It was signed by this guy...

Like so much of American history, and the kind of thing Republicans hit you with, it had flaws regarding race. Many returning black GI's were excluded from many of the mortgage and education benefits due to Jim Crow laws and discrimination by many banks and colleges. Tuition help is not much use if the school won't admit you.

And this is where Democrats are often handed their heads in public debate. Yes, that's a part of the story, but not the only part. It's like the current battles in my state of Texas over our own history. Our Lieutenant Governor, the comical Dan Patrick, just had the head of the Alamo Trust, which oversees the historic site, fired for having the temerity to state in her doctoral dissertation that the Alamo had a history that predated the famous battle, or that pure Texas patriotism was not the sole reason for the Texas Revolution.

For example, the very idea that preserving slavery, which Mexico had outlawed, might be a factor in the drive for independence is simply off the table to Dan and his crowd. I wrote about this a couple of years ago.

History for Grownups, Not Politicians | Texas Outlaw Writers

We all know that wonderful line in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” that “when the facts meet the legend, print the legend.” And legends are what these politicos want to promote, no matter how slanted and incomplete that history is.

Texas Outlaw WritersRoger T. Gray

So, she's now history as well.

This sort of historical and cultural ethnic cleansing is going on in academia, business, government, and every aspect of American life. They would prefer, not a Ken-Burns-style explanation, but this...

And for Democrats, the very things they were noted for, civil rights and equal pay and treatment, are also now turned against them. The premise of the fight against DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs is that they, not the situations they are designed to correct, are actually discriminatory. The contention is, "Come on, we have solved all those pesky problems of race and gender. Let's move on."

I heard an interview with Ken Burns the other night about his new series on the American Revolution, which, in addition to the Founding Fathers, also covers elements that Dan no doubt would hate, like Tories, slaves, Native Americans, and women in the midst of the war. When asked if his inclusiveness in the program is anathema to today's MAGA sensibilities, he replied, "When I hear DEI, I think a better term is E Pluribus Unum."

But, for Democrats, all the public is hearing is that they are still living in the 60s, and these things have no bearing on the problems we face. All this "revisionist history," which some would call complete history, means they hate America. The call for fully renewing funding for the Affordable Care Act means they are closet communists.

In fact, I haven't heard this many references to Marxism and Bolshevism since I was in college. You know, back in those Marxist 60s.

But for my Democratic friends, this is far simpler for people to digest than a complex explanation of society's ills.

And that is, as James Carville once tried to explain, how you win elections. My Republican friends have become experts at putting these messages into easy-to-digest slogans and bumper stickers that make every Democrat seem like some out-of-touch philosophy professor at Yale.

We all know, and even Marco Rubio agreed when he was in the Senate, Russia did indeed try to influence the 2016 election for Trump. His Campaign Manager went to prison for it. We all saw January 6th unfold on TV. We know that President Trump did take documents to Florida, hide them, and lie about it. We know that. And we know that demanding hundreds of millions from our own government because he had to hire lawyers in those cases is wrong.

We know instinctively that getting a $400-million airliner as a gift, pardoning a guy who helps your crypto business, giving your son a defense contract, and hawking crapola on the internet as President, all are wrong. We know that selling Teslas on the White House lawn isn't a good look.

Though it fits the giant flag he put in, which looks like the Presidential mansion is a Ford dealership on the loop.

We know that sending the world's largest aircraft carrier, B-1 and B-52 bombers, and F-35 stealth fighters to topple one South American leader we don't like, while we prop up one that we do, is somehow crazy. It also means that those Epstein files must be really something.

But for some reason, that can't be made clear.

So much is going wrong now it should be easy to explain. So why are Democrats so bad at it, and why is so much nonsense, nonsense you can see with your eyes, being believed?

Oh, politicians parrot it because they are abject cowards at heart. True believers parrot it because they can't imagine they've been fooled. Fox parrots it because it makes money. The same folks who fight to save Confederate statues have knocked down part of the White House without consulting anyone.

The man who published a cartoon of himself flying a plane dropping feces on Americans calls an advertisement with the actual Ronald Reagan actually opposing tariffs, "fake."

Now, Reagan's address did indeed include the announcement of what he considered a violation of trade agreements by Japan, but he also said he wanted to lift any tariffs as quickly as possible, for the reasons he states here. But to contend, as the current President has, that the father of the NAFTA agreement somehow "loved tariffs" is ludicrous. But no doubt, people will believe it, and not Reagan's words.

And that's where our political dialogue falls apart. Republicans cannot face the fact that the MAGA leadership is ruining America's farm economy and making life impossible for the very businesspeople who are their base. One farmer and Trump voter, Caleb Ragland speaking to NewsNation, put it this way...

"I think we’re at a crossroads that if we don’t get some things moving soon and get some serious trade taking place, we’re going to need a financial bridge or the reality will be the increases in bankruptcies, the loss of many thousands of family farms. It will even be worse with people committing suicide, choosing to end it all. And it’s terrible, the things that will result. We are on the verge of a farm crisis due to the rising cost of our production and the declining cost for our products, including our soybeans. And we got to find a new balance."

The sad part is, this guy would probably vote for Trump again, and Democrats cannot understand that people like him need real help and the economy needs answers, not arcane arguments over the nuances of sociology and history.

Without the courage to face these things on both sides, the sloganeers win. And we all lose.

Caleb will own the Libs, but nothing else.

Hell, Trump's buddy Kid Rock, who makes music for people who know now much Sudafed a catalytic converter will buy you, wasn't even at Farm Aid this year.

But Willie was. Democrats, listen to him.