{"id":6132,"date":"2016-10-17T04:46:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T04:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/10\/17\/philosopher-daniel-bonevac-supports-trump\/"},"modified":"2016-10-17T04:46:01","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T04:46:01","slug":"philosopher-daniel-bonevac-supports-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/10\/17\/philosopher-daniel-bonevac-supports-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosopher Daniel Bonevac Supports Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

He gives his reasons<\/a> in the Washington Post<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

So why, given the response it gets me from colleagues and friends, do I support Trump?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Ask yourself: Are you better off than you were a decade ago? Is the United States better off? Is the world safer? Is this country on the right track? I am among the nearly two-thirds of Americans<\/a> who answer no.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re in the seventh year of the slowest economic recovery<\/a> since 1949. The proportion of working-age adults who are employed is the lowest in decades. Young African Americans face an unemployment rate of over 20 percent<\/a>. The national debt has almost doubled<\/a>; an American baby born today already owes more than $60,000. We\u2019ve lost our Standard & Poor\u2019s AAA credit rating<\/a>. Cities and states face debt<\/a> and pension crises<\/a> of their own. Meanwhile, business profits<\/a> and durable goods orders<\/a> are down, productivity<\/a> is sluggish and 2 percent growth<\/a> is the new normal. Economic inequality<\/a> has increased; incomes<\/a>are down; prices<\/a> are up.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The president\u2019s signature \u201caccomplishment,\u201d Obamacare, is in a death spiral<\/a>. Racial tensions are leading to riots<\/a>. Violent crime<\/a> is up sharply<\/a> over the past 18 months. Life expectancy is falling<\/a> for large segments of our population. The administration is conducting a war on fossil fuels<\/a>, endangering our electric grid<\/a>, while shoveling funds to green-energy boondoggles<\/a> run by donors<\/a>. TheIRS<\/a>, the FBI<\/a> and the Justice Department<\/a> are protecting political allies, punishing opponents and defying court orders<\/a>. Title IX is used on campus todestroy due process<\/a> and stifle speech<\/a>. In the past 10 months, we\u2019ve suffered terror attacks in San Bernardino<\/a>, Calif., Orlando<\/a>, St. Cloud<\/a>, Minn., andBurlington<\/a>, Wash., leaving 68 dead. Europe\u2019s experience shows that if we continue these policies, we will suffer many more.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Middle East is in shambles. We gratuitously overthrew a stable government in Libya<\/a>, creating a terrorist haven and getting our ambassador killed. We threw away victories in Iraq<\/a> and Afghanistan<\/a>. Syria<\/a> is a humanitarian disaster. We sabotaged Iran\u2019s Green Revolution<\/a> and halted sanctions<\/a>, propping up and then funding with planeloads of cash<\/a> <\/em>a leadingglobal sponsor of terrorism<\/a> actively seeking nuclear weapons<\/a> \u2014 all in a quest to reach an agreement so adverse to U.S. interests that it was not even submitted to the Senate. Iran is reportedly already violating it<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not bad luck. It results directly from policies of the Obama administration that Clinton wants to continue. The problem is not implementation, but deep inadequacies in her progressive worldview. It\u2019s a worldview I encounter up close on campus, a worldview that intrigues intellectuals with its promise of rationality and tempts them with the possibility of power. As Dostoevsky<\/a> warned, however, in practice, it indulges the moral narcissism<\/a> of an elite and encourages disrespect for everyone else.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Meet Trump\u2019s Pennsylvania supporters<\/a>]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Progressives try to counter corporate economic power by centralizing political power<\/a> in executive-branch agencies. They try to cure centralization with more centralization. But this leads to elitism and regulatory capture<\/a>. When corporations, well-funded nonprofits or well-connected donors team up with government agencies, the rest of us lose<\/a>. The federal government is the ultimate monopoly. The administrative state is largely unaccountable<\/a>; you can\u2019t vote the regulators out of office. Under the Obama administration, federal regulations have strangled some industries outright<\/a> and curtailed innovation in others<\/a>. No one voted to destroy the coal industry<\/a> or stop enforcing immigration law<\/a>. Clinton promises more of the same<\/a>. She promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will remove the Bill of Rights\u2019s safeguards against excessive government power<\/a>. She shows contempt for ordinary people<\/a>, their rights and their concerns, treating any who oppose her as enemies<\/a>. Only Trump promises to rein in the excesses of the administrative state<\/a> and return us to constitutional governance. He pledges to issue a moratorium on new regulations and to reduce \u201cthe anchor dragging us down<\/a>,\u201d the regulatory burden whose growth since 1980 has cost us as much as one-fourth of our gross national product<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Progressivism sacrifices the future for the present, and the present for special interests<\/a> and personal gain<\/a>. That is why economies stall<\/a> and birth rates collapse<\/a> in countries where progressive policies hold sway<\/a>. Our economy works by allowing the market to channel accumulated capital to investments that fuel productivity gains and innovation, leading to technological advances, more affordable products, higher wages and increased opportunities. Trump\u2019s tax cuts<\/a> would increase investment, boost productivity and wages and increase innovation and opportunities for all Americans.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Finally, progressivism rests on an implausible view of international relations. It seeks to diminish the nation-state<\/a> and the reach of American power<\/a>. The Obama-Clinton policy requires us to push traditional allies away<\/a> and seek relationships with avowed enemies<\/a>. Protecting Americans from harm<\/a> andmaintaining state secrets<\/a> are evidently a low priority. Trump would bring a much-needed dose of realism to foreign policy, restoring damaged friendships with Britain and Israel, restoring the integrity of our borders and protecting U.S. interests in international agreements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump has been giving serious speeches detailing his vision on the economy<\/a>,foreign policy<\/a>, crime<\/a>, immigration<\/a> and other central issues facing the country. He has been explaining policies that would strengthen the United States, revive the economy, and restore our social capital, especially in inner cities. Clinton, meanwhile, has been doing her best to distract us from the issues. Admittedly, Trump offers her many such opportunities<\/a>. But our country\u2019s direction is too important to decide on the basis of who is more vulgar than whom. Clinton\u2019s policies portend nothing but a weaker economy, a weaker society and a weaker America. I want a president who\u2019s on our side. I plan to vote for someone who can change course and return us once again to the task of making America great.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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He gives his reasons in the Washington Post: So why, given the response it gets me from colleagues and friends, do I support Trump?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}