A progressive, anti-Trump friend of mine sent me an article about a
topic in which he knew I would have an interest, and here is my response
in a Facebook post. (The topic involved the President Trump
administration eliminating the federal bird banding program).
I understand why many people voted for Trump, e.g., Democrats totally
ignoring the fact that the security of the country is a fundamental
necessity to achieve any other
worthwhile goals for society; however, too many actions by the
Trump administration in many different areas are overreaching and
unreasonable. Here is just one little, relatively minor example to make
the point. In the distant past, I also was a licensed bird bander, in
charge of other bird banders banding thousands of birds. Eliminating the
federal bird banding program and other programs designed to learn more
about the environment in which we live is very shortsighted and a
detriment to our own well-being. The rallying cries and research of the
past to "Save the Peregrine Falcon" and "Save the Bald Eagle,"
(especially relative to DDT) were not just about those birds - but an
appeal to recognize our own vulnerability to disruption of OUR OWN
reproductive system by harmful chemicals. Eliminating this program is
only one example of the extreme measures I see taking place today by the
Trump administration that Trump voters do not support. I am certainly
all in favor of decreasing waste and fraud in a determined, careful way,
but recent events show the pendulum swinging to be just as crazy as the
extreme proposals of many Democrats. Frankly, I do see the proposals of
many Democrats as being just as extreme, unreasonable, and not worth
supporting as the proposals and actions of Trump. So, here we are, many
people on both sides living in little boxes criticizing the people in
the other little box on everything. It is time for us to talk about each
topic separately and seriously to achieve real solutions to real
problems. We need to do this independently from the little boxes that
have been defined by others and in which many people now live.
Are we destined to swing from one extreme to the other? Can we focus
first on some general principles of agreement and then work from there?
Today's environment of raucous disagreements is not sustainable and is
only destined to cause tragedies. Can't we find a reasonable, moderate
approach to solve real problems, or are we only going to be controlled
and led by the extremists on both sides?
