Remembering Pearl Harbor, Media Role Reversal, Transition News

Gary Bauer, President, American Values

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Remembering Pearl Harbor - Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. Sadly, many children today do not have a clue about the significance of Pearl Harbor Day. This is a great time to speak to your children and grandchildren about the Greatest Generation and what it took to win World War II.

When American's involvement in World War II began, there wasn't much good news. There was defeat after defeat, retreat after retreat. Those Americans who lived through those dark days experienced something that no generation since has experienced -- the fear that we might lose the war and lose our freedom.

Many people, such as the British, felt such anxiety even more intensely. Those in France and Poland did lose their freedom and they suffered terribly.

Much has changed since Pearl Harbor and World War II. There have been great advances in technology, mass communication and travel. But human nature and the precarious position of liberty have not changed.

It is sad and dangerous that so many young Americans (other than those wearing the uniform) are more interested in condemning their country and second-guessing previous generations than they are in understanding what happened on this day 75 years ago and how each generation must defend liberty.

But so long as God gives me breath, I will continue to defend this great and exceptional nation and fight for our values!

Media Role Reversal - Yesterday, Donald Trump tweeted his outrage at the potential costs of Boeing's new Air Force One program. The company currently has a contract for $170 million to redesign the presidential aircraft. Some estimates suggest final costs could approach $4 billion.

Granted, Air Force One is a unique and highly specialized vehicle, but Trump thinks that is too much. When he said so, the media freaked out.

All day long, commentators were fretting about the president-elect's interference in businesses. Today's Washington Post has this front page headline: "Corporate America Unnerved By Trump."

I'm stunned by the media's sudden concern for the well-being of corporate America.

Where was the media's concern the past eight years as Barack Obama regularly attacked American companies and sandbagged whole industries with disastrous policies and regulations?

Have all these commentators forgotten that Obama went after the hospitality industry, the banking industry, the insurance industry, the drug industry, every energy business -- coal, oil, fracking and natural gas? I'm not even going to get into Obamacare, which hurt many small businesses and froze hiring.

I don't recall much media handwringing over Obama's repeated big government interventions in the private sector. I suspect this has more to do with the media's anti-Trump ideology than any genuine free market ideology.

Donald Trump is not the president of Boeing. He is president-elect of the United States of America, and he is signaling his intention to protect the American taxpayers.

Speaking Of Coal - There is a long history in the conservative movement of activists winning an election and then going back to sleep. The left never, ever does that. As I have reported, Planned Parenthood is bragging about 200,000 new donations since the election, and it is not alone.

The radical Sierra Club picked up 11,000 new monthly donors in November -- nine times as many as its previous best month. And the ACLU had a record haul of more than $7 million last month -- its biggest fundraising surge in the group's history.

The left is livid and raising money hand over fist. This is what we are up against, my friends.

These left-wing groups won't blow all that cash on a big Christmas party -- I mean winter solstice celebration. They will spend it aggressively attacking our values, doing everything they can to torpedo Trump's key cabinet picks and sabotage his Supreme Court nominee.

American Values needs your help to stay in the battle for faith, family and freedom.

I am begging you, friends, please do not repeat the mistakes conservatives have made in the past. I hope you will support our work at American Values. But if not AV, then please find some other group that is defending our values and support it.

But whatever you decide, don't assume the war is over. The political skirmishes may be done. The policy battles are just beginning.

Transition News - The Trump transition team today announced two more critical cabinet picks. Marine Corps General John Kelly has been chosen to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

The former head of Southern Command is known to be a border security hawk. Two years ago, he warned that our porous southern border had become an "existential threat" to U.S. security.

Trump has also chosen Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to serve as director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I don't think conservatives could hope for a better choice.

As attorney general of one America's leading energy producing states, Pruitt has spent years battling Obama's EPA, including its overzealous "climate change" regulations. While we all want clean air and clean water, there must be a balance that respects economic realities.

In other news, the Trump Thank You tour continued yesterday with a huge rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Trump vowed to unite the country, urging Americans to dream big. He also vowed to rebuild our economy with the biggest tax cuts since Ronald Reagan, adding that he would continue to urge companies to "Buy American and hire American."

Trump also promised to end illegal immigration. Trump said, "We will construct a great border wall, dismantle the criminal cartels, liberate our communities from the epidemic of gang violence and we will get rid of the drugs that are pouring into the country."

While the president-elect was saying "thank you" to his supporters, Vice President-elect Mike Pence was in Washington, D.C., speaking to the Heritage Foundation. Pence spoke about the Trump Administration's plans for its first 100 days, stating that our next president is "going to be in the promise-keeping business." Among the highlights:

• Trump will "repeal every unconstitutional executive order that President Obama signed."
• Obamacare will be repealed "lock, stock and barrel."
• Tax reform and regulatory reform will be major priorities.
• Trump will nominate a Supreme Court justice like Antonin Scalia.
• Our military will be rebuilt.

On that last point, Pence noted that "the average age of [military] aircraft is older than my son," Lt. Michael J. Pence, a Marine Corps pilot. "That's about to change, everybody," Pence said. The vice president-elect added, "I want to promise you the Obama era of weakening our national defense is over."
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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