A great many of Frank Miele’s “2 cents” columns are political in nature. I find that most of them are a variation of right-wing talk or TV shows — reduced to writings. A common theme of many of Frank’s articles is the impending destruction or downfall of the good old U.S. of A.

The solution is always the need to return to “common decency” — stopping the U.S. from becoming “a decadent culture” that rejects America values, resulting in “the unraveling of America.” 

Frank’s recent column, “Huckabee’s message is clear but not comforting” calls for America to follow Gov. Huckabee and other moralists such as Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Bobby Jindal and neurosurgeon Ben Carson and their “moralist” message. Their message and many of Frank’s are a variation of doom and gloom. 

One of the definitions of a “moralist” is “a person who has strong feelings and opinions about what is right and who tries to control the moral behavior of others.” Sounds like being “self-righteous” to me.

These “political” themes of the conservative right-wing argue from a vantage point of their greater virtue than others — especially those God-forsaken folks who hold moderate or liberal viewpoints who are portrayed as welcoming the resurrection of Nazism and Hitler. 

Frank is better than most of those folks he admires in that he will publish opinions of others. One never see a Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Bill O’Reilly allowing an opposing viewpoint on their shows without the condescending, bullying, and shouting techniques they employ. Frank is many things, but he is not a bully.

This never-ending message of the world coming to an end by Frank Miele and his political heroes seems to be misplaced. Presidential candidate Sen. Rafael “Ted” Cruz warning us that “the whole world is on fire” is matched by Frank’s harping away on “a worldwide decline into barbarism.” 

There certainly are problems in the world and in the United States but the hyperbole doesn’t match the reality. In the United States, crime rates have continued their decade-long downward trend and when is the last time you heard about someone being lynched because of the color of their skin. Maybe shot, but not lynched. 

Race tensions and problems still remain, but Frank and I grew up during a horrible period of Jim Crow laws, not to mention a time period when women knew their place and it certainly was not running for president of the United States or serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Vietnam War and the Cold War were part and parcel of our daily lives. Every American was touched by the Vietnam War and can name those from their towns who did not come home; there wasn’t any “Welcoming Home” recognition or appreciation for one’s service in a unpopular and divisive war.  

VA assistance to veterans and the poor performing economy of the early 1980s was summed up in Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 song, “Born in the USA.” It’s amazing how many thought the song was somehow patriotic, including President Reagan, who was using it for his re-election until “The Boss” put an end to that!

While in the military in the early 1970s, I experienced race riots on military bases and Navy ships out at sea. The anger between whites and blacks in the United States played out in riots that gutted communities. The formation of the Black Panthers throughout these communities and the United States was met by the resurgence of the KKK. 

Gay folks could not “come out” without facing the full wrath of the vast majority of our society, rather than the decreasing minority of the evangelical fractions of today. In the military being identified as gay, whether true or not, frequently resulted in a “blanket party” and then being drummed out of the service in the most disgraceful manner possible.

When the decrepit WW II vintage battleship, the USS Iowa, was brought out of mothballs to support Reagan’s 600-ship Navy, her 16-inch gun turret exploded in 1989, killing 47 crew members. The Navy’s immediate response was to label one of the young sailors killed as being homosexual and suicidal. The reality was the Navy’s poor maintenance and training associated with a WWII vintage ship and using leftover WWII power bags, caused the explosion. The ship was decommissioned once again shortly thereafter.

Real wars raged in the Middle East in 1967 and 1973 as Israel was facing being wiped off the map. These wars posed the real potential of bringing the Soviet Union and the United States into a “hot” nuclear war. In 1979, under President Carter’s watch, our Iran embassy was overrun and hostages held for over a year.

President Reagan’s election resulted in their release, but in 1983 our embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was overrun, blown up, and 63 embassy employees were murdered. Six months later, in the same country and same capital, our Marine barracks was leveled by terrorists, resulting in the slaughter of hundreds of Marines and other Americans at the compound. 

The murderers were never pursued by the Reagan administration and the vacuum created by America’s immediate withdrawal from Lebanon continues to haunt the area today — especially since America’s response was to simply bomb Beirut with World War II era battleships’ 16-inch guns, launching shells from 20 miles offshore, killing mostly innocent folks. 

The embassies overrun under President George W. Bush’s watch are too many to list, but Frank and others of his ilk can never remind us enough about the consulate in Benghazi being overrun on President Obama’s watch. Apparently our embassies and American lives only count under a Democrat president.

It’s ironic that a darn fine Republican president, George H.W. Bush, is relegated to a footnote by today’s conservatives because he actually raised taxes to pay for the outstanding leadership he displayed as a war-time commander-in-chief during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. 

There were well established right-wing conservatives in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s known as members of the “John Birch Society.” In response to the Birchers’ influence, conservatives like William F. Buckley, Jr. and his National Review magazine took them on as a fringe element of the conservative movement. 

The conservatives then feared the radicalization of the American right; the conservatives of today think the John Birchers were pikers. Then as now, the right wing of the conservative movement follow their own set of Christian principles and wants to impose such beliefs on all Americans. Isn’t this just a variation of radical Islam without the killing of those that disagree?

The Birchers believed “communists” were in all branches of government and they employed the same tactic used by many conservatives of today by labeling those that disagreed with them as socialists. 

I suspect Frank Miele would agree with the quote, “If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain.” But the reality is that today’s conservatives are not being led by those with intelligence; they are being led by those that repeat the never-ending mantra of the Tea Party’s fear-mongering — which is increasingly accepted as being the hallmark of a true conservative. 

 Muri is a resident of Whitefish.