I am intrigued by Captain Dennis Benson’s strong partisan opinions expressed in his letter to The Citizen. Of special interests were his inaccurate assertions of empirically verifiable facts used to bolster his arguments. Without getting too far into the weeds, consider the following:
He asserts that retirement accounts (presumably based on equities) are more profitable when the Presidency is controlled by Mr. Trump and Republicans than under President Obama. This is factually inaccurate.
One can use any stock index, but compare numbers of the DOW Jones Industrial Average. The average on the day that Obama became President was 7,949, and eight years later when Mr. Trump became President it sat at 19,827 representing a 149 percent gain.
Today the DOW closed at 25,381 representing a 28 percent gain since Trump’s inauguration. In fact, the DOW would be required to reach 49,369 by the time President Trump leaves office to equal the percentage gains during President Obama’s tenure.
In the last 30 years the DOW gained 227 percent during Clinton’s presidency and 45 percent during George H.W. Bush’s term, but it lost 25 percent during George W. Bush’s tenure.
Captain Benson laments the doubling of the national debt and the loss of worldwide economic strength of the U.S. economy under the Obama presidency. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office reported in September that the national debt grew by $222 billion in only the last year and now consumes 8.3 percent of our gross domestic product (the highest ever by a long shot). It will surpass $1 trillion by the end of President Trump’s first term.
That figure is just under twice as much as Obama added in two full terms while fighting the staggering depression he inherited from George Bush. Gross Domestic Product has grown steadily since 2010 (after the recession) with little difference between the Trump and Obama quarterly numbers.
One can quibble about what the numbers mean because the indices Captain Benson chose provide unreliable assessments of presidential functioning since so many factors outside a president’s control can influence them.
The national debt tripled while Ronald Reagan was president, but no one is ready to call him a liberal. Likewise, your IRA rose in value higher than any other 8 years with Bill Clinton in the White House, but no one is ready to call him a fiscal conservative.
Captain Benson’s main assertion is that once a group is so filled with animosity toward its opponents, they will believe any lie and ignore any semblance of decorum to further their cause regardless of whom it victimizes.
He applies this assertion to Senate Democrats in their unsuccessful attempts to thwart Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation as well as local Democrats who succeeded in changing at-large to district voting in Fayette County.
Ironically, Captain Benson’s letter strongly supports his hypothesis. His unbridled indignation against his political opponents impairs his ability to separate fact from fiction. He is willing to invent or believe statistical fabrications to supplement what he considers evident torts because he feels righteous in harboring great animosity toward his nefarious foes.
The important point is not to castigate Captain Benson, but rather to recognize that if political animosity can cloud a veteran Navy captain’s judgment, it can do the same to any of us.
It should be a call for everyone to stop watching and reading insular news feeds more interested in fomenting fear and resentment than elucidating truth.
Dave Aycock
Fayetteville, Ga.
Testing.
Dave,
EXCELLENT letter from two aspects: First off, your even-handed, rational tone is commendable. How refreshing not to read a rant. Second, your points are so well-taken. The standouts: (1) How you pointed out how we need to remember so many factors can influence a person’s perceived performance (” . . .assessments of presidential functioning since so many factors outside a president’s control can influence them.”) (2) How political animosity can interfere with keeping an open mind. (3)Avoiding insular news feeds, which can be a real challenge.
Frankly, I’m surprised more people haven’t commended your piece. I circulated it to members of a discussion group I’m in, and each person who responded gave it a thumbs up. Don’t let the silence fool you!
P.S. Did you major in English or journalism?
Providing your historical retirement data sources may help support your conflicting opinions to Captain Benson’s letter. Otherwise and as it stands, your letter if fluff and simply contributes to more ideological smoke. The captain is correct in his assessment of Fayette County’s and particularly the BOE’s capitulation of racially motivated districting litigation. One might reasonably question why, but it happened as he described and the results are as one can readily see today. If you need my sources, look no further than the redistricting court case (or ask for specifics).