I know that some will misunderstand me but that’s OK.

We recently witnessed something historic. We witnessed a sitting president win re-election having done absolutely nothing. To say it another way, everything that he did do was only to further the narrative that it’s still George W. Bush’s fault. I find that troubling, to put it mildly.

Those of us who are parents would not long tolerate that kind of behavior in our children. I suspect that after only a couple of times we would begin to correct that behavior otherwise we risk their growing up into adults who would continue to do the same thing. We would never tolerate that from our children. So why in the world do we tolerate it from the president of the United States?

I find it extremely upsetting that as a country we are becoming more and more of a society that doesn’t want to take responsibility for anything. If something goes wrong, if I didn’t get that promotion, if I didn’t get that raise, if I don’t have a nice car or house, then somebody else must’ve stolen it from me. Of course it makes no difference if you didn’t do anything to earn it. Ideas such as self-reliance, hard work, determination and honor are being deleted from our lexicon. And they’re being replaced with: “You’re rich and I’m not, so the government needs to take it from you and give it to me.”

I personally know some small business owners who have put their life’s blood, sweat and tears into making that business successful. But now those same people are being demonized because they have been successful. When I heard the president say “you didn’t build that,” I thought: What kind of arrogance do you have that would make you say that?

The country that I was born into 55 years ago I hardly recognize anymore. Yet I have faith in our God and in the American people that we will find a way to fix it and once again put the word “united” back where it belongs.

JERRY BRENNEMAN

Fort Wayne