High Noon at the Swamp

by Chris Noonan Funnell

Some of us came late to the realization that Donald Trump was the non-political, non-ideological, brash, bold thinker needed to get the change that most Americans had been longing for. I was among the idealists preferring other candidates who behaved better. As we have come to realize, however, politics has taken the low road lately and it takes a street fighter to get things done if we want to drain that swamp in D.C. The new sheriff in town is in a tough spot just like Gary Cooper’s Marshall Will Kane in High Noon because the status-quo big guns are out to put an end to him. The mature lawman, about to retire immediately following his wedding, asks for help from the townspeople to fend off the murderous Miller gang’s vendetta against him, but everyone – knowing Frank Miller is now coming back to lead the takeover of Hadleyville – has an excuse for not standing with him.

Prophetic of so many in Trump’s own Party who have not lifted a finger to help; some are in fact working for the other side. It is ugly but the hero Will stands firm and his bride Amy, a Quaker and a pacifist who wants her new husband to hang up his gun, threatens to leave on the arriving train. Kane is a steadfast man who can’t run from this do-or-die scenario in which the whole town opts for compromise with the bad guys. In the gun battle, the four criminals bite the dust. Amy has already boarded the train but at the sound of gunfire runs to find him still alive and together the two narrowly finish off the gang.

 I had never appreciated the 1952 classic until I began to see it as an allegory for the battle over the swamp in D.C. Amy is like the true patriot that breaks out of her comfort zone and bravely saves the day not once but twice for her upright but outnumbered husband.

 The past eight years were a lot like what the people of Hadleyville experienced; the people have been bullied by a greedy Democrat gang pushing their far left agenda while citizens cowered, afraid of pension loss, union pressure, IRS punishments meted out to non-complaints. Everyone’s afraid of financial collapse.

 Obama, whose un-American policies persecuted Christians, conservatives and Republicans like a bully in the schoolyard, set a lawless example by ignoring the Constitution and Congress with shocking executive orders that seemed to come almost daily. Progressives have gone off the deep end creating a death spiral of entitlements. The Democrat Party has come unglued, waging a wacky war of words with the collusion of the corrupt mainstream media.

 Far-left women have particularly come unhinged, organizing marches wearing pink vagina hats with their granddaughters in tow. And who is the loudest, craziest, most uncivil of them all? …our own U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren!

 Though she has accomplished nothing as senator, she is grandstanding for an absurd, meteoric ride to run for the presidency in 2020. While doing little for her constituents, she has found time in office to write two books and to make scenes in the Senate haranguing her way to our TV screens sending confusing messages about where she stands. Does she really care about the downtrodden? Then why step all over them as she climbs the ladder of success?

 Why lend yourself to the highest bidder on Wall Street, yet take a salary of $400K to teach one class at Harvard Law School? Why claim to be Native American to get minority status and privilege when it is as plain as the nose on her face she is white? Even the Cherokee tribe she claims ancestry from does not embrace her, but it is acknowledged that her 3X great-grandfather, Jonathan H. Crawford, did serve in the Indian Wars, a genealogist told the Boston Herald. “He is listed as serving in the company that rounded up Cherokees” for the infamous Trail of Tears which uprooted the Cherokee from Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee and forced marched them to Oklahoma.

 With such controversies being examined, the political scene is looking like the Wild, Wild West, but sure as shootin’ there is a challenger with the right stuff to replace the political opportunist and truly get to work for the commonwealth and for our nation. In fact he is being hailed as “The Real Diehl.”

 State Representative Geoff Diehl has represented the 7th Plymouth District for seven years with many credits to his name in leading fights for transparency and accountability in the State House. He has looked out for Massachusetts taxpayers and led the repeal of a gas tax that would have increased every year.

 Geoff (pronounced Jeff) blocked a 2014 effort to raise leadership pay raises by 75% by virtually camping out in the House to prevent the vote. He also looked out for our pocketbooks in proposing a ballot question on hosting the Olympics in Boston that would protect Massachusetts taxpayers from the massive debt other host cities have incurred.

 At a higher level, Geoff was quick to recognize the leadership and business acumen of candidate Donald Trump and co-chaired the Massachusetts campaign, a very good call.

  It will be good for Massachusetts to have a U.S. senator who is an ally of the president. We are going to need that with a governor and Legislature who do not support the Trump, like the people of Hadleyville who all had their reasons to turn their backs on the one who stood for law and order. Massachusetts voters need to get off the Warren train to nowhere and support Geoff Diehl.   ¨