Alfonse D'Amato

How can we make a great country greater?

Posted

In this time of Thanksgiving, we would do well to recognize the strength of our democracy and be thankful we can vote freely for whomever we choose. I urge all of the protesters and naysayers to put down your signs and give President-elect Trump a chance to prove himself instead of making wild attacks against him.

Believe me, I know what it’s like to lose, and I understand the resentment people can feel when the candidate they support loses. However, the office of president deserves a certain degree of respect.

When President Obama won, there were people who were upset, but we didn’t see this type of dubious behavior. Protesters are burning American flags in the streets, and blocking access to streets in New York City. That’s not what freedom of speech is about. These people are focused more on creating chaos and destroying property. The First Amendment was not designed to protect this type of behavior.

The nasty presidential campaign is over. Trump will be our president, and it’s time to begin thinking with an open mind and supporting the change this country must undertake immediately, specifically when it comes to immigration and the economy.

We must start with the economy (I won’t call you stupid). Most Americans would agree that aside from national security, the economy is their biggest concern. Trump’s proposed tax cuts have been another focus of scrutiny, with many crying that they will make the rich richer.

If you carefully examine Trump’s tax plan, one of the main initiatives is to lower America’s corporate tax rate. Currently we have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, at 39.1 percent. Hungary is now undercutting Ireland to take the title of lowest corporate tax rate, at 9 percent. Can you blame large corporations who are fleeing the U.S. and settling in tax havens such as Ireland? They’re taking jobs and revenue with them.

This isn’t just affecting the large corporations. Ask owners of small businesses on Long Island what is hurting their business, and they’ll tell you it’s high taxes and overregulation. Trump’s proposal to cut the corporate tax rate from 39 to 15 percent is doable, and could bring jobs and revenue back to our country.

The consensus on both sides of the aisle is that our tax code is broken, and we must find a way to compete with all those countries with lower rates. This is an opportunity to bring dollars back from overseas and generate revenue that can be used to fund infrastructure spending.

Next, we must tackle immigration. For decades, both Republican and Democratic presidents have failed to do enough to control and secure our borders. Our security on the borders is a joke. We now have illegal immigrants coming across and intentionally surrendering to federal border patrol agents to avoid being turned away. Immigrants who surrender are taken to states like Arizona and Oklahoma, and are supposed to meet with local immigration and Customs Enforcement agents within 15 days, even though agents have acknowledged that they can’t guarantee that immigrants are properly tracked and show up for those follow-up appointments.

Trump has remained firm in his stance on immigration, and is committed to deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in this country. These are gang members and drug dealers who are not here to pursue the American dream. They are here to give their criminal enterprises an opportunity to prosper.

We are at war against terrorism. Every day, ISIS openly threatens and calls for attacks in the U.S. We have seen the damage that a lone wolf is capable of. By securing our borders, we can help safeguard our country from these threats.

Mexican cartels dig tunnels and send drug mules across the border to get their product into America. Long Island is currently combating a heroin and opioid crisis, and many of those drugs are manufactured in China and then shipped or smuggled to the cartels in Mexico, and then into the U.S. Our children are dying because of the lack of security on the border, and we can no longer sit back and do nothing.

Strengthening the economy and passing tougher immigration laws are issues that both Republicans and Democrats should support, and could be used as a building block for working together to pass more reform bills.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.