Democrats have been engaged in what passes for introspection as they struggle to understand why they lost in 2024. They’ve concluded, as a general matter, that Americans just aren’t very smart. In fact, Americans are plenty smart, and they’ve noticed that Democrats are manifestly disdainful of what’s best for America.

Here is Michael Cohen from MSNBC saying it is a terrible idea to work towards bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US:

Of all the illogical, wildly incoherent and downright bizarre aspects of President Donald Trump’s tariff war, there is perhaps nothing more inexplicable than the White House’s fixation on restoring and reshoring American manufacturing.

It’s a goal that is not only unachievable; it’s a terrible idea that ignores America’s key comparative advantage as a provider of global services.

That must thrill all the workers in the U.S. who mine and build things. It is as if Cohen and other Democrats learned nothing from all the supply problems during COVID and how bad it is to depend on China.

Representative Jasmine Crockett had her own take, which is that many jobs are just beneath Americans:

She doesn’t mind forced and child labor in China and other countries, or having Mexicans do jobs. She and other Democrats would clearly love people in the United States being dependent on the government for their entire lives rather than working their way up.

AOC and Bernie Sanders go around the country railing against the rich. Here is a hint for them and their crowds: Musk, Bezos, the Waltons, Gates, Buffett, Zuckerberg, and most other billionaires started with nothing. They have figured out ways to get rich and, in the process, created millions of jobs and made other people rich.

Rockefeller, Ford, Edison, Carnegie, Mellon, and other extremely rich people started with nothing and developed products or invented things that made them and their families rich. It also made America the richest country in the world in a very short time. America got rich because of capitalism, not because of big government and dependence on government.

Democrats have worked extremely hard to destroy oil, coal, natural gas, and other mining jobs. This greatly harms everyone, especially the poor and middle class, because reasonably priced energy helps make a country rich.

Democrats vote against having mentally and physically able people work to earn government benefits. It is a true shame that anyone believes it is a good policy to tax other people to benefit people who can work but would rather stay home and stay dependent on the government. This leads to generational poverty.

Soda jerks in 1948. Public domain.

As for my family history:

A great-grandpa was a barrel maker. One grandpa was a baker, and another was a farmer. My dad worked at Western Union for 41 years and started out on a bicycle delivering telegrams.

My mother was a homemaker until I was sixteen, a vital job. She and my father taught my brother and me to work and study.

I had a brother-in-law who had to drop out of school to farm in 8th grade because his parents died. He became a coal miner. He could put together everything. I was jealous.

I was a paper boy at age nine until 14. I worked 7 days a week, 365 days a year, except for short vacations. The most I made was around $7 a week, but I appreciated that.

At 15, I detasseled corn for $1.10 an hour. I also worked at the fair washing dishes for $1 an hour, and I was a busboy.

In high school, I worked at a drugstore stocking shelves, cleaning, and being a soda jerk for $1.10. I got a raise to $1.25 for my good work.

I also worked at a McDonald's, in a dorm, filling toilet paper orders at college, doing maintenance at the fairgrounds, and other various jobs, all for under $2 per hour.

Not once did I believe, nor did my parents tell me, that any of these jobs were beneath me. Thank goodness.

Americans should be very thankful that we finally have a President who knows that we must bring manufacturing back to maintain America as a great and wealthy nation. We should also be thankful that he is working very hard to reduce the power and wealth of the government and transfer it back to the people, where the founding fathers wanted it. That is the opposite of what a dictator would do.