President-elect Donald Trump must be successful in multiple areas, but the following are vital. Americans will be unforgiving in four years if he fails in these key areas.
Keep Social Security solvent. America is getting older. Fewer Americans have pensions they can count on because factories closed early. Unfulfilled promises were made to many Americans who worked for companies for years.
Unfortunately, and sadly, America currently cannot survive without monthly Social Security payments. Millions, getting large payments at early ages, have abused the system. This abuse must stop. New efforts must be made to stop lawyers, doctors and of course citizens from cheating the system. However, the elderly who have paid into the program all their lives expect it to be there and it should be.
Get rid of Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act is not even close to affordable. Medical insurance costs are rapidly rising all the time. Deductibles are increasing and, once again, Americans are suffering from medical care.
Allow insurance companies and citizens to buy and sell across state lines. Make Medicaid available to the very poor and allow those with pre-existing conditions to buy into Medicare. Hospitals and doctor bills are ever increasing and, sadly, this is the biggest part of the problem. As long as the government and insurance companies will pay the medical community, they will gladly bill them excessively.
The cost of medications and all forms of medical suppliers have gone out of the roof. Making medical insurance accessible and affordable to all will not happen if those who are billing the companies have free reign to gouge them.
Beef up national security: A wall is not the answer, but it is part of the formula. I've seen walls separating America's highways and suburban subdivisions. Many of these are taller and more formidable than what can be found on parts of our border with Mexico. We need to at least construct something of this nature.
Raise the numbers in our military. Trump should add 50,000 troops to our military his first year in office. Morale in the military is at an all-time low. Promote those who have been in for several years as new ones are brought into the service.
Promote freedom to bear arms. Everybody carrying a gun and banning all Middle Easterners from entering the country will not prevent attacks like the one that recently happened at Ohio State University.
Unfortunately, some people spend too much time on the computer watching too much crazy stuff and then act crazy. We can only be thankful that a university police officer was able to shoot the attacker before he stabbed anyone else with his butcher knife. Too bad a student didn't have a gun and could have shot the attacker more rapidly.
I'm not excited about college students being allowed to carry guns on campus, but as long as there are crazy people in the world, everyone should have the chance to protect themselves. A strong police force, military and the freedom to protect ourselves are all vital in this nation.
Bring jobs back home. The announcement that Carrier in Indianapolis will keep approximately 1,000 jobs in Indiana is terrific news for Trump and for our country. He must also deliver the lower tax rate he promised to corporations.
I'm not excited about paying more for anything made in Mexico, Vietnam or China. However, if we start adding a small tax to these goods coming into the country with a lower corporate tax rate here, more corporations will find it cheaper to make their products in America and will come home.
Illegal immigrants pouring into the country must stop. And we must stop hiring them. The only problem is who will work our jobs? I see Asians, Hispanics, Indians and Middle Easterners working all over America. Possibly all of these people are legal. I don't know. If some of them go home, will Americans show up to take these jobs? They probably won't if they can sit home and draw government assistance without working.
Trump has to do a lot more than this, but these are areas where he has to start.
Finally, I am concerned about all the names circulating for Trump appointments. Gen. David Petraeus? Sarah Palin? She resigned as the Alaska governor. How could we ever count on her? Mitt Romney? He's a backstabber. Would Jesus have made Judas the chief disciple after he led the mob to his very place of prayer? I do realize Peter went on to do great things after denying he even knew Jesus. However, Jesus understands forgiveness and restoration better than Americans do. Putting past failures into positions of leadership is not a great formula for success.
People will not be forgiving of Trump if these appointments fail, resign or backstab us, even though any appointment has these capabilities.
Glenn Mollette is an American syndicated columnist and author.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 7 vital ways to improve our country