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I recently attended a town hall meeting hosted by Rep. Sage Dixon. A prelude to the meeting was a young man beginning his political career, either as a politician or perhaps just as an involved citizen. His concept, while perhaps honorable, presented a very bleak picture of our country. If you listen to President Donald Trump or to someone like Rush Limbaugh, practically every other sentence talks about how bad things are in this country. They and their followers scream that the sky is falling and pants on fire.

I guess that I am looking at the country through rose-colored glasses because I don’t see a falling sky. As proof I will use some verifiable numerical facts. According to Donald Trump, he inherited a mess. President Barack Obama took over in the middle of a real mess, i.e., 10 percent unemployment, a bankrupt auto industry, millions of U.S. citizens without health coverage, over 150,000 U.S. troops fighting in the Middle East, and a banking,and housing industry in complete collapse. What Donald Trump took over from President Obama is a country with less than 5 percent unemployment, an American auto industry recording record profits, record stock markets, over 20 million previous uninsured Americans with health insurance, and less than 10,000 (still to many) American solders sill fighting an unjust war.

Maybe it is time for that young man, as well as many others among us to take off the blindfolds that they have been wearing for years and put on a pair of rose-colored glasses. It is amazing how good the world can look.

MARTY STITSEL

Sandpoint