I cannot and will not endorse political candidates due to the judicial canons. It’s unethical. But I love America and the opportunities it’s given to me and my family.
I come from a humble background. My dad was a TV technician. My mom a real estate professional. Neither Dad nor Mom graduated college. They just worked hard. Dad built an electronics service business into a successful enterprise. My mom was a top real estate sales person for 2 different agencies. Both started with nothing (except each other). They are now happily retired real estate investors living out their golden years in Texas. Only in America can people of such humble beginnings accomplish such success and wealth accumulation.
They taught me the truth in Zig Ziglar’s mantra, “Success is dependent on glands—sweat glands.”
Thanks to Mom and Dad, I graduated college. After selling copiers, typewriters (back when every office used them), over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, then biologicals (pediatric vaccines), I went to law school. I practiced law for a couple years for a corporate firm, as an Asst. DA with Sedgwick County, then hung my shingle and practiced law as a solo practitioner for almost 14 years before becoming a judge. I also followed my parents’ lead while in private practice by investing in real estate.
Lots of credit for where I am now certainly goes to Mom and Dad, and my wife, Mona, and three awesome daughters, but the bulk of the credit goes to the American Way. I am proud to live in a country that embraces the dreams and aspirations of individuals driven to succeed by the success of those who came before them. This makes me a patriot. I love the Anthem and the Pledge of Allegience, and cringe when others express their hatred of them and for the country they represent.
This is why I take every opportunity I can to point out how much better America is than other countries, even when dealing with the coronavirus crisis. I am proud that it seems that, at least at this stage, America is responding better to this crisis than most other nations. This is most obvious with the death per million number. As of April 1, 2020, the USA’s deaths per million is 13. Of the top 10 nations (number of cases), only Germany is better at 10. While this number will only get worse, at least 3 of the top 10, Italy, Spain and the U.K., are adding so many new deaths each day that we will never surpass them, and most others as a percentage of population are likely to stay well ahead of us as well. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
Don’t say “but what about China and Russia?” No one with a brain trusts their numbers because they are totalitarian regimes that tamp down information along with the freedom of their citizens.
America is also dealing with a population of 327 million, which dwarfs all of these other nations, so keeping this most heinous measurement under control is notable, and I’m proud to be in the most capitalist of these counties, the most free even with the restrictions we are living under at the moment, at this point in history. We are experiencing the bounty of Americans’ freedom to do business and engage in capitalist exchange in the face of a pandemic. We are rising to this unique challenge just as we did in other difficult times because of these freedoms.
One final note to consider. ALL of the other top 10 nations are less capitalist and more socialist than the USA. Their health care systems are also more socialist than ours. Freedom matters. Freedom spurs entrepreneurs and businesses to take care of the sick and elderly. Freedom spurs businessmen like Elon Musk and Mike Lindell, and great American companies like Ford and General Motors, to sacrifice profits to make personal protection devices and ventilators just like many like them did when we went to war against the Nazis. They don’t have to be forced to do anything because they know what country they owe their freedoms and success to.
I am a patriot. I love America. I know we’ll emerge from this very dark tunnel stronger than before, and probably stronger than all other nations with less freedoms and opportunities. Please don’t accuse me of endorsing any candidate. I endorse America.
Paid for by the Committee to re-elect Judge Kevin Mark Smith 