Lately we have seen everything from school lunches to sneakers to the 4th of July politicized. Such a pity.

A greater pity is the politicization of the economy. The Left declares the economy is the opposite of what it is. Voices from the Left try to drown out the good news.

The improvements in the economy only benefit the rich. So they tell us. The tax cuts only helped the wealthy. So they claim. Hard facts brutally destroy their claims.

I can understand why politicians do this. They need to denigrate their opponents. They need to badmouth anything for which their opponents take credit.

In these times they feel they must oppose everything President Trump touches. They could not even bear the celebrations in Washington for the 4th of July. We all know that if a Democrat president had been in his place they would have heartily joined in.  They would have pushed for camera time.

I wish voices on the Left would change their rhetoric. An impossible wish, for sure. But imagine if they would declare their hatred of Trump but acknowledge our economy is improving the lot of most Americans. Or at least many million more than in the past.

“We despise Trump. We refuse to give him credit for anything large or small. But yes, the economy is doing well for more and more of the people of this country. And if we are elected it will improve more and help even more people.”

Yes, an impossible dream.

Why wish for it? Because it would be good for more of us to appreciate what a tonic fewer regulations and lower tax rates are for an economy.

This administration has certainly reduced regulations that govern our lives and businesses. And its tax reforms lowered taxes for most Americans. Directly and indirectly. To suggest these moves did not contribute to the growth in the economy is to stick your head deep in the sand.

The economy has responded the way it did to similar reforms in the JFK era. (President Johnson pushed through tax reforms that were fashioned by the Kennedy administration.) It has responded the way it did to similar reforms many decades ago. It has responded the way the economies of Japan, Germany, Britain and many other countries did with similar reforms.

The government is collecting more in taxes, despite the lower tax rates. This is because the economy is expanding and automatically throwing off more tax revenue. As economies did in the countries just cited. The countries that lowered regulations and tax rates.

Americans deserve to know this. They don’t deserve the distortions served up by Trump-hating politicians and media.

The haters claim, for instance, that the poor have received zip from the healthier economy. Tell that to the over 3 million folks who have stopped collecting food stamps. (Remember, 10 million joined the food stamp rolls during the Obama years.)

The haters claim minorities have been ignored in our economic expansion. Tell that to millions of them who have come off the unemployment rolls. The jobless rates for minorities are dramatically lower than they were. Unemployment has fallen twice as much for blacks as it has for whites.

The Wall Street Journal reminded us recently that more than 3 million blacks and Hispanics have jobs now than two years ago. A smaller percentage of black women are unemployed now than at any time in nearly 50 years.

We hear critics claim that poor folks might have work, but they have to work two jobs to survive. The facts say something else. About 5 percent of Americans hold more than one job. The figure has not changed in the last 9 years.

Critics tell us workers are not seeing wage gains. Another distortion. Average hourly pay is growing at a good clip. And growing faster than it was a few years ago.

There are lessons we can all learn, or re-learn, from this situation. Our economy has grown more healthy at a time when we have reduced government’s interference. (For regulations and taxes certainly interfere.)  In growing more healthy, it has improved the fortunes of most Americans.

We might be smart to try more of the same. And we should certainly think twice before raising tax rates and adding more government regulations.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.