The public is angry. Frustrated. Fearful. Caught in a web of
confusion over what is happening in their country, their families and their
governments. They see dysfunction in business, stores, state legislature and
Congress. They hear stories slamming and blaming people in political positions
and leadership. Then seem to believe what they hear without checking sources
and facts.
Interesting. I’m a fan of President Obama. I respect him as
a person and as our elected leader. I believe he is doing a very good job and
carefully tending to all of the parts of his job. His is an intellectual job to
discern what is important, what is possible to do, and what he is required to
do. How do these functions fit together? Do they mesh easily? Or do they come
together in a grinding mess? I suspect the latter!
Anyway, I hear radio talking heads slam the President and
accuse him of creating a mess that we will never work our way out of. But then
I recall who is talking and why they feel the way they do. First, they are
angry their failing candidate in the past does not occupy the White House. Second, they are trying
to lay the groundwork of distrust and fear against the President’s party so
their own party candidate (whoever that will be) will stand a chance of gaining
traction with the public and win election. So I hear tales of the motives of
Obama and the mistakes he has made. The priorities he is supposedly serving and
how awful these are in face of the alternatives.
And more of the same? Horrors, no! Anything but that, so the
campaign of fear and distrust is built higher and higher as time goes on.
Truth is much stranger than these tales.
And for those in America who value truth find the
means to uncover the history and the facts that make current events what they
are. They are nothing like what the talking heads are claiming. They are
talking ideology. They are talking political party lines. They are talking
about self service power and greed. They want that for themselves.
The rest of us have to ask these questions: “What
do we want our nation to be known for and to become? How do we make that come
to be? What can I do to help make this happen?”
Discerning answers to these questions is hard work. I know. I
have made it my business to delve into this material. It interests me. It does
not feed my ego, or my career or my financial well being. No; it feeds on my sense of security and well being that my nation is on the right
track and developing nicely.
I don’t fee safe and secure. I am bothered at the chaos in
our public life. I do not like the fact that we have an entire generation
threatened by drugs and dissolution. I shudder at the mindlessness of much of
our culture. I see with both eyes how the lowest common denominators among us
are served and sought after by so many businesses, opinion makers, money
grubbers and the like. The politicians are no better.
I see politicians twist words and meaning. It is hard to
know who to trust. Who is giving us the straight information? Who can we rely
on?
I tell you this, elected officials in the Congress hold
little of my faith and trust. They are so self serving. They are patently
dishonest in their representations of truth and fact. They manipulate the truth
to serve their goals. They cannot be trusted.
My distrust does not convey to the White House. I trust
Obama. I know him to be a man of principle and honesty. He is a serious thinker
and public policy architect. He is not building a temple of gold for himself.
He is deeply committed to making America safe, sound and supportive
of its people’s well being. In my bones I know this.
Pitted against him – yes, fervently pitted against him – are
political enemies who want to win elections, win congressional power, make laws
supporting their points of view, all without consideration of what is good for
the American people. If they have laid out those considerations, they have not
done a good enough job of communicating them in terms that are believable.
Angry, yes; I get this. I am angry at people who simply
won’t discuss the issues honestly and openly. If they were to do this, I think
we would find much to agree on and thus be able to make the necessary
compromises to get many things accomplished. We should not be enemies of each
other. We should be trusting of one another. In fact we must be trusting in one
another if anything of value is to be accomplished.
But fear? Am I afraid of anything? I guess I am: I fear
those who create images of fear and cast them before the ignorant and
unsuspecting people of our land. But this fear is made up. It is felt as real
by those who are subject to fear, but in reality, there is no basis for fear.
We are not dying. We are not stupid. We are not a failed nation. We are not
unimaginative or non-inventive. We are precisely the opposite of all of those
things!
Yes, we are a great nation. But enough is not right to make
us question why we haven’t fixed it by now. It doesn’t mean we can’t fix
things. It doesn’t mean we have no resources to fix things.
No, what it means is that too many people are standing in
the way of fixing things. And they think they win if they cast enough suspicion
at someone or a group of people claiming them to be the fault of our problems.
The last time this worked tragically was with Hitler and the German People. He
sold his people that the world was evil and crumbling and only they could fix
it if they eradicated the people to blame for the problems. Of course he
identified Jews, Gays and any other minority handy for the problems. His
solution? To eradicate them and move forward to make Germany great again! Such lofty
vision and thrust of power! And such evil.
Does this all sound familiar to you? Don’t be afraid to
answer that question. In fact take responsibility and courage to answer the question.
And then don’t be afraid, be ANGRY. At the people spreading false rumors, false
statements and false testimony.
June 8, 2016
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