Politics
The Panegyric Cabinet Meeting
Like a Roman emperor receiving his panegyric from his trusted and loyal subjects, the odd video of the first full cabinet meeting offered to the media last month, June 12 2017, is quite disturbing and alarming. I half expected to see each one of his cabinet members kneel in front of Trump to kiss his ring before they left the room. This is absolutely not something that happens in America. And yet, it is.
Anybody who believes in America, its implied stand against kings and personality cults, should be just as alarmed as I am. We don’t need Jonestown Kool-Aid. We don’t need a “Dear Leader.” “Dear Leaders,” they belong in North Korea. What we need from our representatives here in America is real work, transparency (not laws crafted in senatorial secrecy), a respect for law and order, an appreciation for traditional American protocols, a respect for our American government institutions, more civil discourse and inclusion, less concern for the pettiness of conceited personal image and then we need government officials championing our freedom and democracy instead of groveling at the feet of someone who fancies himself the newly appointed sovereign.
Fear Itself Does not make America First
There was a U.S. President in the last century who came from a family of wealth. He offered to the American people a statement for their consideration. It may not have been any type of pompous executive order. But it was definitely a little more hopeful than the current chaotic disruption that defines today’s White House as it had taken a clear stand against the unreasonable, over imagined fears people might harbor.
The idea was simple as much as it was reassuring: “the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.” We should remember that. Reacting hysterically and irrationally to suggestions that the sky is falling will typically lead to rash, uninformed decisions. And these decisions may vary dependent upon what side of the bed you get up on or from which direction the wind blows or what acorn happens to hit you on the head. This is never a good thing.
Rather than inciting panic and taking advantage of the hidden fears that people might have, our President from the last century made a deliberate decision to instill hope into the hearts of people. We, as Americans, can meet any challenge. And we can do it as Americans who believe in liberty and justice for all. It is much different from the messages conveyed by rival totalitarian states or by the despotic tyrants our current President might admire and praise. “And justice for all,” if you notice, is not justice for some; not justice for only Americans; it’s “and justice for all.”
America is not first because it hides its head in the sand. America is not first because it embraces an isolationism like we tried to embrace before World War II. America is not first because it denies evidence produced by scientific research or attempts to villainize scientists in the face of evidence that proves “the world is round and not flat.” America is first because we believe in liberty and justice for all. We are ready to meet any challenge and confront any foe who might want to threaten our liberty even if it comes from within.
Our principals are based upon traditions of tolerance and empathetic religious influences that encourages us to reach out to others, promoting our ideals of freedom, liberty and justice to all nations even when it means there is a chance that the freedom we advocate might cause deranged people to take advantage of our generosity and our openness. It may even cause them to try to attack us. But we need to take that risk. Without that balance pragmatism we are no better off than the many despotic, autocratic countries in the world afraid of their own shadows and paranoid that around every corner is the next boogieman. Those types of countries are perfectly willing to sacrifice liberty and justice in order to preserve their presumed security.
“America First” is not a notion that needs to be promoted if you really believe in America. In fact, that slogan should be avoided if you are true to what really makes America great. That idea about being “first” was tried by the Nazi’s when it was “Germany first” and it was that exact slogan of “America First” that was herald by Nazi sympathizers here in America before World War II. Any historian with the most meager of credentials will tell you just how much isolationist ideas contributed to the events that led up to World War II. Had those ideas been kept in check there is a good chance World War II could have been avoided.
So, we know, from the lessons of history and reinforced by centuries old biblical lessons (i.e. Matthew 20:16), the idea that we should turn selfishly inward to be “first” will certainly only make us last. Refocusing on what really is important about America; making liberty and justice first, working on projects that are not exclusively about ourselves, doing things for others, being the good neighbor, like we always have done in the past, is the only way America keeps its position as the leader of the free world. It is the only way that America can be first. It is the only way America will be first.
Off-Color Remarks in Jokes
The problem with Colbert’s inclusion of an off-color remark in the joke he told last week is that now, instead of keeping the focus of attention on Trump’s reckless, baseless, unsubstantiated, totally unthoughtful, untruthful and outrageous claims about a former President that might highlight for the general public Trump’s incompetency as a leader, the focus of attention is now on Colbert’s controversial remark. The focus is no longer where it should be. For a political joke to be effective, you need to keep the focus of attention squarely directed on the target of the joke, not on yourself.
But, on the other hand, I don’t believe the FCC has much of a chicken leg to stand on if they want to consider fining Colbert given that the word Colbert used means something totally benign with the formal use of the word in the English language. If you look the word up in any Google search, the definition is: “a male bird, especially a rooster.” So, to the FCC chairman and his crusade to spend time and money to investigate something that would have been outright dismissed by any other sane, less vindictive administration, I only have one thing to say: “Cock-a-doodle-do.” Besides, the less time the FCC spends “investigating” something that doesn’t need to be investigated, the more time the FCC and congress can get back to destroying our internet protections and making your life on the internet less secure and more annoying.
Presidential Mouthwash
It’s pretty obvious that the controversial portion of Stephen Colbert’s joke contained a statement that was quite inappropriate. And I think Colbert should offer an apology. Also, to further differ with Colbert on that topic, of course Trump’s mouth is good for other things.
For example, Trump’s mouth is good for telling Billy Bush how great it is to be able to grab things he shouldn’t. Or exclaiming how former Presidents have dressed-up in stealthy black attire to sneak into his towers to bug his every conversation. Or how the Intelligence community knows less than he does about the fairytale of Russian hacking. “Fake news” is Trump’s mouth’s middle name. Therefore, Trump’s mouth is good for anyone who aspires to be a despot or who wants to disgrace our American form of democracy.
For those cases, Trump’s mouth is the perfect useful tool. No longer is it just a pen for Putin’s prize Rooster. Speaking of which, that also now explains why I always thought I saw feathers flying around Trump’s head after ever watching him speak. It all makes sense now.
The Signpost Up Ahead and 10 Other Reasons Why the Travel Ban is Wrong
Trump’s Travel Ban is so wrong in so many ways. Listed below are 10 of those reasons why:
- It goes against the spirit of our Declaration of Independence and of our Constitution—Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies to all people.
- Our Declaration and Constitution is a proclamation to the world and it is inclusive not exclusive; a universal idea.
- Our Declaration of Independence states: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
- The 14th Amendment guarantees constitutional rights to all people (not just to citizens of the United States of America).
- So, subsequently, it is necessary that our migration policies follow a similar pattern of fairness and justice.
- Security experts in general believe the travel ban is a bad policy that is bound to backfire by giving violent groups who have made themselves sworn enemies against our ideals of religious tolerance and freedom a new recruiting tool for their brutally deranged and deadly plots.
- 100 former government officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations signed a letter to the administration urging that the President “revisit and rescind” the executive order given that it is “counterproductive from a security standpoint, and beneath the dignity of our great nation.”
- One of the signers of the letter, four-star General Michael Hayden, former CIA and National Security Agency Director (a Bush II appointee), has made it clear in several recent interviews how ill-advised, short sighted and unnecessarily reckless this policy is. Consider the statement he made in a January 30th interview: “What we’re doing now has probably made us less safe today than we were Friday morning before this happened because we are now living the worst jihadist narrative possible, that there is undying enmity between Islam and the West.”
- We are a country of exiles from our very beginning; a place where people seek refuge to escape persecution suffered in their country of origin.
- To discriminatingly close the door on those seeking the hope America offers is a betrayal of who we are and a failure to properly honor our own heritage.
- The travel ban promotes an isolationist mentality which is the policy that has been cited by many historians as a top contributing factor that led us into World War II.
- The Ancient Roman Empire followed a similar course of closed-minded immigration mismanagement which contributed significantly to its downfall; some historians even point to it as the main reason why Ancient Rome fell.
- We lose the public relations benefit that manifests itself when new migrants escaping unbearable circumstances are allowed sanctuary in America.
- When people learn how free America really is, especially free of the corruption that plagues their former countries, they become a Voice of America that is even louder and more effective than the government sponsored Voice of America itself as they inform family and friends around the world that America is exactly what it promotes itself as being and even better.
- The travel ban negatively impacts our economy as tourism drops, as skillset levels drop, as technological advances decline and as we lose our standing in the world as the credible voice of Freedom and Liberty.
- Tourists from other non-targeted countries no longer feel safe nor are they able to take us seriously about our commitment to freedom when we fail to honor those chiseled words that rests inside the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
- Science and technology are at the core of our success as a modern world power.
- It’s a good thing we didn’t have the same intellectually challenged travel ban mentality in the 1940’s that would have prevented the rocket scientists and physicists escaping enemy nations from being allowed to enter our country.
- It is doubtful we would have been the first to split the atom without that happening.
- That realization necessarily implies that Nazi Germany would have likely been the first to split the atom (and that wouldn’t have been good).
- It is doubtful our country would have the technical leadership position we now enjoy if we had no reason to build the computers and the rockets that propelled the space race to its final conclusion by being the first country to land a man on the moon.
- We lose our power to effect Democratic change in critical non-Democratic areas of the world.
- We lose our ability to see that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
- And finally, we lose what makes America great.
This executive order that Trump wants to enact is nothing more than a disturbing anti-American display of demagoguery. That so many have closed their minds to what this really is, some even going as far as to betray our own traditional American sensibilities in actually promoting it, makes it all the more disturbing and all the more alarming. It is so alarming, in fact, that it seems to me that we are marching blissfully unaware into a completely surreal goose-stepping episode in American history.
America isn’t noticing that signpost up ahead if it chooses to allow this smallminded but completely un-American display of demagoguery to resurface unchallenged. Considering all the other bizarre things that have been happening with this unthoughtful presidency, it’s not too farfetched to believe that at any moment Rod Serling could step into the frame to quietly make a poignant but intellectually sobering announcement how America now finds herself smack dab in the middle (short pause) of “the Twilight Zone.”
REFERENCES
- Our Founding Documents
- NPR Interview of General Hayden
- Letter from the 100 former government officials to the Trump Administration
- Pixabay.com – Map of the World Human Group Image
The Great American Presidential Apprentice
Coming January 20th at 6:00 AM PST/7:00 AM MST
Stay tuned for the Premier of “The Great American Presidential Apprentice,” the new world leader Reality TV show you don’t want to miss is coming this January 20th. As President-Elect he has nearly caused one international incident after another from China, to Japan, to NATO and then throwing in a Russian Hacking denial or two for grins, but he’s just getting started. Just wait until he becomes President on January 20th. Populist autocrats all around the world can’t wait either.
Watch as he fires Congress while his supporters cheer with glee. Then watch him fire the Supreme Court as they cheer some more. And then watch him fire the Constitution but not before steamrolling over the Bill of Rights amidst ever more louder cheers (even the beloved second amendment does not get a reprieve). In addition to his Constitution defacing antics, “Draining the Swamp” will take on a whole new Reality TV meaning as he successfully convinces us that he needs to fill up the swamp in order to drain it.
No Presidential Press Conference will be as much fun to watch as the ones he has planned for his “Press on Trial” segment. All those nasty people in the press corps will be put on trial and then, you guessed it, fired. Watch as he deflects attention away from questionable lawsuit settlements to some poor group of Broadway entertainers whose only crimes were that they asked that the rights of others be respected.
Watch as he dismantles your democratic institutions right before your very eyes, magically and then replaces your republic with a fiefdom. The White House will never be the same. In fact, it won’t be because it is being renamed. Henceforth, it is now, “The Great House.”
So, tune-in on January 20th! It will be like a having a Political Rally right in your very own living room! America will be great again!!! And, oh, by the way, he is also renaming America to the “United States of Greatness,” but, then, soon to be just, “Great, the Country,” because he intends to fire all the States too. Additionally, everyone must now salute the red, white and combed-over flag.
And, for all of you who belong to questionable faiths who should not be let into the country, don’t forget to wear your official state issued religious identification badges because, afterwards, you might win an all-expense paid trip to his new resort, “The Taj Mahal Luxury Internment Villas,” near the new wall site. And don’t pay any attention to those bellhops who look like armed guards. As long as you don’t go anywhere, they won’t bother you.
*Check local listings for availability and times (times may vary).
Russian Hacking and Other Insecurities
It really is beside the point whether the Russian hacking actually helped Trump win the election. I don’t think that the intelligence communities ever claimed that they had such evidence. The CIA, FBI and the other intelligence agencies repeatedly claimed that the evidence only showed that the Russians were responsible for hacking our computer networks and that this effort was intended to benefit Trump. Trump repeatedly denied that the Russians could be responsible; over and over again, doing as much as possible to cast doubt upon and discredit the various intelligence agencies at every chance he could. Now it appears that Trump might concede a little bit by acknowledging that maybe there was some hacking by the Russians but careful to qualify that this hacking didn’t help him win the election.
While it is difficult to quantify, it is not difficult to understand how the result of the collected hacked information appearing on WikiLeaks, each week a new set of hacked data presented during the campaign, kept negative attention focused on Clinton’s e-mail server scandal and alleged Clinton Foundation issues. It is difficult to argue that this did not have an effect on the election. But, even so, the not so easily quantifiable presumption that there may have been an effect on the election is distinct and separate from the election result itself which, obviously, is something we can easily quantify. So, absent other evidence, it could never really be argued that the election result is not valid based upon this presumption alone without a great amount of difficulty.
Regardless, Trump continues to put his self-interests above his country. If the President-Elect is unable to comprehend the duty he has to protect the security of his country even above his own interests, how can he be expected to protect its people and the democratic values our country holds dear? Is this really the type of characteristic we want in a President?
The fact that we have a President-Elect who is so insecure about his own election result that he would think the evidence that implicates that the Russians hacked our systems necessarily implies that his election result is invalid may be another indication of just how lacking in character and unqualified a President-Elect we have. Most normal statesmen (and/or stateswomen) would be more worried about protecting our country rather than protecting some less meaningful election result. The last President that might have been accused of having this much insecurity is Nixon.
Interestingly and similarly, that President also went to great lengths in his efforts to protect his 1972 election result even going as far as becoming involved in a conspiracy to cover-up a crime. It’s amazing how more things change the more they remain the same. So, if anyone had any doubts before, it’s pretty clear to me now where this Presidency is headed.
Things that Might be Beyond Repair
There is still a mistaken belief in some corners of public opinion that there was something offensive and inappropriate about the speech Brandon Dixon gave at the end of the performance of “Hamilton” that Mike Pence attended a few months ago in November. This belief, which gained popular attention by comments Trump made on Twitter, deserves to be properly reconsidered. Mike Pence, in his own words, wasn’t offended nor should he have been. Pence may have recklessly left it open to others regarding judgement, and that might have also propelled this mistaken belief that there was something offensive said, but, the comments made by Dixon were quite benign and perfectly appropriate. Dixon’s brief comments are as follows:
“We, sir — we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”
It was a short, respectful and positive statement. Additionally, it was a plea intended for proper and respectful consideration. The idea that this is an inappropriate comment is absolutely absurd. The statement promotes the core concept behind the production of “Hamilton.” Ironically, this incident highlights the whole reason why we revolted against England. Our pleas were not being properly considered by the king. The notion that political statements should not be made in this Broadway play is also ridiculous given that the whole play is a political statement that celebrates our American heritage and our American ideals. Our American ideals of liberty and justice can never be inappropriate no matter where they are spoken.
Furthermore, from an interview after the incident, Pence commented, “When we arrived we heard a few boos, and we heard some cheers. I nudged my kids and reminded them that is what freedom sounds like.” Pence’s statement contradicts another prevailing misconception that the “boos” Trump may have tweeted about was a result of the plea made by Dixon at the end of the play (Trump tweeted that the “Hamilton” cast “Harassed” Pence). The “boos,” according to Pence, happened before the play even began, before the statement was read aloud and not by the “Hamilton” cast but by random members of the audience who, obviously, were exercising in their own way, albeit, somewhat unsophisticatedly and not very respectfully, their freedom of speech. In any case, the “boos” definitely were not sponsored by nor were they encouraged by the “Hamilton” cast. And, to be honest, after watching the video, there seemed to be more cheers than “boos” for Mike Pence when he walked into the auditorium.
“Hamilton” is a play about dignity and diversity, how an illegitimate, but brilliant foreign born child of a British merchant from minor aristocratic origins rose to become a founding father of our nation. The comments Dixon made were perfectly legitimate given the content and the context of the play and the nervous aftermath of the recent election. People want reassurance from our President-Elect that he will be what he said he would be: “the President of all.”
But, that is not what we get. What we get instead is the exact opposite. Instead of addressing their legitimate concerns, the President-Elect only re-enforces those concerns with tweets that seem more suited to ones a despot might use to inflame public opinion against his supposed enemies. The statements tweeted by Trump should never come from a President of the United States. Those tweets should never come from someone who is the representative of all Americans and they definitely should not come from someone who is responsible for being the face of American democracy for the next four or eight years.
What we have is a President-Elect who is “Tweeting” the truth and our country away into oblivion with provocative statements that continue to speak only to his base but sometimes sucking in any other poor unsuspecting citizens sitting on the sidelines who fail to wrap their heads around the dangerous game Trump is playing. These are victims who fail to understand how they are being manipulated by Trump’s perverse and un-statesman like comments. Trump has not changed since the election despite the apparent false hope some of his supporters have that he will act more presidential once he takes office.
I am not sure who can persuade Trump to change. But the threat his current actions pose to our republic is real. The statements he makes similar to the ones made about the cast of “Hamilton” are only meant to distract and manipulate the public away from other focuses. It may start out small like removing focus from his Trump University settlement but it may progress into bigger things like the realization our liberties have just been snatched away from us because we were too busy focusing attention on something that required no focus of attention at all.
The comments that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates made before the election that Trump is “beyond repair” should be taken seriously. Because, if that is true, if Trump really is “beyond repair,” it only means one thing for our country: America itself may be “beyond repair” after Trump gets done with it. Unfortunately, by electing Donald Trump as President, America has decided more Polarization is required which is a big enough threat to our country on its own but with that comes this even greater threat to our republic that his reckless tweeting and his provocative statements can permanently damage our democratic institutions and our standing in the world to a point where they become “beyond repair.”
–
Trump’s Tweets about “Hamilton”:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 19 Nov 2016
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 19 Nov 2016
The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 20 Nov 2016
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
—
The World is Flat like Obama is a Muslim
There are assertions that I find laughable and also quite disturbing at the same time. One of these is the assertion that Obama is a Muslim. The claim is absurd yet it is still propagated by a small group of people. Some have even gone as far as to splice together a series of video clips, statements Obama has made throughout his public tenure, of course, without presenting these statements in their full context then posting them to YouTube to “prove” to you that Obama is a Muslim. I have to shake my head in disbelief at the whole thing; that anyone would go to all that trouble to promote something so inane. This type of behavior is very similar to the way other fringe groups believe in equally outrageous claims such as the one where the world is flat.
No matter how many different examples you can show members of this group that the world is not flat they still choose to believe that the world is flat. Regardless of how many clear and factual examples you give that Obama, by all the available evidence, is a practicing Christian who attends a Southern Baptist church every Sunday, they still choose to believe that Obama is a Muslim. Funny; because how could it really be true; what Muslim would regularly attend a Christian Church and a Southern Baptist congregation no less? And, disturbing; how and the heck could someone believe this in the face of all the evidence that proves otherwise? But, even if Obama were a Muslim so what? Isn’t this America? Maybe that makes the disturbing part of this all the more disturbing when you consider that someone’s religion in America should even be an issue at all.
Speaker of the Whiners
Last week on “Face the Nation” newly elected House Speaker, Paul Ryan, made this statement when answering a question about what he plans to do about immigration reform:
“I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue.”
I was a little suspicious of the accolades Ryan received from both parties when his name was floating around as being a candidate for Speaker of the House earlier this year. In every interview I have seen Ryan do, he has always just reaffirmed my own opinion that he is part of the problem. But, I always give people the benefit of the doubt and, perhaps, with more responsibility and with the important role Ryan is playing, perhaps, he would be more open to compromise and negotiation. But, it seems, with Ryan’s comment about his inability to even consider negotiating with the President, my original assessment of Ryan was not too far off the mark.
It is clear to me we can expect more of the same from Congress with Ryan as Speaker of the House. In fact, I fear Congress will be even more immobile and stuck in the mud of political rhetoric and dysfunction. Ryan has none of John Boehner political sensibilities. These are sensibilities that a Speaker of the House must have. For example, dismissing the one party that is absolutely essential to accomplishing the work that needs to be done in Congress is not the brightest move I have seen a Speaker of the House ever make. But, I suppose I should not be surprised.
The major problem with Ryan is that he seems only willing to negotiate with people he gets along with. To be a good politician, to be a good legislator, to be a good Speaker of the House, to be a good and effective leader, you need to negotiate with the people you don’t get along with. Compromise is the key to the success of our nation. Whining about how untrustworthy somebody is doesn’t cut it. Ryan’s comment about his failure to want to negotiate with the President is just plain and simply irresponsible.
I think Ryan should get a clue, figure it out and quit making excuses why Congress is so unproductive by blaming it on the other guy. Nobody likes a quitter. Nobody likes a whiner.
- ← Previous
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Next →
The Polarity Resistance 