Virtually everybody agrees that actions speak louder than words, yet so many of us somehow have fallen for the false promise that what famous people say matters.
The media provides one of the worst examples, constantly flocking around the President for his comments after a huge development, such as a mass shooting. We’ve turned our commander in chief into the mourner in chief.
It’s been going on for a long time, long before Donald Trump became president. For example, I remember the broadcast media eagerly hounding First Lady Nancy Reagan in 1986 for a quote about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. All she said was, “Oh no! No!”
Very enlightening and profound, eh? I can’t blame Nancy Reagan for not being eloquent in a moment of crisis. But I can blame the media for trying to make us believe it mattered what she said.
Fast forward to this year, in which crises and major events have been abundant. Every time they happened, broadcast and print media have rushed to the president to get a comment that somehow is supposed to play a major role in what had just occurred. What they get is either a carefully crafted response, or one of Trump’s widely criticized crass remarks.
In the case of the mass shootings, the president and other celebrities consistently have offered their thoughts and prayers, something that easily could have been said as well by your local church pastor. You could make up a template for what to say and simply change the names of the victims and location.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims at the church shootings in Texas… We offer our thoughts and prayers to the victims of the senseless shootings in Las Vegas… Thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Houston during this difficult time.”
It’s almost like Dial-A-Prayer. Fill in the blanks.
The media also pesters coaches during halftime or immediately after athletic contests, eliciting nothing that helps the reader or viewer better understand the game or what just happened.
Pretty words are far less effective than actions and votes to change things in response. But too many seem to settle for the pretty words and then forget all about the problems and their causes. So nothing gets done, problems do not get solved.
In my humble, but correct opinion, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren presented a terrific lesson to her supporters and detractors in her race for the senate in 2012 when there was a lot of scorn heaped on her opponent, incumbent Republican Scott Brown.
The woman President Trump derisively refers to as “Pocahontas” told a gathering of debate attendees that she personally had no doubt that Scott Brown was a good husband, a wonderful father. But, she said, “what matters is how he votes.”
In other words, his actions speak louder than words. Look at his voting record. He’s a fine man, but he votes the wrong way.
I thought about this recently when I watched and heard all the kudos afforded Senator John McCain, Senator Bob Corker and Senator Jeff Flake for speaking out against Trump at the same time none of them will seek election to public office again. Meanwhile, I noted all of them VOTED to rescind the Obama-era permissions for wronged citizens to sue their banks or financial institutions.
This also reminded me that we American citizens are too easily distracted and therefore easily misled. We constantly pay attention to President Trump’s lack of social graces and coarse and belligerent language, and his parade of spoken falsehoods. Meanwhile, our senators and congresspersons are quietly working on legislation that continues our alarming march into the abyss of totalitarianism.
As comedian George Carlin observed, “But nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.”
We are easily distracted by the circus, easily misled, we’re not really paying attention. And that’s why our democracy, or republic, has deteriorated so badly that former President Jimmy Carter has declared the United States instead to be an oligarchy, or the rule of a few.
We care and vote, what else ca we do? Nobody seems to give a damn! The silent majority. Huh, say something! Let us know your thoughts. What are we? Sheep being led to the slaughter?
Really, this happened just since President Trump has been in office? Let’s examine the author’s assertions:
“Meanwhile, our senators and congresspersons are quietly working on legislation that continues our alarming march into the abyss of totalitarianism.” And you use Senator Elizabeth Warren (Pocahantas, D – Mass.) as a paragon of virtue, when she lied about being Native-American to obtain a position at Harvard? A more radical Democrat hasn’t been manufactured (Sen. Bernie Sanders is nuttier, but he’s an Independent). At least Bernie is truthful, he tells you he’s nuts and doesn’t hide it. Sen. Warren isn’t and never has been truthful – a radical of extreme nature. Think Mrs. Clinton on steroids!
What about the 8 years prior? Cash for Clunkers, Obamacare,$150 billion (in cash) to Iran, federal government taking on college loans, bowing and scraping in front of many world leaders, $9+Trillion dollars in debt, budget deficits every year, more racial unrest than ever (and everyone thought with a African-American president the racial divide would be reduced), he was wrong on every comment about law enforcement shootings, Benghazi, handling of the Bo Bergdahl release, and the list goes on and on and on. Yup, a paragon of virtue.
In reality, he was raised a Marxist, was a follower of Marxist Saul Alinsky, his father was a Marxist, his best friend Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn were Marxists, grandparents were Marxists, and he was elected without an ounce of serious vetting by the media. Both Charlie Rose and Tom Brokow commented after the election was decided, “There is much we don’t know about (President) Barak Obama” – duh, uh, really? Yup, they said it, look up the video.
I don’t know about you, but I see progress since President Trump was elected. I’ll take President Trump over President Obama any day and twice on Sunday. You Hillary voters, please, for your own mental health, she lost – get over it! I had 8 years under know-nothing, do-nothing President Obama and his administration – just days of acquiesce, obfuscation, delay, and downright lying and finger-pointing. Time for you to suck it up now.