We have debt that cannot be paid off....$21 trillion and going up every second....and it's over $100 trillion if you take into consideration the unfunded liabilities....Social Security, Medicare and federal pensions....but according to many people.....ignoring that debt can be forgiven for now because our economic outlook.....thanks to President Trump....is so wonderfully good. Yet...having been eased of our burden for the time being.....or so we suppose....we are going out and demanding that everyone pay us the last cent that they owe us. Where did I hear a parable like that before? That's what we have become.
The quote is attributed to Abraham Lincoln...."He who represents himself, has a fool for a client." President Trump's tweets....which have alienated....angered....and disgusted so many have been in essence the president representing himself. The President's self-defense is not even necessary because conservative talk radio has dedicated it's mission to defending the President.
There's a scene from that great film Gettysburg where a troop of Maine mutineers were handed over to Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain for punishment. They had signed up for only so long.....and were determined not to stay past that time. Chamberlain....level-headed....calmly asked their representative for an explanation. Private Bucklin....in that thick Maine....'you can't get they-yuh from he-yuh' accent....answered with this....."We've got grievances....I'm tired Colonel. I've had all this army and all these officers, this damned Hooker, this damned idiot Meade, all of them, the whole bloody lousy rotten mess of sick-brained, pot-bellied scabheads that ain't fit to lead a johnny detail, ain't fit to pour pee out of a boot with the instructions on the heel."
The Pew Research Center released some interesting figures from an in-depth series of surveys over a couple of years. It found that about one-in-five voters who....although they may not have been Trump supporters....warmed up to him after he got the nomination.....but now they have had enough of him. If I might serve as a representative of that group....."We've got grievances....We're tired. We've had all of this Republican Party and its leaders.....this rambling Ryan....this mouth full of marbles McConnell....all of them....the whole sordid sick bunch of hero wannabees that couldn't keep a campaign promise if it was never to pee on their hands, and now we got this Trump who couldn't construct a five word grammatical sentence if you spotted him four words and told him the fifth was an article, couldn't tell the truth on an application for a driver's license."
I wrote this a few years ago....before Donald Trump...."In the beginning of the English Civil War the Earl of Manchester was Oliver Cromwell's superior. Cromwell considered him slow, indecisive and lacking enthusiasm in opposing the tyranny and incompetence of the king. Manchester, for his part, was more concerned with Oliver Cromwell recruiting men of 'low birth'....uh, that would be men like me. Cromwell's philosophy was different as shown here in a quote from a letter to others in the Parliamentary forces. 'I beseech you be careful what captains of horse you choose...a few honest men are better than numbers....if you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them'."
Conservative radio talk show hosts were our....captains of horse.....for many years....but now they are not capable of telling the difference between a royalist and a roundhead. To paraphrase an oft used phrase....."if it quacks like a duck....walks like a duck.....has feathers and hangs around with other ducks....it's a duck.....Donald Duck! We are tired of the tweets that are meant only to stir up anger....the choreographed pep rallies that would make Leni Riefenstahl proud....the constant lies told as naturally he breathes....the Air Force One jet-setting to golf courses....the taking credit as if other conservative primary candidates would have been no better than Hillary Clinton....the pretending to be one of us....the narcissism that would make Narcissus look humble....and the 'art of the deal' that only works till everyone catches on.
The fringe element of society has expanded. The tight cluster of buckshot in the center of the target has become less dense in the last few decades. More people are having trouble thinking logically and acting rationally. Sunday...the Lord's Day....was a hedge of protection for us since our beginnings as colonies. We had one day to recoup and renew...to catch our breath....and maybe to meditate on God and His Word. The NFL tore that hedge down....that paradise....and put up a parking lot. It is not surprising at all that that institution is in disarray....and has become a spectacle instead of a spectator sport. The more men that give up that pastime means that more men will at least have the opportunity to meditate on their Creator.
The quote is attributed to Abraham Lincoln...."He who represents himself, has a fool for a client." President Trump's tweets....which have alienated....angered....and disgusted so many have been in essence the president representing himself. The President's self-defense is not even necessary because conservative talk radio has dedicated it's mission to defending the President.
There's a scene from that great film Gettysburg where a troop of Maine mutineers were handed over to Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain for punishment. They had signed up for only so long.....and were determined not to stay past that time. Chamberlain....level-headed....calmly asked their representative for an explanation. Private Bucklin....in that thick Maine....'you can't get they-yuh from he-yuh' accent....answered with this....."We've got grievances....I'm tired Colonel. I've had all this army and all these officers, this damned Hooker, this damned idiot Meade, all of them, the whole bloody lousy rotten mess of sick-brained, pot-bellied scabheads that ain't fit to lead a johnny detail, ain't fit to pour pee out of a boot with the instructions on the heel."
The Pew Research Center released some interesting figures from an in-depth series of surveys over a couple of years. It found that about one-in-five voters who....although they may not have been Trump supporters....warmed up to him after he got the nomination.....but now they have had enough of him. If I might serve as a representative of that group....."We've got grievances....We're tired. We've had all of this Republican Party and its leaders.....this rambling Ryan....this mouth full of marbles McConnell....all of them....the whole sordid sick bunch of hero wannabees that couldn't keep a campaign promise if it was never to pee on their hands, and now we got this Trump who couldn't construct a five word grammatical sentence if you spotted him four words and told him the fifth was an article, couldn't tell the truth on an application for a driver's license."
I wrote this a few years ago....before Donald Trump...."In the beginning of the English Civil War the Earl of Manchester was Oliver Cromwell's superior. Cromwell considered him slow, indecisive and lacking enthusiasm in opposing the tyranny and incompetence of the king. Manchester, for his part, was more concerned with Oliver Cromwell recruiting men of 'low birth'....uh, that would be men like me. Cromwell's philosophy was different as shown here in a quote from a letter to others in the Parliamentary forces. 'I beseech you be careful what captains of horse you choose...a few honest men are better than numbers....if you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them'."
Conservative radio talk show hosts were our....captains of horse.....for many years....but now they are not capable of telling the difference between a royalist and a roundhead. To paraphrase an oft used phrase....."if it quacks like a duck....walks like a duck.....has feathers and hangs around with other ducks....it's a duck.....Donald Duck! We are tired of the tweets that are meant only to stir up anger....the choreographed pep rallies that would make Leni Riefenstahl proud....the constant lies told as naturally he breathes....the Air Force One jet-setting to golf courses....the taking credit as if other conservative primary candidates would have been no better than Hillary Clinton....the pretending to be one of us....the narcissism that would make Narcissus look humble....and the 'art of the deal' that only works till everyone catches on.
The fringe element of society has expanded. The tight cluster of buckshot in the center of the target has become less dense in the last few decades. More people are having trouble thinking logically and acting rationally. Sunday...the Lord's Day....was a hedge of protection for us since our beginnings as colonies. We had one day to recoup and renew...to catch our breath....and maybe to meditate on God and His Word. The NFL tore that hedge down....that paradise....and put up a parking lot. It is not surprising at all that that institution is in disarray....and has become a spectacle instead of a spectator sport. The more men that give up that pastime means that more men will at least have the opportunity to meditate on their Creator.
