Those words actually begin Genesis Chapter 1. The Bible plainly states that God was in the beginning. With God came substance. What substance was there then is missing in the United States today — especially in Washington D.C.
Today I shook my head in sadness as I watched two political events play out on a national stage: the first was a Senate hearing where the heads of each U.S. Intelligence agency made their annual appearance before that committee. The second was today’s chapter of the White House Press Briefing. I must say there was very little substance in either. Here’s the rub for me:
- Our founding fathers wasted little if any time on politics. They were more interested in survival, concentrating on things like food, housing, protection from wild animals, foreign enemies, Indians, and disease. Through the centuries since, Americans have created and learned to maintain a political environment that was proven today to contain little if any substance. Today proved the Beltway is full of nothing but symbolism. Substance vacated the Potomac a long time ago.
- Government elected positions were not established to be full-time and permanent vocations. They were to be positions of serving the people, spending short periods of time crafting laws to help Americans, and nothing more. Senators were appointed by state Governors to represent states in Congress. Representatives were to be elected members of each community who would leave their jobs and families for a brief period — two years — to represent the people in those communities in D.C. lawmaking. But greed for money and power took over. Soon members of Congress morphed those innocent, grand intentions of our forefathers into gluttony for power and authority for themselves. They learned to control not only law-making, but to control every part of American life for ALL Americans. Soon lost was the “representation of the People” members of Congress were to do.
- Every process in D.C. today has one common thread and one only: to perpetuate that atmosphere of control and power. Me-ism has taken over. Men and women who live in each part of the political process seem to be caught up in that need to show everyone around them their own importance and the necessity for them to excel. Sadly, the excellence they reach for and that drives their every waking moment is NOT to excel to achieve voters’ desired purposes or goals, but to excel at their own self actualization. And that always seems to come at the cost paid by voters — the Americans who write the checks to pay for all of the above.
- Who decided we need political parties? There is nothing in the Constitution authorizing their establishment. In fact, George Washington lamented that political party wrangling “agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another.” And Thomas Jefferson, always good for a pithy line, swore “if I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” Obviously our forefathers’ warning about political parties fell on deaf ears. And sadly we watch as their prophesies about the ills of political parties play out.
- It’s not just parties; it’s the political supporting caste of players, too. Congressional members have multi-million dollar office and staff budgets and hire dozens of support staffers. Lobbyists from dozens of K Street law-firms spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying with influence of their clients’ money votes regarding every piece of legislation ever considered by Congress.
- And then there’s the Media. I will not go on about the Media.
Today
Today in D.C. should have been a celebratory day — but it wasn’t. There were some really good things that happened recently that needed to be celebrated. Since you did NOT hear about any of them in today’s news, let’s share them:
- The U.S. government had a monthly budget surplus of $49 billion in January, down slightly from the same month last year. Receipts were up 5% more in January than last year. That 5% increase interprets into hundreds of millions of dollars of additional tax revenue. That should have dominated the news today. No mention.
- The White House introduced a massive infrastructure plan that will invest $1.5 Trillion in rebuilding the dilapidated American infrastructure. Roads, highways, railways, and bridges are in terrible condition. Infrastructure should never be a Democrat or Republican matter. But watch as this plays out: it WILL be a political party issue. Was the press hot on the infrastructure plan and its expected breathtaking improvements for states and the nation? No mention.
- More than $5 Trillion in additional value has been created over the last year in the historical climb in the stock market. All of that added value goes to stockholders. Never in U.S. history has America seen such growth. If this happened during the previous administration, politicians and members of the media would be swooning over the mastermind who made it all happen — the President. But this president is Donald Trump. So….No mention.
- President Trump presented a 4 pillar plan to fix the DACA dilemma created years ago that has never been fixed by any Congress. 800,000+ “Dreamers” live in limbo in the U.S. — not citizens but here innocently because their illegal parents brought them to the U.S. as youngsters. President Trump’s DACA plan actually almost triples the number of illegals allowed legal status with a path to citizenship. Democrats have failed every time they have tried such legislation — even under Obama when the House, Senate, AND White House were controlled by Dems. Trump has put it on the table. Any excitement about it? Crickets. No mention today.
So what did the network news people, the newspaper writers, the radio commentators, and the bloggers talk about today? Remember: we live in the Age of Me-ism. Everything they talk about MUST further their selfish agendas. The media today were all in “attack mode.” And attack they did.
Do you know the name Rob Porter? If you do not, you certainly live in a cave. This is the guy who worked (until early this week) in the Trump White House. It was revealed several days ago that his two ex-wives had been abused while married to Mr. Porter. Apparently the allegations are true. The media has had a field day.
No, they did not go nuts seeking out the wives for on-air interviews. The fact that this happened to a member of the Trump White House team is all it took to light the fuse of Me-ism among D.C. politicians and media elites. Their fuses are burning bright today.
White House Press Briefing
Sarah Sanders — White House Press Secretary — deserves a Purple Heart after White House daily press briefings the last 3 days. With numbers 1-4 of the “good” things above happening in America, one would assume the press would be asking for details about each, wanting interviews with lawmakers and even the President to discuss, and reporters would craft stories about the impact all these things have made and will make for Americans. Nope. All they will talk about is Rob Porter and the details surrounding his departure from the White House.
“The” important items of the “Porter Scandal” are this:
- How could the White House hire such a person? The FBI completes an exhaustive background investigation of everyone appointed to serve or simply hired to serve the President.
- Members of the Press questioned White House spokespersons last week about Porter when the story surfaced and REALLY began to dig into the facts of the matter. Those facts had nothing to do with the wives but only with the fact that the White House hired a wife beater. And, worse: President Trump when he spoke publicly about Porter and his departure, the President did not paint Porter as a sexist, misogynist wife beater, but only wished Mr. Porter well. And the President did NOT speak directly to or about the poor ex-wives. And the press went nuts. (By the way: Porter disputes the allegations. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Should the President have copied what all the Me-Ists in D.C. have done and not stopped at firing Porter, but damned him to Hell?)
Senate Intelligence Hearing
Segue to the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with the Intelligence Department heads. Questions oddly enough centered on when the FBI informed the White House about Porter’s sordid history, and how the White House could reconcile his hiring and then keeping him several days “too long” — at least in the minds of the Democrats and the media. Members of that committee — primarily Democrats — took every at bat to question those agency heads to instead rail against the President, other members of Congress, and to pontificate about their own personal ideas, thoughts, ambitions, and to make clear how unfit to be President Donald Trump is.
Remember this: these Democrat Party members and members of the media threw those big rocks at the President because he was so insensitive to the former wives of Rob Porter, and that he did not condemn the former employee to eternal flames. These were the same ones that never once said a word about the poor victims of the sexual harassment of Bill Clinton. They gave Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein a pass for more than a decade! And the same holds true for their silence instead of outing the sexual improprieties of Senator Al Franken. “Symbolism over Substance.”
Summary
I’m disgusted. Here’s the sad reality today: many millennials do not take time to read the news. They have been entrenched to live on the “executive summary” plan — to scan the headlines, read or listen to social media, and to rely on water cooler conversations for life’s facts of the day. On the most part they do not understand (or simply do not care) about the necessity and extreme difficulty at ferreting out the truth. They believe what they hear. Want a couple of examples of this:
“Is Trump in Trouble with Female Voters?” (CNN breaking Rob Porter story)
“White House aid Rob Porter resigns after allegations from ex-wives.” (FOX News breaking Rob Porter story)
