Managing Crisis and Chaos

“I finally figured out that not every crisis can be managed. As much as we want to keep ourselves safe, we can’t protect ourselves from everything. If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace chaos.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Wouldn’t the world be a much better place for us all if we knew factually that no matter what crisis we ever face, we can work right through each every time they show up?  Count my vote as “Yes” for that ability.

Everyone faces a crisis at some point in their life. Every company and organization deals with a crisis every once in a while. Unsuccessfully understanding and dealing with a crisis every time leads to chaos. Chaos will destroy any organization, individual, or even a family if not dealt with promptly and thoroughly. Leaving loose-ends in any crisis is suicide for the entity or individual to which it occurs.

Most Americans universally feel like the U.S. government is in a state of chaos right now, ushered in by both real and unreal crises. No doubt there are a plethora of issues that come up daily in governmental operations. That has and always will be ”business as usual.” The difference today is that an always-critical media shines a continuous spotlight on everything to do with our government, but not always with an objective purpose in mind. They often, it seems, are agenda-driven in crisis reporting. And their interpretations are too.

We have several “crisis of the month,” “crisis of the week,” or “crisis of the day” it seems in perpetuity. And we have one boiling over today. Are you surprised?

“Selective” Outrage: Congressman Steve King

A few weeks ago, we looked in to see a GOP Congressman chastised, excoriated, derided, and benched from House committees for speech:

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was stripped of his committee assignments by his fellow House Republicans Monday evening following bipartisan condemnation of King’s recent remarks on white supremacy and white nationalism.

“We will not tolerate this type of language in the Republican Party … or in the Democratic Party as well,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters. “I watched what Steve King said and we took action.”

In a formal statement, McCarthy said King’s comments were “beneath the dignity of the Party of Lincoln and the United States of America. His comments call into question whether he will treat all Americans equally, without regard for race and ethnicity. House Republicans are clear: We are all in this together, as fellow citizens equal before God and the law. As Congressman King’s fellow citizens, let us hope and pray earnestly that this action will lead to greater reflection and ultimately change on his part.”

In a statement of his own, King insisted that his comments had been “completely mischaracterized” and blasted McCarthy for what King called “a political decision that ignores the truth.” According to his website, King was previously a member of House committees on the judiciary, agriculture and small business.

A senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives getting stripped of prestigious committee assignments is a really big deal, believe me. It wasn’t just fellow Republicans, of course, the anti-conservative Mainstream Media weighed in:

Congressman King was not the only member of Congress who in this very young 2019 stepped across the “racist faux pas” line.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

 Freshman representative from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, cheerfully repeated this anti-Semitic trope, implying that AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, pays politicians to support Israel. Top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have called on Omar to “reject anti-Semitism in all forms,” according to The Washington Post, while Republicans have argued that her comments reveal the depth of anti-Israel sentiment in the Democratic Party. “I unequivocally apologize,” Omar said in a tweeted statement. “At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA, or the fossil-fuel industry. It’s gone on too long and we must be willing to address it.”

The CBS Evening News gave this scathing analysis of Omar’s actions:

Who Determines When Outrage in D.C. is Justified?

That requires an answer if we are to understand when outrage in D.C. is real. And that answer in today’s news cycle is easy: whoever is writing or broadcasting about that specific “outrage of the day!” But we, unfortunately, can narrow that answer even further: if President Trump is involved, it’s ALWAYS an outrage — not so much Democrat leaders in Washington or Democrats anywhere else in the U.S.

Here’s the scary thing about all this: remember the little boy who cried “Wolf?” He did it so often his audience was numbed to his cries. So when there really was a wolf and he cried, no one paid attention. In the case of Donald Trump, more and more Americans are growing “Wolf-numbed” at the constant attacks on the President and all in his camp. And it’s beginning to appear that Democrats are trapped in the “wolf” mode, and that they cannot get out of it.

America is dangerously close to watching as their government loses all of its once amazing power and credibility. Our elected officials have abandoned all reason in governing and have simply walked away from integrity. Political partisanship dominates every conversation, every policy discussion, and every legislative item. If Democrats like it or think it is good, Republicans automatically reject it as worthless for the American people. The opposite is true in the same way.

And we wonder why Congress gets very little done? Take a look at the current fallout from the release of the Mueller Report.

Integrity in D.C.

What a joke! Democrats and Republicans alike must literally think Americans have not discovered YouTube yet. EVERYTHING — yes EVERYTHING — that is said by legislators shows up in a YouTube video. Yet still members of Congress double and triple down on lies that are exposed over and over via some recorded news report or interview. And by doing so they expose one thing to Americans: THEY SIMPLY DON’T CARE! They say what they say when they say it in total disregard of what they have said about  the same issue previously. That can be for only one reason: they think Americans are so stupid we don’t remember!

That comes as no surprise to me. Don’t agree? Want some examples?

In 2017, Adam Schiff and fellow Dems went bonkers at the release by Congressman Devin Nunez of a Memo. Schiff stated that by doing so, “Congressman Nunes was ignoring the serious nature of the information contained in the memo that would certain jeopardize national security interests of the U.S.” Nunes sent the memo to the President for his final approval before its release to the public.

That was Congressman Schiff then voicing his concerns about sensitive information being released publicly and that doing so would damage national security. But today, Schiff is singing a different song about the same issues:

”Schiff has maintained his strong belief that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, after the nearly two-year probe came to an end last week without directly implicating the president.“