I jumped on Facebook when it first hit the airwaves. I’d been looking for an outlet that was broadly available to large numbers of Americans with which I could pontificate about my political issues with our government. If my doing so did nothing more than appease my anger for pretty much everything coming out of Congress, it was well worth Zuckerberg’s creating that fantastic tool everyone could use to unfetter their minds and hearts of animosity and often anger against the bureaucrats inside our government and their media lapdogs.
Six years ago, we started “TNN Live!” — our daily podcast that opened more doors to not only share my thoughts and opinions, but also allowed others to listen to me and numerous others who joined the show over the years. Technology is AMAZING!
However, the basics of communication have never changed drastically. What changes have materialized are proof that Man is still evolving — at least in knowledge.
Until last week, my busy days and weeks quietly forced much of my political angst from the past to fade away: at least in my memories. However, several days ago, Facebook sent me a “refresher” of one of my opinions posted in 2016. When I read it, I was shocked to see how little has changed in our federal government’s processes of operating our nation’s business across all sectors. It is uncanny to see that after tens of trillions of dollars in spending by four sessions of Congress and four federal elections, our nation is just as stale as it was under Barack Obama and Joe Biden in their combined twelve years in charge.
It would likely have been worse if Trump had not slipped in the four years of his first term, in which we at least saw a glimmer of hope that gave us some breathing room.
Check out my Facebook post from August 2016. Though names have changed, as have multiple government officials, how our government functions day-to-day is precisely the same as today!
Read my diatribe. I have a few more comments afterwards.
Dan
August 19, 2016
It’s time to opine about the Media. The votes are finally in: folks, the Media in the U.S. has now revealed to the World it is collectively all-in for Liberalism and the Democratic Party. Unashamedly, we are seeing instance after instance in which various members of the media ignore real news and “report” only news that fits their liberal views. Examples are too numerous to mention here, so I will not. But let it suffice to say this: what we are seeing here now is not new. It has historically shown up in many countries at many times in the past, and in each case has ushered in a more liberal, often socialist or totalitarian government that inevitably has used media dominance to convince an unwitting public that massive government control is the “thing” to have for a country to be successful.
This is not a Hillary or Donald thing. This is not a Democrat or Republican thing. This is an American thing. And in the midst of what we are seeing is plenty of evidence of exactly how corrupt Washington D.C. is and how members of the current political class have fallen in line with the media as it takes over the thinking of average Americans.
D.C. Democrats and Republicans all eat at the same tables, drink the same wine, and sleep in the same beds. There are no differences between the two anymore. The unified objective is to facilitate an environment in America in which all power lies at the top among the political elite. It is not about money; it is about power. With power, one controls everything, including cash.
Have you not noticed how Congressmen and Senators all talk the party line when in interviews, press conferences, or on broadcasts? But when it comes time to vote, they all seem to cave to this: whatever guarantees sustainability of the status quo in D.C., that gives them personal job security on Capitol Hill, whatever gives away the most money to voting constituents, whatever guarantees popular vote in their favor, are the things they’ll each vote for.
Cut open Mitch McConnell’s head and you’ll find Harry Reid’s head inside. Cut open Nancy Pelosi and you’ll see Paul Ryan looking back at you. What was the first thing Paul Ryan rammed through the House after being elected Speaker? A budget that gave the liberals EVERYTHING they had been holding out for in spending, when he had been driving the boat to cut spending, tie any increase in debt limit to specific cuts, etc. And there was no outcry from other Republicans for what he did. They are all sellouts.
The media has led the charge supporting government corruption. Today, we see the vilest, most partisan Justice Department in history. The DOJ has refused to investigate and/or prosecute some of the most heinous anti-American individuals that 30 years ago would already be behind bars. Loretta Lynch has been a Democratic political operative for years. James Comey has longstanding relationships and obligations to the Clintons. Think about it: he actually said that if anyone else in government had done what Hillary did regarding her emails, they would be indicted. How could any government department head actually say that – especially the FBI Director – without pushing for indictments? How could any DOJ refuse to actively investigate the foundation of a presidential candidate that has taken hundreds of millions of dollars of contributions from foreign countries that are known to harbor and finance terrorists and terrorist organizations, persecute women, attack women’s rights, and persecute Christians, gays, and other minorities?
Here’s your answer: the liberal media in America is in control of shaping the story of this political season like no other in American history. And it does no good for any American to gripe or complain about it: the media does not care what any American thinks. The media is above the law, just as this political regime is. And not only are they untouchable, they laugh about it in our faces. They ignore federal laws, refuse to prosecute select classes of criminals, thumb their noses at the federal judicial system and the verdicts rendered by federal judges, and do it all in the name of political expedience: “We know better than the American people what’s right and good for them. And if Congress will not give us what we need to accomplish what we know needs to be accomplished, we’ll do it anyway.”
There’s only one remote possibility of an answer – a cure for this: the ballot box. But, unfortunately, IF enough Americans wake up in time to begin voting against this liberal typhoon that has unleashed its devastation on the United States, there is a glimmer of hope that this race down the pathway to democratic destruction can be stopped. But unfortunately, it will take not one but many elections. And the cries of voter fraud are already rampant across America today.
When Americans vote in November, who can feel comfortable that the results we hear that night are really the ones that Americans cast in the voting booth? How could we possibly know? We won’t know. Why?
Remember: the media shape and tell the political story to Americans, and it doesn’t matter if what they say is true or not. They are writing history now, not Americans… deal with it!
Conclusion
There are certainly some things that have changed since 2016. It’s the names of lawmakers who have moved in, and the same differences in the legacy media. However, regardless of your media of choice, you’ll hear the same political attacks against political opponents in the same ways as in 2016.
I once heard a really good speaker explain how people get stuck in ruts — in every area of our lives. That applies even when we know we’re in such a rut. There’s one comforting thing for us when we’re stuck there: we know what it is and therefore become comfortable being there!
When I was a teenager, it was common for all of my friends to be looking carefully to find a real opportunity for them “on the other side of” college graduation. When I was a junior in high school, I was invited to visit Baylor University in Waco, Texas. I had written a paper expressing my desire to become a surgeon. Somehow, the Admissions Department at Baylor saw that paper and reached out to me for a visit. After that trip, I decided that’s where I would go to college!
Looking back on that period of my life, I remember how good it felt to be planning a few years ahead instead of simply taking life one day at a time without considering the future. Of course, because of life circumstances that ended my family, I never attended Baylor, nor did I become a surgeon.
Even with that happening, I was committed to not accepting anything for my future that was not going to become successful in all parts of my life: professional career, marriage with a good family, and success in both beyond that of my family as a child. And I was committed to doing anything and everything necessary to reach that objective.
Four paragraphs above, I referenced a “really good speaker” who said something that has stayed with me for years now. It was about “change.” For most of the many who find comfort in simply “being where they are” at any point in life, it’s common even for them to wistfully think about what “might” happen: “If only I can do that someday.” Too often, they give in to staying their course right where they are. They are unwilling to take on the battle to move to that much better place. Oh, they say they would like a better life for themselves, go somewhere better, and achieve some long-held objective. They often admit they are qualified to make those changes.
Why don’t they?
It is too hard, too scary, too dangerous to leave that comfortable spot in which they live a life they daily wish was better?
Pastor Steve Smotherman answered that question one evening in New Mexico when he spoke at a Men’s Conference. He said a life-changing sentence for millions of people who have wanted but not achieved the change they’ve sought: “Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes.”
It was a slap in my face when I heard it. Nobody else can make the initial changes that are necessary to effect the ultimate changes we desire. Oh, we may not be able to do everything along that road. But if we don’t do that one thing — that initial “change” to start the process to initiate that desired difference — that we CAN change……
Nothing Changes!
