Our country has suffered and continues to suffer a great loss of statesmen that has devastated the American people and I am among those devastated. How naive I have been and what a fool I have been in my way of thinking. All of those things that I have thought were so sacred to the politicians of our country – and to me, are being flushed down the toilet by our so called statesmen without even the slightest thought as to what impact that it is having on their constituents and the rest of the American people. How sad! The election of Donald J. Trump has exposed to the American people the view that many people around the world have had of us for centuries; Americans are hypocrites!
I, personally, do not believe that all Americans are hypocrites – I certainly do not consider myself to be one, but our politicians are certainly presenting us in that light. The people that we have elected to represent us and speak for us are showing their true colors. Statesmanship is a foreign word to them and the words that have replaced it are Donald J. Trump and big money political donors. And whether or not we agree with what they are doing and saying, the world sees them as our representatives and those whom we have put in place to speak for America. A prime example of what our elected officials are doing is reflected in the recent so called tax cut for the middle class that the Republican-led congress is attempting to railroad, if they have not already railroaded, through congress without a single Democratic vote. Senators Bob Corker and Susan Collins are among those senators who have chosen to dance with the devil for personal political gain. They figure that they can mortgage their souls to the devil now and pay off their debts before the American people can figure out that they were betrayed.
Party before country! That is the clarion call of Republicans since Mr. Trump was elected. Even if that was the Republican mantra before Mr. Trump was elected, it was never more clear than it is right now. Perhaps neither Senator Bob Corker nor Senator Susan Collins is really a bad person and is someone who just really wants to be loyal to their party and believe that they can do this and at the same time still be loyal to their country and constituents. Although they know that this is not the case in this particular situation, they are torn between loyalty to party (and in the case of at least one of them, lining their own pockets) – which includes a staunch allegiance to big money donors – or loyalty to country and constituents; alas, if only the word statesmanship was still a part of the English language!
Apparently, statesmanship is not a part of the English language where senators Bob Corker and Susan Collins are concerned. The thought that this might be the case resounded in my mind while I watched the Rachel Maddow show Tuesday night as she interviewed a woman from Maine who had spoken to Senator Collins. This woman – who as the representative of many of Senator Collins’ constituents – spoke to Senator Collins and asked her to vote against the tax cut bill, seemed to be totally devastated after her meeting with her. She appeared to be extremely emotional and struggled to talk to Ms. Maddow about the fact that Senator Collins said that even though she knew that the bill would hurt her constituents she would vote ‘yes’ on it.
According to polls, this bill is extremely unpopular with the American people. What are senators Bob Corker, Susan Collins and the Republican congress thinking?! We all likely have a pretty good idea about what Senator Corker is thinking (MONEY), but what is Senator Collins thinking? Certainly she can’t be rolling the dice on a promise from Senator Mitch (Whack-A-Mole) McConnell and Mr. Donald (Let Me Count The Number of Lies That He Has Told) Trump. She has been in the trenches too long for that. So what is in it for her to make her risk her legacy?
Whatever is going on with the current Republican-led congress, the election of Mr. Donald J. Trump has suddenly exposed the soft underbelly of America to many naive Americans, such as me, who have been so focused on how great that America is that we have blinded ourselves to her flaws. Until recently, I always became angry when I thought about how many other people in the world looked at America, criticized us and put us down when, here we were, the leader of the free world and the standard bearers of democracy. How could they possibly call us hypocrites and criticize us when we were sending, and continue to send, our troops to their countries to fight and die so that they too can experience that same kind of democracy that we have here in America?! How dare they criticize us and call us hypocrites?!
Although I now have a clearer picture of how that is possible, I still believe that, despite our flaws, America is the greatest country in the world! And I still feel that our destiny is to continue to be the leader of the free world. Based on the recent election results in Virginia and Alabama, despite our flaws, it seems that a lot of other Americans believe this as well. I also know now, even more so, that as Americans, we need to accept our flaws and that we must work harder to address those flaws. The way that Mr. Trump and the Republican-led congress are addressing the situation seems to be doing more harm than good to America and her reputation and stripping America of all of the ‘good will’ and its irreplaceable value that is associated with her name.
All concerned Americans, regardless of political affiliation, should be concerned about this and should do their part to change what is happening in America and to correct the direction in which she is traveling. What Mr. Trump is doing with the tacit and sometimes explicit help of the Republican-led congress is frustrating and disillusioning the entire rainbow of humanity that forms the tapestry of America. He is pitting each against the other. That is not good! Think about that. And then do your part to put America back on track to return to the greatness that is already ours; the greatness that existed, and still exist, before Mr. Donald J. Trump was elected and began to divide us rather than pull us even closer together and dubbed it “Make America Great Again.”
We need someone who will work to pull us closer together than we ever were before. Although we know that that closeness will never be perfect, we must always work toward making it perfect. That offers us the faith that we need for our hope for continually fostering a better future for a better America. And what is faith? It is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That someone that we need to work to pull us closer together is not Mr. Donald J. Trump. Therefore, we must vote him and those who support his agenda to pull Americans apart rather than pull us together out of office. So whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it! In the event that you do not believe me, just look at what just happened in Virginia; a Democrat won by one (1) vote.
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line