Making that statement isn’t easy. We had such high hopes and aspirations during the campaign and since the inauguration but after careful examination of the events since then, the conclusion is apparent.
America requires bold leadership and stout people to take the mantle. The ‘conservative’ movement of the last thirty years has rendered the United States a neutered lion in the global company of virile young contenders. We’ve managed to hamstring every necessity, every evolutionary step needed to maintain our spot as vanguard of the new age. Instead of taking new steps and the risks involved, we’ve sat back on past laurels and cowered in the face of adversity.
Sure, we stood tall and firm against Saddam Hussein and other tin pan dictators but the outcome was always assured, always a safe bet. There was no real risk to the American ideal, only its fighting men and women. To conservatives, that price has always been cheap.
We’ve grown fat and stupid sitting on our platitudes and our slogans. The rest of the world, especially Europe, once looked at us as a big brother – one who was always there to help out if a bully came by or to teach a new way to do an old thing. But now we are the old uncle, fat and lazy, chastising the other countries for their wicked ways and constantly rehashing old worn-out stories of past glories that have no meaning, no bearing on today.
We’ve let the ignorant and the stupid set the pace. We embrace greed and selfishness as family values and teach our children to be brats and bullies. We push the best and brightest of our young onto the streets to be consumed by drugs, crime and hopelessness. Our seed corn is being consumed as a midnight snack.
Our enemy is the Lout, the Asshole - the person who doesn’t care if a single homeless person dies or a thousand. As long as they get the latest iPad or their stock splits or their new truck has the shiniest rims, they are in hog heaven. To Hell with the neighbors and their problems, we’ve got a six-pack waiting and NASCAR is on the big 50-inch plasma screen.
How does this make President Obama a coward? Cowardice is a disease of inaction. Courage requires movement, advancement toward a goal with conviction and risk. The outcome isn’t known and failure is a distinct possibility. This is not a quality of this administration.
Sure, the recent health care debate seemed to be courageous but in the end the only people we were fighting were ourselves. The final bill was a comedy of cowardice. We never had any support from the GOP. They let us know this from the start.
A courageous president would have taken this opportunity to pull the issue out from under the Republicans and turn it into a real watershed. Let them whine and snivel about ‘socialized medicine’ and ‘death panels’. Let them gather their tea party minions on the Mall and show the American people just what the Republican Party represents. A president with balls would have held a giant mirror up to the GOP and burned away any façade they had of humanity. The bill he presented to Congress would have dealt with the real issues facing the health insurance crisis, not paint a new coat over rotted wood.
Courage is a rare commodity in DC these days. We can see it in some of our leaders but those who have it cannot use it. The most courageous of our legislators languish on backbenches and are lost in political obscurity. The leadership of the Senate makes a loud noise but has no teeth to back it up. They are masters at self-compromise, of practicing political masturbation in committee meetings and on golf courses.
Cowardice reigns supreme in Washington DC. We cannot challenge the meme nor can we rock the boat lest the talking heads explode on cable news. We’ve allowed our Media to echo the stupidity as if it were fact and real. We knew better but let the cancer grow because we ‘support free speech’ and assumed that no reasonable person would believe such crap. How wrong could we have been? The Media, with its pomp and flash, has spread fear and ignorance throughout the country. Tabloid reporting is being mistaken as journalism. Real news is forgotten, its champions toppled from their pedestals and replaced with pretty faces and empty hearts. Instead of emulating Edward R. Murrow, the newscasters of today look to Snidely Whiplash.
"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within our stars, but within ourselves"
These things and more happen with rancid frequency as each day passes. Progressives cringe as news of Obama’s cowardice sinks into the reality of the present. We play political games and keep the score like a childish game of HORSE not realizing that our opponents are telling us what shot to take, not showing us. The Obama administration laps it up like a puppy to anti-freeze. There is evidence of what needs to be done within our history. We don’t have to re-invent the wheel to cure the problems facing America. We’ve faced these issues before and, in bold and courageous moves, brought the country back from the edge.
It’s now the 21st century. We face the same historical grievances our great-grandfathers did but in a more stark and apparent fashion. We have the benefit of those lessons learned but not the wisdom to see nor the courage to act.
So here we sit – on the raggedy edge. Do we continue to cower and sulk? Do we allow our leaders to hide behind the curtain while the Tabloid Media projects a scary face upon clouds of smoke and lofty mirrors?
Progressives are mute in this debate. Corporate minions have infiltrated the Administration’s inner circle and have taken away the sound of our voices. The president has stepped back into the safety of the false insulation of his advisers and yes men. He dares not tread where the road is rough and not well paved.
We dare him to shed his insulation and walk barefoot on the rocks and ragged stones of the road less traveled. Take up the mantle of men such as Jefferson, Madison, and Roosevelt and let their courage flow into your spine. Challenge the Media to return to the days when the news wasn’t entertainment or commercial. Push the Party of No out of the limelight and dare them to stand against you. Go out among the people and rally them to believe in what we can accomplish without fear and hatred. Bring intelligence and scholarship up from the basement and make them the new fad, the new cool. Put America back to work fixing what is really wrong with the country, not the scary picture that the liars and con men have painted.
Make America great again – all it takes is a noble purpose, a firm hand, and a courageous heart.