Watching the political drama in the US unfold in the run-up to the 2022 mid-term elections I can’t help but wonder if there remains any integrity in the body politic.
The things that I hear politicians saying and see them doing currently evokes extremely unpleasant memories of my youth when I heard politicians say things in public that today’s younger generations (for the most part) would be totally shocked at, things so terrible that I dare not write them down here.
Instead, I’ll talk about what’s going on today and let readers draw their own conclusions.
Where to start? There are just so many really odd ball things going on it’s really difficult to know what to begin with.
How about political showmanship designed to appeal to a narrow, narrow-minded, angry, subset of voters to burnish a politician’s credentials in preparation for a run for national office that are the epitome of crass cruelty?
What comes to mind is a bit of political theater being staged currently by two governors of southern states who, in their quest for national prominence are engaging in quackery that is cruel in the extreme.
I’m referring to the two governors who are using state taxpayer funds to bus or fly people who’ve crossed the border illegally to escape the violence and poverty of their homelands to states and cities whose leaders happen to be of the other party, in some cases misleading the people being transported who are then dumped on the sidewalks at their destination and left for the residents in that location to deal with.
What they’re doing might—and I’m not certain on this point—be legal, or at least not illegal, but the ethics of their actions is highly questionable, and in both cases they’re violating the very principles that they claim to represent.
In at least one case, unvaccinated infants were put with their parents on a bus for a two to three-day trip that exposed them and their fellow passengers to who knows what illnesses. Do these two so-called leaders care about the impact on the people they’re using as pawns in this crass political game?
From the way they brag about their exploits and use them to solicit more donations from their misguided supporters, I think not. This stunt reminds me of a similar stunt during the Civil Rights era when White Citizen’s Councils tricked black families in the south into being transported north where they were promised housing and jobs, only to find themselves alone and penniless in strange places.
Today’s politicians, of course, will deny that their actions are at all similar to such bigoted actions, but deny all they want, they seem to be reading from the same script.
Then, there’s the case of the politician who appears to be kicking or at least pushing a young anti-gun demonstrator who is confronting her. Not only does this pro-gun zealot not apologize for the action, but she posts it on Twitter and seems to be proud of it. This particular politician has made a habit of vocal confrontations with people who disagree with her, always with cameras rolling because, apparently, her supporters love such stunts.
Finally, there is one nationally prominent former politician who at rallies is shown on tape urging his supporters to ‘beat the crap out of’ people who jeered or disagreed with him, promising to pay their legal fees if they’re arrested for assault.
In all fairness, not all politicians do such things, and such ignorant, crass behavior is not restricted to just one political party—although one seems to have more people like this than the other—but frankly, even one politician who acts this way is one too many.
Have they no more integrity? Inquiring minds want to know. – NWI
