In 2009 President Obama was addressing a joint session of Congress promoting his plan to reform health care when Representative Joe Wilson shouted out, "You lie." Congress was appalled at the outburst at the time and later people from both political parties condemned it as improper. Although Wilson apologized the House voted to reprimand him for his comment.
Compare that to a recent statement made by a freshman member of the House of Representatives who used a vulgar term to describe President Trump as she announced the House would impeach him. Although some Republicans have condemned her remarks, her fellow Democrats have stood by her. Ocasio-Cortez issued a statement on Twitter supporting the remarks, and Nancy Pelosi said that while she didn't use such language she did not police what her colleagues say. I've heard no other comments from Democrats and few from Republican leaders.
President Trump's response was that her comments caused her to dishonor herself and her family. I think they also dishonor those who voted her in office and the entire nation. It is one thing to criticize the President's policies or his actions, it is another thing to refer to him in such disrespectful and profane language. Had someone publicly used such language to refer to President Obama Congress would have responded quickly and strongly as they did when Wilson called him a liar.
It saddens me that America has become such a crude and uncivil place, but we've been going in that direction a long time. It is becoming increasingly difficult to discuss differences without entering into personal attacks, name calling, and behavior that used to be found only on playgrounds.
In an interview Pelosi said that the name that President Trump was called was no worse than some of the things he has said. Actually, it's much worse, but I do not appreciate him calling people names either. I didn't like it in the primaries, and I don't like it now. It's not becoming for a president to speak of people that way. But Pelosi's comments reminded me of how small children act. "You started it." "No, you did." Any parent can probably relate to such arguments, but it's wrong in either case.
My fear is that this kind of childish behavior is what we can expect going forward to the next election. America faces serious problems, and our political leaders seem to be not the least bit concerned. Their attention is focused on childish behavior, name calling, an impeachment process that won't go anywhere, and doing whatever to get re-elected. Let the wars continue with no end in sight. Let the stock market bounce around like a yo-yo putting working people's retirements at risk. After all, no political leader in Washington has to worry about retirement. Let many of our nation's schools continue to graduate people who can't read their diplomas. Let the gang violence continue. Let the drugs continue to flow into the nation. Ignore the increased suicide rates. Neither political party cares if they solve any of these problems as long as they don't let the other side get a "win" that might jeopardize the next election results.
Yes, America is in serious trouble, and we need to realize the solution to our problems will not come from Washington. Our only hope is that God would have mercy on us and pour out His Spirit upon our nation once again. It would be good if we would begin to elect adults to political office who were committed more to solving our nation's problems that promoting their agendas and fattening their pocketbooks. But the real solution will come when we begin to take 2 Chronicles 7: 14 seriously and do what it says. Only then will God heal our land.
No comments:
Post a Comment