The Parable of Trumpism

Parables are great teaching tools, meant to make people think. This very old parable has been on my mind.  With the advent of last week’s distressing developments concerning the President and crisis after crisis facing our country, this parable should speak to all of us. 

The Parable of the Flood

A MAN was trapped in his house during a flood. He began praying to God to rescue him. The water started to rise in his house. His neighbor urged him to leave and offered him a ride to safety. The man yelled back, “I am waiting for God to save me.” The neighbor drove off in his pick-up truck. 

THE MAN continued to pray. As the water began rising in his house, he had to climb up to the roof. A boat came by with some people heading for safe ground. They yelled at the man to grab a rope they were ready to throw and take him to safety. He told them that he was waiting for God to save him. They shook their heads and moved on.

THE MAN continued to pray, believing with all his heart that he would be saved by God. The flood waters continued to rise. A helicopter flew by and a voice came over a loudspeaker offering to lower a ladder and take him off the roof. The man waved the helicopter away, shouting back that he was waiting for God to save him. The helicopter left. The flooding water came over the roof and caught him up and swept him away. He drowned.

WHEN HE reached heaven and asked, “God, why did you not save me? I believed in you with all my heart. Why did you let me drown?” God replied, “I sent you a pick-up truck, a boat and a helicopter and you refused all of them. What more were you looking for?

-unknown

I HAVE been inspired to write my own parable.

The Parable of Trumpism

A MAN was elected President of the United States with a margin of 80,000 votes over three states, winning him the electoral college, even though his opponent received 2.8 million more votes than he did.  This man was known as an amoral, rich, braggart, unstable, narcissist who had more stink on him than a tumble bug.  But he talked a good game, and with the help of his Russian friends, he fooled enough people to move into the oval office.

IMMEDIATELY, this man, with only 36% of the country behind him, began a systematic assault on the foundation this country was built on—Democracy.  This man craved to be an autocrat, answering to no one but himself.  His drive to achieve this status led him to make decisions that made America weak.  The entire government was dysfunctional and the White House was like a mental ward on speed.

FAST FORWARD a few years. Due to the big tax cuts to the rich and deficit spending, the economy began to spiral down.  While the man continued insisting the economy was the greatest ever, his trade wars decimated farmers and a food shortage followed. Subsequently, the cost of goods sky-rocketed and those not rich fell further into poverty.  Deficit spending escalated, and foreign governments and investors were no longer willing to take a chance with lending to a weak government.  All safety net programs for the elderly and poor were abolished due to insolvency.  He slapped China’s face and they own us.

THE MAN used the Federal law enforcement system as his personal gestapo to punish political and personal foes.  He detained immigrants and separated parents from their children.  

THE MAN unfit to be President became a man with unchecked power. Trump TV, aka Fox News, became a full-time propaganda machine and our only media source. The man proclaimed that, “I, and I alone can save you.”  People stopped voting due to the complete loss of integrity of our election process, and unchecked interference from foreign and domestic powers.  That is when Democracy died!

THOSE THAT didn’t survive due to unsafe drinking water, polluted air, less safety regulations at work, no health insurance, and living in poverty, died and went to heaven.

WHEN THEY arrived, they asked God, “Why didn’t you save us from that man?”

GOD SAID, “I sent you the Access Hollywood tapes.  I sent you 4 national security leaders that represented 17 intelligence agencies.  I sent you Stormy Daniels and countless other women.  I sent you Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury. I sent you Robert Woodward’s book, “Fear.”  I sent you a letter written by a White House official. I sent you Robert Mueller. What more did you need?

 

Climate Change Deniers Waiting on Hell to Freeze Over

You’ve heard of “Christmas in July.”  Well, we just experienced “July in Christmas.”  How can anyone, especially the leaders and wanna be presidents of this country, continue to deny the obvious? 

At the Conference on Climate Change in Paris this month, 195 countries came together and signed onto a plan to combat global warning.  Yet, in the United States of America, we are divided, mostly along party lines, on whether global warming is even occurring, despite overwhelming empirical evidence.  Waiting until hell freezes over to act will be too late!

In my column last week, my wish for you was to “make a memory.”  That’s what I thought of on Christmas Eve as the tornado sirens were sounding and an emergency warning came over our phones to “take cover now!” As George and I were running in circles bumping into each other, my mind was screaming, “I didn’t mean this kind of memory!”  Had it been an actual tornado, I’m pretty sure we would be in Kansas right now because we never left our porch.  Our lack of action had more to do with disbelief than panic.

I’m sure my neighbors, who live along the banks of the Towaliga River, were also experiencing disbelief as they hurriedly moved out their precious belongings from their homes to avoid the floodwaters.  When you live on the river, this is not an extremely rare occurrence, but not at Christmas time! 

This Christmas time flooding does have one redeeming aspect.  A check with High Falls State Park revealed they are experiencing an unusual number of day-trippers viewing the vicious water spewing over the dam and the rocks.  Families are taking advantage of this occurrence to enjoy the outdoors and spending time with each other.  Now that’s a good Christmas memory!

As we put away our Christmas bounty and pack away our decorations, it’s time to turn our attention to the New Year celebration.  Do you believe in the traditional New Year’s Day meal?  Some call it a superstition.  Whatever you call it, I believe in it.  Just ask my children!  My children can turn down collard greens any other day of the year, but on New Year’s Day, I make them eat greens even if they have to choke it down!  It can’t be proven that eating collard greens assures you of having money the entire year.  But it can’t be disproved, either.  I’ve had lots of lean years, and I always wondered just how bad things would have been if I had not eaten greens for money, black eye peas for good luck, and hog jowl for happiness.  I’m not going to test the theory!

Over the years, I have softened on my hard line taken on New Year’s Day food.  It’s okay not to eat collard greens specifically. Turnip greens, mustard greens and that new stuff, kale, can be substituted.  Hog jowl does not have to be eaten with the black eye peas.  It can be fried and eaten for breakfast that day, or you can substitute any pork product, like ham, with your black eye peas.  However, there is no known substitute for black eye peas.

It’s also that time of the year when we have to make the big decision.  Our New Year’s resolution.  I’ve never had much success with those.  And, I hate for people to ask me, “What is your New Year’s resolution?”  If I tell them and don’t keep it, everyone will know I’m a failure.  Therefore, this year I’m not going to tell anyone my resolution.  Let’s just say, if I show up skinny, you’ll know what it was.  If I don’t, you’ll never know that I tried and failed again!

As we close out 2015, I thank you (the readers) and Will Davis for allowing me to share my opinions on issues facing us as Monroe Countians, Georgians, and Americans.  Buckle up!  2016 may be a rough ride.