Does it seem to be, there is a void in Washington…Where’s John Wayne when you need him? I…dumb me….have sent some 5 emails to my specific representatives ‘up there’ each time asking for a response, some are over 3 years old. Any responses? No, not a one.
The most recent email was to Speaker of the House, John Boehner. Being a Democrat, I ask him to do the right thing and step down, that the job was just too big for him. It was not all bad, I told him he was a kind and sensitive man that would enjoy time back in Ohio with his family much more than getting poked from all sides in his current situation. I did get put on his ‘important information’ contact list…which I didn’t ask for.
“John, can you hear me calling…Pilgrim?”
That’s what brings me to John Wayne. He never won anything (sorry, I call the 1970, “True Grit” Oscar ‘honorary’) but continues to this day to be revered as a ‘stand-up’, ‘do-the-right-thing’ kind of guy. I have friends who memorialize John Wayne and would vote him into office in a heart beat. How do people get that way? Most of his acting…especially “True Grit” was done with “gal-dang” looks and stares…with maybe a head shake thrown in. The man just had a presence and never changed from it. I can’t see, say, or hear the word pilgrim to this day without hearing it as he said it; that’s some power. I guess I’m thinking John Wayne would have sent me back a personal note, saying thanks for my thoughts, he would consider retiring, and if I’m ever ‘up there’ come by so we can stand at the bar in his saloon and throw-back a whiskey or two…'Pill…grum'.
I know the media makes people seem to be a certain way and even if they are not…we begin to believe that they are. My guess is that most public figures learn to either adapt, and find ways to get the best out of the media, or just continue to suffer as their image is made for them by others. Here’s a good one for you, Bill Clinton. He used the attention by the media to create a rock-star persona that went far beyond the White House and the Presidency. Realizing it takes all kinds of people to make up this village we all live in, there’s George ‘Dubya’ Bush, holed up in Dallas, doing little to change the World. George H.W. Bush was out there creating solutions until health got him sidelined. It should be noted that ‘H.W.’ did a lot of his philanthropic work along side of Bill Clinton. How’s that for powerful images.
That’s so unfair to Speaker Boehner…
Yeah, I know, our current leaders deserve our respect. You know I really do wish it could be that way…that just because some people in Ohio liked you, you gained some friends in Congress, that voted you speaker; you’re a good guy that wears a tan well and looks nice on TV. I get it? A few thousand people put Speaker Boehner where he is; not 300 million Americans; that’s how the system works. I don’t think those same ‘few thousand’ people but Eric Cantor standing right there behind the ‘Speaker’ all the while shooting little barbed arrows into the back of his neck…I can almost see Speaker Boehner wince when old Eric fires another Tea Party glare out to us all intending to scare us into thinking like he does. The only vision I have of Cantor is of he and Paul Ryan lifting weights together over at the Congressional Gym looking like the SNL pair of ‘Hans and Frans’ (no offense Mr. Carvey, Mr. Nealon)
Point of the Point…
America is evolving as America has, does, and always will. Most of our image problem comes from our own dissatisfactions…not from other countries. Maybe that is the problem; we don’t really have anyone to compare ourselves too. Some say we don’t want to be like Greece with their economic sink hole. Oh, we could become just that, and Mr. Cantor and Mr. Ryan may just have the power to put us there. “Wow,” you say, “did he just say that?”
Yes, I did. This ultra-conservative, what’s right for America, logic they proffer is mostly to blame for what got us here. Look at the history of Presidential impact on the National Debt. You will be astounded that so many rich people want to get richer and think the rest of us poor dummies will never figure it out. I think the really smart conservatives realize that business success is built from the bottom up on a broad based consumer appeal that has little to do with the life style of the guy that owns the company. Just take a look at “Undercover Boss” on TV; the guy at the top seldom knows what really makes his company work.
We need our leaders to stand up and do the right thing. I know Cantor and Ryan ‘think’ the only way to reduce the National Debt (which I too think must be addressed when the country can afford to address it) is to cut all spending, lower taxes, and let the small business people of America…get us all back to the farm…doing the ‘right’ thing, helping our neighbor when in need. Let me just say that nobody wants to go back to farm more than I do. I just had that conversation with our GE service man, here yesterday. He lives on 14 acres south of Dallas where his daughters raise goats. My family owned 1,000 acres down there at one time; man I wish I had it now! But, back to reality…I don’t have the old family farm…and few other people do either. We are a big part of the Global Economy and we must act accordingly.
We need the Republican Party. Ross Perot tore at it pretty good but did little damage. The Tea Party will do some tearing, but it will survive. The ‘Beautiful Balance’ we have in this country is simple, unlike the split and shattered systems that have been in existence in countries like Afghanistan or Iraq for thousands of years where ancestral tribes, religious sects, and warlords set the agenda. We peacefully elect Presidents with 50% to 60% of the vote without violence. That is the most powerful image on Earth...just like John Wayne.
It’s a tough time for Speaker John Boehner…he just got re-elected Speaker by some 30 votes. So he didn’t take my advice and walk away; maybe he'll answer my email now, so I can go up there and have a drink with him…OH…FORGOT…that was the other John.
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