Friends of Padre Steve’s World,
Sorry of the interruption but I have an announcement. My regularly scheduled post will be published at 12:01 AM but I do have an announcement to make:
I am not going to be watching the State of the Union Address this year.
While in general I find these addresses regardless of what President gives them to less than inspiring and occasionally mind numbing I always used to try to watch them. While President Trump did not give a State of the Union Address last year, he did give an address to both houses of Congress that in many ways was similar to the State of the Union. I watched it, as well as his inauguration address, and I actually went to one of his campaign events before he was elected because I always have tried to keep an open mind about the President, and I have done that since Gerald Ford when I was not old enough to vote. By the way I worked as a volunteer for the Ford Campaign before I could vote. But now I can’t watch his antics and is President Ford said: “If Abraham Lincoln was alive today he would roll over in his grave.”
Regardless of who the President was, whether I agreed with his policies and policies or not I have always done my best to watch the address. A few were quite memorable, but most were not. I’m sorry but uninspired speech, predicated on talking points, and punctuated with perfunctory applause doesn’t do much for me. When I think about President Trump’s words tonight whatever they may be I think that I agree with Theodore Roosevelt who said:
“Of one man in especial, beyond anyone else, the citizens of a republic should beware, and that is of the man who appeals to them to support him on the ground that he is hostile to other citizens of the republic, that he will secure for those who elect him, in one shape or another, profit at the expense of other citizens of the republic. It makes no difference whether he appeals to class hatred or class interest, to religious or anti-religious prejudice. The man who makes such an appeal should always be presumed to make it for the sake of furthering his own interest.”
That being said I always thought it was something of a sacred duty to watch the State of the Union, but I cannot watch it this year. After enduring a year of watching the President attack the very fabric of American society, law, and the Constitution I cannot endure watching an hour or more of a man who has made over 2,000 verifiable lies in the past year being cheered by his Congressional majorities as he tells more lies and pretends to act in bipartisan manner. So tonight I figure that I can wait and read the text without wasting over an hour of my life that I would never ever get back again by watching what will ultimately be a meaningless and mangled mass of magniloquence.
I wish that I could find something redeeming about this President, but even if I occasionally agree with him on some aspect of policy; which I do on occasion, I fear the worst in the coming years of his administration.
Now I will read the text of his address and I may even comment on it. Likewise, whether I want to or not I will be subjected to replays of it wherever I turn.
But tonight, I am sitting back, drinking a nice but cheap Pinot Grigio wine and binge watching the second season of Boston Legal.
So until whenever,
Peace,
Padre Steve+
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 