Dave Richards for July 4th…………
--I am happy to address you on this Independence Day. It is right that we take a few minutes on the one day designated as the “birthday” of our great republic to count our collective blessings.
Blessing number one I see is the one undeniable fact that in the United States of America, even though there are many things wrong, we have a Constitution which is the envy of the civilized world. It enables each of us to make the changes needed to keep our nation vital and growing. It is a document which has been often assailed, occasionally amended, but it is always strong enough to be the rock our society rests upon.
Our freedoms are rarely showcased as completely as they are during a holiday parade. And here I refer to Cumberland’s Arnold Mills July 4th Parade on Nate Whipple Highway. A classier exhibit of Americana you will be hard-pressed to find. It is where I have spent part of my July 4th holiday for most of the years of my adult life. Each time I see it, my heart swells with pride that I live where I do and I’m free to do what I do. If you’re reading these words Tuesday morning, you still have time to join me and the many thousands for this great yearly spectacle.
Another blessing to count these days is the way that public opinion in our country is sometimes galvanized into one unanimous idea. And on this Independence Day, it has to do with perhaps the most independent man in America. Yes, virtually all the country is unanimous in the opinion that our President is a nut! Although, we are a bit divided on what we should do about it.
--What’s all this foolishness about the foolishness coming out of The White House?
Don’t people know when their leg is being pulled? Anybody who hasn’t figured out by now that President Trump cannot be expected to act like your average ‘leader of the free world’ has no one but themselves to blame for their gullibility.
I will admit to you that when Mr. Trump was elected I expected that a lot of his shenanigans would disappear from view as he played the role of our top political leader. But they didn’t disappear, so get used to the idea that you’ll be shaking your head a lot for the next few years.
Donald Trump is not the first such “unique individual” to occupy the highest elected office in our land. But he is the first such person with a “Twitter” account, making it nearly impossible to ignore his, shall we say, “idiosyncrasies”.
As for the government official, I forget her name now, who sounded off with righteous indignation on a national newscast claiming that the president is inciting violence against members of the press, I have one comment. “Aw, c’mon!” That official’s statement demeans the intelligence of the American public. It makes as much sense as when my dear mother, listening to what such people were saying back in the 1960s, told me she didn’t want me to watch The Three Stooges on TV anymore because it would encourage me to gouge someone’s eyes out. (By the way, she got over that.) 99.99% of people can tell the difference between entertainment and reality. I am happy to count myself in the majority in this regard. Now that we know our president’s “tweets” are silly entertainment (I mean, really, professional wrestling?) we can all just take them with a grain of salt, I think.
Do I approve of the behavior of President Trump when he grabs his smartphone and acts like a school boy taunting those he doesn’t like? Of course not. But there’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution which says that “the President shall not embarrass us or himself”. The Founding Fathers left that out of the Supreme Document because it is merely common sense the president wouldn’t do that. Ahem. I would state the obvious if I said common sense is in terribly short supply in government these days, so I won’t bother.
In closing, let me just repeat my belief that stress kills more people than do guns. Getting stressed out about Mr. Trump’s personal behavior will do you no lasting good. Remember the words of the wise man who asked for the strength to change the things he could and the wisdom to know the difference between the things he could change and the things he could not? It seems clear to us all now that nobody is going to change Donald Trump’s personal behavior. Yes, I agree many of his actions show a distinct lack of self-respect, and this is regrettable, but that point is moot now. The time for us to have done something about that was before he was elected. It is time now to make the best of it. Give up trying to change President Trump’s personality and direct your effort into hoping he gets the REALLY important things right.
--That’s what I think. What do you think? Comments to: dave@onworldwide.com or postal mail to Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332.
Thanks for reading!
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