The Silence was Deafening

Ted Folkert

January 23, 2015

Sometimes silence is more deafening than loud noises. Sometimes it speaks louder than words, says more than words – you know, like your mom used to do when she just glared at you when you were out of line – you got the message, loud and clear, and you knew what was coming next – and it wasn’t a smile.

Watching the SOTUS by POTUS, the State of the Union Speech by the President of the United States, the other evening was inspiring as President Obama was proposing his plans to: promote child care benefits for working parents, reduce the costs of college education for graduating high school students, increase the minimum wage for the benefit of those who simply can’t earn enough to sustain a reasonable standard of living, assure equal pay for women, cut taxes for those in, or striving for, a middle class way of life, protecting the earth’s precious resources, deal with the effects of climate change, take a less aggressive approach to policing the world – and other goals that might benefit the entire population and help to assure a more sustainable future life for our kids and our kids, kids.

The “silence that was deafening” was the silence on the Republican side of the aisle, the smirks, and the looks of fear and disgust from those whose only fear is not continuing to be reelected to office through the generosity of the rich and powerful corporations and individuals. Every mention of a social program that might benefit the greater population was met with silence and disgust by the trickle-down theorists, those who carry water for the lobbyists for the behemoth banks and corporations who rule the world, defraud us all, hide their profits in foreign countries, and laugh all the way to the bank, while they poo-poo any mention of programs that strengthen the country for the future – programs designed to enhance educational opportunities, improve health care, lend a lifting hand to those struggling to survive, and, in general, strengthen our society of honest, hard-working families hoping for a decent future for their loved ones.

And then, to break the silence, they offered up Joni Ernst, who campaigned as “the hog castrator”, with her huge disingenuous, all-teeth smile and frightening glare, as she talked about her wearing bread-wrapper-covered shoes in the snow and having to serve customers at the donut shop – how terrible – kind of like John Boner having to sweep the floor in his dad’s bar. Makes you want to cry along with both of them. Hell, they probably had to walk through three feet of snow, barefooted, five miles, uphill both ways, to school and back. We are lucky they survived, so they can tell us the dreadful, hard luck, drenched-in-poverty, stories – poor creeps.

I hope everyone watched this show.

I hope everyone realized where our lack of attention to the election of good leaders has gotten us.

I hope everyone is as saddened as I am with the dysfunctional congress that we endure, the uncaring ignorance that congress reeks of, the impossibility of any reasonable plan for the sustainability of our planet, of the ignoring of our crumbling infrastructure – as they allow enormous wealth to be created each and every day without reasonable taxation, as they allow enormous wealth to pass from generation to generation to generation, tax free, while the workers, those who do the heavy lifting in this country, carry the load of taxation and pay for the infrastructure provided for the wealthy to gain more wealth.

It is time they paid their fair share.

It is time the wealthy pay tax on the capital they have captured by virtue of the infrastructure and markets we provide.

It is time they pay a larger share of their excessive corporate salaries to fund the benefits that they so willingly receive and enjoy, as they barricade themselves from the working class – in their little world behind walls and gates.

Think about it!

Help us elect better leaders, please!