State Of The Union — Peace or Chaos?

Posted on by under Economic issues, education, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, President Joseph Biden will give his second State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress and numerous guests.  Among the guests will be Row Vaughn and Rodney Wells, the parents of Tyre Nichols who was brutally beaten to death by police in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 7th.

For a number of reasons, there are additional security concerns this year. The magnetometers have been removed from the entrance to the House chamber, one of the first moves the Republicans made once they gained the majority in the House.  Also, according to a Capitol Police bulletin …

“… recent incidents targeting politicians and law enforcement agencies within the past month indicate that there is a heightened threat toward government officials.” 

Lest you think this is just so much hyperbole, I would remind you of the vicious attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and then I would further remind you of the violent attempted coup at this very same Capitol on January 6th, 2021.  There can be no doubt that there is a danger brewing under the surface in this country, and further that there are far too many fools with guns out there – some whose offices are in this very same Capitol building!

Capitol Police have constructed a non-scalable fence around the Capitol grounds, and are taking other security measures, no doubt fully remembering January 6th.  Will it be enough?  Today, there are a number of representatives sitting in Capitol offices who played a role in one way or another in the events of January 6th.  They should be disqualified, but somehow they escaped the 14th Amendment that prohibits anyone who has previously taken an oath of office (Senators, Representatives, and other public officials) from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States.

I admit to being … concerned … about tomorrow night’s events. I still feel the horror of January 6th, still see the hatred that is festering in this country, hear the voices chanting “Hang Mike Pence”.  Not a single one of the plotters and schemers behind the insurrection are in prison, but are all free men & women, free to plot further rebellion, and relatively few of the ‘foot soldiers’ of that day are in prison. So yes, I am concerned.  I hope that my concerns are ill-founded and that the events of tomorrow evening will go off without a hitch.

Now, about that State of the Union …

It’s probably just as well that I wasn’t invited to give the speech, for I’m sure President Biden will do a far better job than I would.  The “state of the union” seems to be, in my ever-so-humble opinion, a disaster.  This nation is more divided than at any time in the past 150 years, perhaps longer.  Fully half of our elected officials no longer remember their oaths, no longer care about this nation as a democracy but rather would turn it into an autocracy at the first opportunity.  And outside of government, thanks to the divisiveness of our leaders, thanks to their lies and corruption, We the People are also divided … in a way I’ve never seen before, not even in the days of Jim Crow or Vietnam.

The current state of the union is that it’s a bloody mess.  This is not the fault of President Biden, who has been quietly getting the job done, has managed the impossible in a number of areas, but is rather the fault of We the People.  It was US who elected the corrupt politicians who now sit in Congress and make decisions every day that are ruining our lives.  It was US who were so poorly educated that we fell for the rhetoric spouted by the likes of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, Marge Greene, Ron Johnson and so many others.  It is US who have opted for the entertainment value rather than the seriousness of purpose, have voted for the clowns rather than the intellectuals.

I have no doubt that the President’s message tomorrow night will be one of hope, one that highlights the positive rather than the negative, and that’s as it should be.  The response from the Republican Party will be given by none other than former Press Secretary under Donald Trump, and current Governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  I hope that the night does not turn into a three-ring circus of the sort the Republican Party is known for.  At the least, it will be interesting … let’s hope that’s all it is.

24 thoughts on “State Of The Union — Peace or Chaos?”

  1. I’m not watching, and so far, when I’ve checked the news feeds, what I see has confirmed for me that I made the right decision. I have no intention of spending my evening watching the likes of Marjorie G. heckling the President.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I know what you mean. For the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency [sic] I woke every morning hoping to find it was all just a horrible nightmare and that President Obama was still in office. Never did pan out, though. I like your idea about it being a new series of the X Files!!! Perfect fit! Yeah, I share your deep sigh, Gary. Hugs

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    • I think Kevin Mccarthy should tare up bumbling biden’s speech after his show like idiot nancy did with trump. Hey, if it’s good for one side, it’s good for the other. I didn’t agree with nancy doing that but if they’re going to play that game, why shouldn’t the other side?

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    • new drinking game, take a chug every time biden says “folks” in his state of the union address. You’ll have to phone into work the next day so you can recover from the hangover.

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  4. keith is right, just like it was childish for trump not to attend biden’s innauguration it would be silly for a member of congress not to attend the speech if that’s one of their responsibilities. Optics matter in these situations and as shallow as it sounds, that’s just the reality of the situation. I’ll probably be working on trying to finish up something for drone day 2023 tomorrow because I’d rather be calm rather than screaming at a television over a silly speech. The state of the union show has been just that for many years now, a show, just theatrics that change nothing.

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    • Yes, Keith is the gold standard and almost always the calm voice in the room. The representative he refers to is an extreme far-right figure who has been very vocal in her white supremacist views and has been known to quote Adolf Hitler on occasion. And you’re right … optics do matter … and so does that Oath of Office each of those members of Congress took.

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  7. Jill, I spoke with a staff member of a congresswoman who said she would not attend. I said she needs to be responsible and accountable to her constituents and do her job. She need not clap, but she needs to be there.

    I am long past tired of so-called elected officials who took an oath and then proceed to treat normal processes abnormally. This is not governance; this is childish behavior. We deserve better than this and it matters not what party or whether you are green, blue of polka dotted. We deserve civil discourse over matters of import using as many facts as needed to make informed decisions. If the elected officials cannot do this, then they need to resign. Full stop. Keith

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    • Would that congresswoman, perchance, be Mary Miller of Illinois? I read yesterday that she plans to boycott the SoTU because she doesn’t want to listen to “Biden’s lies”, and I thought … wait a minute here! She was enamored of the biggest liar the country has ever put in the Oval Office and she has the unmitigated gall to say that? This is only one of many examples of the fact that a number of members of Congress today are not competent, not qualified, to do the job for which we elected them. Like you, I am tired … exhausted and depressed … of the ineptitude and downright lack of concern of our elected officials. They don’t realize what they are doing to this country. Or, perhaps they do realize it and it’s exactly what they planned. Sigh.

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