Wednesday, July 10, 2024

"...Profiles In Courage"?...Uh, Yeah, That's Over There In American Fiction

State Secrecy Explains the Origins of ...

 

Three little words.

America likes slogans/mottos that consist of three little words.

Let freedom ring.

United we stand.

We, the people.

E Pluribus Unum (admittedly four little words in the translation, but, work with me here, we're doing patriotic shit, k? )

And, of course, that rootin', tootin', flag wavin' part testimony of loyalty, part mandatory sing along anthem hook....

God.

Bless.

America.

Fess up. You're thinkin' about amber waves of grain right now, aren't ya?

Here's a lesser known, ergo much lesser heard and much, much lesser used three word phrase that is, arguably, the most critically impacting...and important...of any and all.

Truth.

To. 

Power.

The complete phrase, in fact, is "speak truth to power", but the verb does nothing to dilute the significance of the three primary words.

The 'slang' portion of Dictionary.com offers up a clear and concise "definition" of the phrase, the whole phrase and especially the phrase.

"...The expression speak truth to power implies a moral imperative to stand up for what is right,  especially to national leaders, even when it’s not the easiest thing to do...."    

History is chock-a-block full of instances, incidents and examples of said truth being said to various and sundry powers through the ages.

For the sake of brevity and getting rapidly to the point, here's an 'at this moment' example of our featured phrase in a state of "nowhere to be found".


Senator Michael Bennet, the Colorado Democrat who briefly ran for president himself, said Mr. Biden had to “reassure the American people that he can run a vigorous campaign to defeat Donald Trump.”

Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a senior member of the Democratic leadership team, put out a statement that passed for fighting words, saying that the president “must do more to demonstrate that he can campaign strong enough to beat Donald Trump.”

So far, Mr. Biden has done none of that.

And yet, Democrats on Capitol Hill are stifling their doubts and falling in line behind him anyway.

Having spent the last week and a half in various stages of private panic and public skepticism about Mr. Biden’s viability as a candidate and whispering among themselves about what the best way to push him aside might be — a strongly worded letter? a White House meeting? a high-level intervention? — top Democrats on Tuesday settled on a strategy many of them conceded could be disastrous: They would do nothing, at least for now.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut argues that Mr. Biden and only Mr. Biden can decide his future, and that it is not up to Congress to pressure him out of the race.

“He has my support, and I think he is right now the only one who will decide whether he continues to be the candidate,” Mr. Blumenthal said.

Longtime party loyalists said they were now reduced to hoping for another major public misstep by Mr. Biden, such as a serious stumble at his NATO news conference, to either persuade reticent members of Congress to speak out or to convince the president that he should leave the race on his own.

The stance struck the lone-wolf Democrats who have stuck their necks out to publicly call for Mr. Biden to step aside as preposterous — and even dangerous.

“The idea that we are going to slow-walk into fascism because we don’t want to hurt somebody that we respect’s feelings — I cannot even begin to tell you how angry that makes me,” said Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and one of seven House Democrats to publicly call on Mr. Biden to step aside.

 

Adam Smith, as the saying goes, parks one over the center field wall.

Re-read, and rethink, for just a moment.

"...we are going to slow walk into fascism...because we don't want to hurt....somebody's feelings..."

Truth to power.

Without speaking it, all the God blessing America in the world won't save it.

Time to freshen up the Congressional theme song.

 

Truth to power.

In dire need by...

We.

The.

People

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