For so long we have heard that talk is cheap. That words without action are vain. This is especially true when it comes to our politicians. We desire and want action.
In today's political climate, however, we seem to care more about words than actions.
We a people are forgetting that political actions are more important than political rhetoric. Trump sold his followers on empty rhetoric and we find that reprehensible. But do you understand the damage that he and his administration are actually doing?
We just handed 300 billion dollars worth of American arms to Saudi Arabia. 300 BILLION DOLLARS.
That's not all--his Trumpcare bill is disastrous. If the House Bill passes in the Senate, there will be 23 million people without healthcare. Even if it isn't that number--say it's 4 million people--that's still way too many when we have the means to provide healthcare for the majority of Americans.
His budget is devoid of anything worthy:
627 billion dollars cut from Medicaid
194 billion dollars cut from Food Stamps
87 billion dollars cut from the National Institute of Health
45 billion dollars cut from the State Department operations
28 billion dollars cut from refugee programs
18 billion dollars cut from the CDC
2 billion dollars cut from the FDA
- New York Times, "How Trump's Budget Would Affect Every Part of Government"
This is terrible and we are missing it because we care more about tweets and people's bluster than we do about their actions.
And this is how Democrats will continue to lose in the age of Trump. His followers don't care about his actions--they voted for him because of his rhetoric. But when you focus on how damaging his policies are and how he is harming the economy and individuals, then maybe you can reach those who are drawn to his economic rhetoric.
We cannot correctly engage Trump if we continue to focus on the things that don't matter as much.
Did you know that Sessions is looking to expand the role of private prisons, by enforcing harsher restrictions on mandatory minimums?
Did you know that Betsy Devos is taking away funding from public schools and giving it to charter and private schools looking to discriminate?
Did you know that Trump signed executive orders to allow the purchase of federal lands, including monuments and national parks, by oil and natural gas corporations?
All of these things are getting swept under the rug because we aren't paying enough attention to the details that will affect our lives.
On the liberal side Bill Maher, said the N-word on his show. There's no excuse for that word being used, he shouldn't have used it.
That shouldn't drown out the fact that three unarmed 15-year old black boys were killed by police officers. Flint still has no clean water. Three black federal judges have been murdered in the span of four or five months. Families are being torn apart because of the current immigration system.
Syria is still suffering. The climate is warming. And all we liberals care about are his tweets.
My friends, I love you, and I get that his words and rhetoric mean something because he is the president. He shouldn't be able to say what he wants. But his tweets don't accomplish anything. He's an empty man with empty words.
Focus on his actions. That's how we will win the war for America's soul. We're growing weary of his words and it's wearing us down, but if we reenergize and focus on the deeds of this administration we will be the stronger for it.
As my friend Julie O'Hara said, "We can't afford to be mad about tweets but not about budgets. We need balanced outrage over what's said and what's done."
