Might get in trouble for this one.
As a public school teacher, although I still enjoy First Amendment protections when speaking privately, the line between private behavior and public behavior is blurry at best. If there are those seeking to discredit public school teachers, they will look at every act, every word, every affiliation to try and insinuate some nefarious, un-American, and insufficiently patriotic plot to destroy the country.
Nevertheless, here we go.
I’ve heard a lot recently about how the former president who is running to be the next president “speaks his mind” and you can’t fault him for that. Or how when multitudes of ex-colleagues come forward with reports of his fascist tendencies, those reports are brushed aside as ravings of disgruntled Marine Generals. Or how when he makes comments about immigrants eating cats and dogs he’s merely “reporting what he heard.” Or when he demeans women. Or says that Democrats are the enemy within and should be met with the military. And on and on and on.
Apologists for the ex-president like to pivot away from his words and explain that his POLICIES are what matter. “Sure,” they say, “you may not like the guy, but you love what he does for you and the country.”
In other words, character doesn’t matter. Actions do. Here’s why that falls on its face.
Character is the driver, the source, the fountainhead of action. We act in accordance with our character. If a person believes people who don’t look like you are lesser people, that person will act in accordance with that belief. A person who says “illegal immigrants are eating people’s pets” will enact policies based on that falsehood. To say such a thing reveals a mindset where the Other is subhuman, something evil to be eradicated, unworthy of basic human dignity. Such a mindset will play itself out in policy, like the inhumane border separation policy he enacted last time he was in office.
A person who speaks in praise of one of the cruelest and most infamous dictators in all of human history reveals a character that will duplicate those Nazi policies. A person who denigrates women will enact policies that strip away rights. He’s already boasted about the reversal of a woman’s right to body autonomy. His character tells us he will not stop there.
A person who lies constantly, with no regard for truth, will enact policies based on lies. Witness his COVID-19 ineptitude. He knew the seriousness of the epidemic even as he was lying to Americans that all was well.
A person who wallows in petty vindictiveness and who cares not for the nation but only for personal power and vengeance will not act with our best interests at heart. Witness his actions towards protesters, his words regarding Charlottesville, his orders to the Proud Boys and his invective urging his followers to attack the Capitol.
That is but a sampling of what he’s done already. His character has not improved–indeed, what few scruples he may have once had are utterly dissolved now, victims of either age, dementia or sheer mendacity. He is the man you see, and he will do what is in his character. He already has. He will again.
Lastly, there may be those who know all of this but believe that their own fortunes will rise with the ex-president. They know that he is not good for America and its people, but he is good for them personally. Let me remind you of President Kennedy’s words: “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” A man who will betray his most trusted allies and friends–who will stand by while his right-hand man is threatened with hanging–will not hesitate to betray you.
The ex-president is quite fond of a song written in 1963 by Oscar Brown, a songwriter and civil rights activist. That song is “The Snake,” which was based on an Aesop fable called “The Farmer and the Viper.” The stories are the same–a person (in the song, a woman) takes in a snake after seeing it in distress. The snake is nursed to health, at which time it fatally bites its caretaker, saying “you knew I was a snake when you took me in.”
The moral of the story seems clear–evil will betray everyone. If you are wondering why the ex-president uses this story when it seems to match his own motives so well, it turns out he uses it in the context of immigration. Because of course he does.
This man–this snake–is being nursed to health by those who ought to know better. This snake cares not for us, nor for our nation, nor for our world. This snake is tempting many of us to betray our foundational principles, to eat the forbidden fruit of lawlessness, cruelty, and coldness.
I’ll let Ms. Angelou close for me. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
–Be seeing you!
As a public school teacher, although I still enjoy First Amendment protections when speaking privately, the line between private behavior and public behavior is blurry at best. If there are those seeking to discredit public school teachers, they will look at every act, every word, every affiliation to try and insinuate some nefarious, un-American, and insufficiently patriotic plot to destroy the country.
Nevertheless, here we go.
I’ve heard a lot recently about how the former president who is running to be the next president “speaks his mind” and you can’t fault him for that. Or how when multitudes of ex-colleagues come forward with reports of his fascist tendencies, those reports are brushed aside as ravings of disgruntled Marine Generals. Or how when he makes comments about immigrants eating cats and dogs he’s merely “reporting what he heard.” Or when he demeans women. Or says that Democrats are the enemy within and should be met with the military. And on and on and on.
Apologists for the ex-president like to pivot away from his words and explain that his POLICIES are what matter. “Sure,” they say, “you may not like the guy, but you love what he does for you and the country.”
In other words, character doesn’t matter. Actions do. Here’s why that falls on its face.
Character is the driver, the source, the fountainhead of action. We act in accordance with our character. If a person believes people who don’t look like you are lesser people, that person will act in accordance with that belief. A person who says “illegal immigrants are eating people’s pets” will enact policies based on that falsehood. To say such a thing reveals a mindset where the Other is subhuman, something evil to be eradicated, unworthy of basic human dignity. Such a mindset will play itself out in policy, like the inhumane border separation policy he enacted last time he was in office.
A person who speaks in praise of one of the cruelest and most infamous dictators in all of human history reveals a character that will duplicate those Nazi policies. A person who denigrates women will enact policies that strip away rights. He’s already boasted about the reversal of a woman’s right to body autonomy. His character tells us he will not stop there.
A person who lies constantly, with no regard for truth, will enact policies based on lies. Witness his COVID-19 ineptitude. He knew the seriousness of the epidemic even as he was lying to Americans that all was well.
A person who wallows in petty vindictiveness and who cares not for the nation but only for personal power and vengeance will not act with our best interests at heart. Witness his actions towards protesters, his words regarding Charlottesville, his orders to the Proud Boys and his invective urging his followers to attack the Capitol.
That is but a sampling of what he’s done already. His character has not improved–indeed, what few scruples he may have once had are utterly dissolved now, victims of either age, dementia or sheer mendacity. He is the man you see, and he will do what is in his character. He already has. He will again.
Lastly, there may be those who know all of this but believe that their own fortunes will rise with the ex-president. They know that he is not good for America and its people, but he is good for them personally. Let me remind you of President Kennedy’s words: “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” A man who will betray his most trusted allies and friends–who will stand by while his right-hand man is threatened with hanging–will not hesitate to betray you.
The ex-president is quite fond of a song written in 1963 by Oscar Brown, a songwriter and civil rights activist. That song is “The Snake,” which was based on an Aesop fable called “The Farmer and the Viper.” The stories are the same–a person (in the song, a woman) takes in a snake after seeing it in distress. The snake is nursed to health, at which time it fatally bites its caretaker, saying “you knew I was a snake when you took me in.”
The moral of the story seems clear–evil will betray everyone. If you are wondering why the ex-president uses this story when it seems to match his own motives so well, it turns out he uses it in the context of immigration. Because of course he does.
This man–this snake–is being nursed to health by those who ought to know better. This snake cares not for us, nor for our nation, nor for our world. This snake is tempting many of us to betray our foundational principles, to eat the forbidden fruit of lawlessness, cruelty, and coldness.
I’ll let Ms. Angelou close for me. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
–Be seeing you!
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