PROMISES, PROMISES

   A new beginning always has promise to it, within it, implicit and explicit. It certainly is so when a new president rules in the WH. But this current presidency has proven to be otherwise, contrary to the rule rather than with it. 
     Certainly a president has the most obvious implicit promise of keeping the nation safe, or the particular entity. And certainly, a president who has been in office for more than a term is expected to do so. Yet here, within CV we do not feel safe as is concerned with a bright and safe future, and certainly within these United States we are far from a safe feeling. 
     David Israel promised all that he was  the one and only person who could steer the Village thru troubled waters. Instead we have these troubled waters both literally and figuratively. We have a constituency which is being riven by disagreements, with the supposed chair carrying on with great partisan bias and behavior. We have programs and decisions pushed thru with little or no time for reflection or even perusal of contracts. We are afloat in a sea of troubles, trying to get ready for a new agreement as to how to run this place for the foreseeable future and yet we are adrift, as the powers that be refuse to prepare and refuse to share any news of this with all and sundry. He dares even to take on powers that are not within his purview such as changing the words of a petition turned in despite all his efforts to postpone or avoid this. The words are the words that people signed for and with. It is not for him to change words, changing the meaning, mid petition process. The promises of David Israel are as false as the promises of Donald Trump but at least they will not see us blown up, facing a nuclear winter!!
     Trump, on the other hand, ta nasty tweeter who cannot seemingly help himself and/or cannot write in  any longer sentences in a proper manner, threatens all with these very same tweets. McConnell is blasted as Trump shifts blame for the debacle of his healthcare plan. Now he wants to "fix" Obamacare, yet another promise he will not keep and at least thank heavens he could not repeal it. Yes, to fixing its problems, but no to throwing it out, along with all those who will die without healthcare or certainly live a vastly different life.
     But what abut his promise to keep the country safe. He threatens fire and fury whilst across the sea another insane person shouts back. I do not trust either of them not to push that damn nuclear button and I believe there are many in the same boat! There are deep, deep divisions within his administration, with Mattis saying one thing, joining the bullies and Tillerson saying another, telling us to basically sleep tight for all will be okay. So says the false soothsayer right before the world goes to hell in  a handbasket!! One does not schoolyard bully another bully with nuclear options! Especially when they both have no self control or any seemingly sane thought process.
     Promises, promises. Jobs. Trying to push jobs, dead end jobs, in coal, stripping the country of its very surface and of its very beauty. Jobs, dead end jobs that immigrants usually serve in as they attempt to begin a new life here just as the "new" immigrants, the Irish, the Italian, the Chinese, etc. did when they came over. Thus it has been and thus it will always be, even as more educated immigrants take on other jobs and mesh with our working world and its needs. I, for one, am thankful for the doctors who came from other countries and who now treat me, care for me.
     And the promises of jobs? Jobs that were supposed to remain here? Well, those jobs are gone, shrunk by hundreds as the companies did what they planned anyway and now this supposed Foxconn deal is shown to be a bad decision or plan. Even if they were to hire all 12,000 workers, it would take 25  years for the state to break even and that is IF!! What a crock!! Another shattered promise. Empty words.
     Empty words can yet cause great harm even as they bust open emitting great gusts of hot air ad nothing else. Empty promises, meaningless promises, do not address the issues of trying to settle refugees in massive numbers as countries literally empty out in search of safety and havens, for a life for themselves and their children. More must be done in conjunction with the rest of the world in addressing this issue at its roots, treat the disease rather than its symptoms. But all we get here are words of hatred and threats.
     Promises to make America great again. Bah, humbug - America was and always will remain great as long as she does not steer far away from her founding principles, from democracy and the rights and hopes it gives its citizens and indeed, the rest of the world. But when this man and his henchmen try to stifle all dissent by stifling the press (sound familiar, CVers?), denigrating and threatening the reporters and editors, when the very right to vote is being taken away under false pretenses, when the process of due process is ignored, violated on a daily basis in thousands of issues - then America is not great and will not be great, not like this. Another promise of empty air.
     Promises, promises. Loyalty to Party rather than country. Loyalty to selves rather than constituents. Lack of acceptance of "the other" and realizing that this "other" is not really so different than anyone else. The growing hatred and rush to the extremes, here and in Europe, with the ugly head of anti Semitism rearing once more over the crowd. When we lose allies, treating them as enemies. When we cozy up to enemies and many within the administration are tainted with the accusation and actions of collusion with that enemy - including possibly even the president and his family and top advisers. When all this is going on then America is not great nor will she be if all this does not change.
     We need a sea change. We need attention to science and the environment. We need futures that have possibilities, new sources of energy, less use of fossil fuels, more care with chemicals that ruin our waterways and our very drinking water. When people in the Unites States of America do not have pure clean water and go to bed hungry, hearing the sounds of their children crying with that hunger. These are not the promises we wish to be kept.
     When we mesh what needs to be fixed and what must be saved, what must remain part and parcel of our very being, the very threads , the warp and woof of the country, then, and only then, will America remain on its path of greatness. If we do not, if we continue along this path of empty promises, most of which we do not need or want, then greatness will elude us and the world will suffer along with us.
      Promises, promises. Let us be wise enough to know what is truly a promise and what is not, what is positive and what is not. If not, well, read the papers, turn on the radio, check your news feed, watch the news shows on TV or cable and see if the promise of hatred, of nuclear blasts and nuclear winter, of a return - no, a new horrific beginning in an apocalyptic world - is that the promise we want. I do not and nor should any sane person.