HONESTLY!

          If ever a word has lost its meaning, its place in life, then this word in all its forms certainly can take first place. I believe that for too many people all around this country and the world, there is a distinct and distasteful opposition to the concept of honor,  of being honest and honesty itself. In fact, it appears to be that those who do engage with those terms are deemed simpletons, for why be honest when being dishonest seems to get you somewhere faster?
     Even the concept of honor among thieves, which is one of the silliest things I have ever heard, seems to have lost its effectiveness. I believe the adage of rats leaving the sinking ship is more apt today as we see the tenpins of Trump's alleged misdeeds, to put it mildly, going down as they try to save their own necks or minimize the punishments awaiting them.
     What is more, is that I have never seen, at least in my lifetime, the nastiness of the comments made by those leaving said sinking ship of state. Retired General McChrystal called Trump dishonest and immoral. An anonymous op-ed in the NYT wrote about a group of people trying to basically, rescue the President and the country, from himself and his oh so bad decisions! He has been called undisciplined (to put it mildly!), illiterate, uncontrolled and willing to do and having done illegal actions. Whew! And this is supposed to be the guide for all of America, what should be an admired figure of public life?
     And honestly, what the hell were the judges thinking when they decided that this Demented One's tweets are not governmental pronouncements and therefore documents that would either prove or disprove these tweet contents do not have to be released. With a man in the throes of dementia running his administration through his tweets, how could the judge say that?There is certainly something wrong with this ship of state indeed.
     And the effects or consequences of dishonesty continue apace. And it affects people on both sides of the aisle. People often base their votes on the words of the candidate, even if taken with a grain or a bushel of salt. But what does one do when the liar is totally avoiding the truth on a simple question of BDS - do you support it or not. Ilhan Omar replied very carefully to questions about Israel, had Jewish support and donations, and yet right after election, she openly comes out as a supporter of the BDS movement, an anti Israel, anti Jewish and anti Semitic action. Where is the honor in this woman? Nowhere to be seen, and worse, she confirms an opinion that Moslems are liars, never telling the truth and are inherently anti Israel and anti Semitic. Is this where we want to go? Is this what we wish to fill the seats of government? Honesty is demanded of both sides, honor being or  should be being the operative word here. Ilhan Omar should apologize or be immediately sidelined in the Democratic Party. Honor and honesty demand it. Honestly!
     Finally, for today, a glimpse of what dishonesty causes. We have a government in shutdown mode and a Demented One standing there with his infantile stage of development, or regression rather, threatening to keep his toys at home, trying to blame all on his opponents rather than accepting his own words of acceptance as he himself spoke them. A liar and a cheat and a most ill mannered man, but worse is the harm he is causing so many in the country. And far worse are the lies he has told and the facts as they are coming out. The economy is shuddering. Housing prices are going soft again. GM is laying off 14,000 workers, this in a nation where the President has promised jobs for all. Uh huh. And the greed this man has caused, the hatred this man has allowed to come out in the open....well, think about that.
     For the piece de resistance, look at the inner rot that has come to the surface. Now we have videos of big people pushing around little people. But these little people are not short people, but children, children who were ripped from parents, who do not understand the language, who are sick, tired, frightened, cold, hungry and shipped from pillar to post - and most of that done at night so as to avoid protests! The concepts of Night and Fog - Nacht und Nebel - from Nazi time comes right to the surface as well.
     How did we allow such people to be employed by agencies of the government or subcontracted agencies? When the Attorney General himself, Sessions, at the time, orders the separation and full speed ahead in this action, then we truly need to do a self examination, a thorough cleansing of our souls and hearts, if we can still find them. I am sickened by this behavior, sickened into the very depths of my soul.
     So where do we go from here, friends? Where do we go? How to decide? How to clean up the joint or allow it to fall down right around our ears? To be honest, to have honor, why, honestly, is that not the way to go and if difficult, well, nothing good comes easy, does it? And the harder we work at it, the easier it will become as there will be less trash to remove, fewer muddied situations to clean, and less  hate to separate us from one another. 
     Honestly, is there any other way we should go? Answer that honestly, with thought, with care, with humanity, with truth such as it is and not the twisted versions we have created. Honestly. Honor. Honest. So necessary and so scarce in the American government today and among too many of its people. Let us make a resolution tonite to thoroughly change that situation and do it honestly and with honor.