January 31, 2018

“State of the Union, 2018”

By Jim Culp

 Last night I watched the State of the Union address on CBS. I was fairly long, and the President covered a large variety of topics; everything from immigration to ISIS, heroes to zeros, and all of the stuff that he plans to see to fruition over the next three years.

President Trump paid respect to soldiers, police officers, and families that had lost loved ones to gang violence. He praised himself for publicly recognizing the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and patted himself on the back for lowering taxes on the middle class and corporations. Finally, he embarked on a sermon of epic proportions about how we will rebuild our infrastructure, put millions back to work, keep North Korea at bay, and make ISIS a memory. He declared us a nation “under God,” but I hope he remembers that “god” has many names…like Allah, Krishna, and many others.  
I listed all these things to say this; I’ve heard all of this many times. I’ve paid particular attention to these addresses over the past twenty or so years; all the way back to President H.W. Bush around the time of the Gulf War.
What astounds me (among a hundred other things) is that many of these Senators and Representatives have been seated in that same chamber for this address for all of that time, and some much longer. For a short list, McConnell has been there for 33 years, Pelosi for 31 years, Graham for 25 years, and Schumer for 37 years.
I could name many others that have been there even longer, and the list is long.
All the way back to that address that I mentioned a while ago, Presidents (Democrat and Republican) have been saying roughly the same thing. They are going to lower taxes, end poverty, seal the borders, rebuild infrastructure, and defeat evil around the world.
Just one guy talking here, but it’s been 28 years and five Presidents since that speech I remember so well in 1990, and I haven’t seen any of that stuff change very much. I still see thousands of homeless veterans, I still pay outlandish taxes, and the largest and most powerful military on the Earth still can’t defeat “those evil terrorists” that wreak havoc on our lives every day across the world. We’ve been in Afghanistan for a little over 16 years now, lost over 67,000 lives (coalition forces and civilian personnel), and spent a little over a trillion dollars there. The same roads and bridges that you drive over every day are still crumbling, and tolls and fees just get higher and higher with each passing year.
I remember when President Obama talked about these things, and promised that they would come to fruition in his or at least his predecessors tenure. When he did so, I remember Republicans like McConnell and Boehner asking him questions like “how are we paying for that?” and “where the hell is that money coming from?”
I watched the faces of Democrats and Republicans alike as the President promised these same wet dreams, and all of them were of the “what the fuck did he just say?” type.
I wonder when (this week or next?) some of those same Republicans will ask President Trump where all of that money is coming from?
I watched Rex Tillerson’s face light up as the President announced the multi-billion dollar deal with Exxon-Mobile. How special. Kind of reminds me of Dick Cheney and Halliburton in 2003. Laugh all you want; I was there and watched it unfold on the ground right under my nose in Iraq.

But here we are. It’s the end of January, and I still can’t believe that it is 2018.

We’ll see what happens in the coming months and years.

I’ll be right here, like that chigger that bites your leg.

Cheers-

Jim