D.C.’s decency deficit is costing Americans more than money | John Baer
We’re entering the second spring of “The Golden Age” promised by President Donald Trump at his second inaugural last year.
We’re in a foreign war (or as Trump calls it, “a little excursion”) that he pledged we would not get into. As a result, the economy, energy prices and geopolitical tensions are, let’s just say, providing some instability.
The first two weeks of the war cost the lives of 13 U.S. service members and $12 billion. Time reports that’s enough to fund child care for 900,000 children, or health care for 1.3 million people, or more than 100,000 new teachers or nurses, or the entire National Park Service.
Nearly six of 10 Americans (57%), according to the Real Clear Politics average of major polls, see the country moving in the wrong direction.
On top of all that, official Washington is disregarding decency, a minimal need for a sustainable society, and playing footsy with the truth.
An example of action devoid of decency is having fun promoting the war on social media. The White House, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command posted videos mixing actual war scenes with clips from violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” and blues artist John Lee Hooker’s song “Boom Boom” (opening lyric: “Boom, boom, boom, boom. I’m gonna shoot you right down.”)
There also are film clips featuring maxi-macho stuff: “Superman,” “Top Gun,” “Ironman.” And, with images of planes and buildings being blown up, presumably by American bombs, the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants asking, “You wanna see me do it again?”
One wonders what family and friends of killed-in-action service members think of treating the war like a video game. And there’s the broader issue. The Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blasé Cupich, said, “Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store… READ MORE