This is Viewpoints for Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015
'Crazy Uncle Donald'
It was the "biggest event to hit the Coliseum since Elvis," one attendee at Monday night"s Trump rally told me. Though that"s certainly not true, billionaire Donald Trump did make a dent in Elvis" 70s sellouts, attracting around 6,000, who paid nothing but a wait in line and airport-style security sweeps to see him.
Well, Elvis has left the building — the King of Rock"n"Roll is gone. Long live the King of Blather. In 1841, President William Henry Harrison gave his only inaugural speech on a cold, wet March Thursday in Washington, D.C. The "Tippecanoe" war hero who defeated Tecumseh, refusing an overcoat and gloves, died of pneumonia a month later.
Harrison truly talked himself to death and as such, has set the bar quite high for Trump, who tried with all his might to reach it Monday night. I"ve been in business for over a quarter of a century, and I"ve heard some bombastic, self-loving narcissists in that time. But I"ve never, ever, heard someone more in love with the sound of their own voice than Donald Trump.
Now many pundits and friends of Trump tell me that this isn"t the "real" Trump, that it"s only him when the cameras are on, that it"s only a persona. But wow, if that"s a persona, Trump should win a Tony Award and an Oscar for best actor, because he plays it perfectly. He plays it better than Heath Ledger played The Joker (and that killed Ledger). He plays it better than the accusations of "pathological" he throws at Ben Carson.
In fact, Trump sang the entire hit parade against nearly every candidate running in the 2016 presidential race, of both parties. He even trashed Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out months ago. Trump also backhanded the only candidate who has never uttered an unkind word about him: Sen. Ted Cruz.
When my timer ticked 38 minutes into Trump"s no-Teleprompter, unfiltered stream-of-consciousness, steady lines were headed for the exits. Those who remained got to listen to the 69-year-old mogul finally make a few points against President Obama.
In an hour and 15 minutes, Trump said essentially nothing new, and he said it almost incoherently. It was like listening to my crazy uncle talk about buying his Mercedes with paper bags filled with cash. Crazy Uncle Donald, except more boring.
"Boring" is exactly how one 19-year-old attendee described it to me. Even dyed-in-the-wool supporters packed it in early when Trump busted through the one hour mark with no sign of wrapping up. After his tedious cacophony devolved into left-handed praise of George S. Patton, calling him a "horrendous human being, but he"s great!" Trump finally, mercifully, stopped talking, ending with the same words as he began: "I love you."
Mr. Trump, we love you, too. That crazy-uncle-who-visits-during-holidays kind of love. It"s fun to see the King of Blather visit, but would you vote for your crazy uncle?
— Steve Berman
Warner Robins
Impossible task
Students like Josh Barker are the future of our country. Not only has he read the Constitution, he understands it. And he has a great grasp of science. He clearly, and concisely articulated, the current problem facing our country. These include; deficit spending, the growing national debt, government over regulation and the decline of states rights. He is correct that the founding fathers wanted a limited federal government. That is, the federal government should only do what the Constitution authorizes. All other power resides with the individual states or the people.
But over the years, the states enabled the government to assume more power in exchange for federal funding. I do not think a Convention of States to amend the Constitution is viable. There are to many states like; New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Nevada, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Hawaii and Pennsylvania whose legislatures are content with the present system. Additionally, it will take years to get 34 states to pass the required resolution. And it would be almost impossible to get the representatives from 34 states to agree on congressional term limits, revise the federal tax code and controls on federal courts.
It took years for the representatives from the original 13 states to agree on a Constitution. And, they had to add 10 amendments in order to get it approved by the states. Even if the Constitution was revised, the professional politicians would find ways to circumvent it in order to reward those who contribute to their re-election campaigns and appease their hard core constituents.
I think a better approach would be for voters not to re-elect any member of Congress who voted to suspend the national debt limit until March 2017. Or re-elect anyone who has continuously voted for deficit spending. Or re-elect anyone who voted to disregard sequestration spending limits, or anyone who has not enacted legislation to un-fund presidential initiatives or mandates.
Congress makes laws. Congress provides money to fund the government. Congress approves federal judges. Congress is not doing its job. Therefore, do not re-elect them.
— Jim Costello
Perry
Elmer lives
I have been wondering why Donald Trump has been drawing such big crowds and generating such a high degree of publicity. Nagging, in my mind, was the feeling I had seen all this before. I just couldn"t fight through the fog of obfuscation and hyperbole the man was espousing to get to the source that was driving me crazy. Then it came to me like a lightening bolt: Burt Lancaster in "Elmer Gantry." However, I don"t think even "Elmer" would have proclaimed that he could predict terrorism because he could "feel it."
This is hyperbole and obfuscation in a way only "The Donald" could throw out there and only a certain segment of the American public would buy into It.
— Bill P. Northenor
Woodstock
Hypocritical
During the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, we often have guests to our homes — some from the Northern States of America. One such visitor recently told me that they once thought of me as being a very racist person because I was from the South and had long been involved in heritage organizations. Now, they concluded, I was not. I know liberal propagandists often do an effective job at characterizing conservative views as racist, but are not such arising, pre-conceived notions not a blatant form of the very prejudice they boast of opposing. Why, it almost seems hypocritical, don"t you think?
— John Wayne Dobson
Macon
Deerdevils
I have recently noticed an increase in the population of thrill-seeking deer. On no less than five occasions over the past seven weeks, a daring deer — no doubt goaded by his buddies — has courageously attempted to cross the road in front of my car. Based on my personal statistics, 40 percent of these deerdevils don"t make it. I don"t know how we address this onslaught of deer bravado, but a good first step would be for our hunters to spend more time in the woods. While a deer taken out by a hunter will probably not garner the fame of a successful deerdevil, a dead deer will not cause me to call my insurance company yet again.
— B.J. Survant
Macon
Deporter in chief
During President Obama"s administrations hundreds of thousands of the undocumented have been deported by ICE. Some Hispanic lobbying groups have called Obama the "deporter in chief." We now have 54 million Hispanic American citizens/residents or 17 percent of our population. By 2060 it has been estimated that Hispanics will make up 31 percent of our population. Georgia will have a majority of non-white citizens in 10 years or so.
— Frank Gadbois
Warner Robins
This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 10:19 AM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 ."