-By Frank Hyland
Every so often a Writer looks back as his or her products and asks him/herself, “Why hasn’t this been fixed?” This is one of those times. The great majority of my columns over the years have been prompted by an event – a law, an attack, a speech, a budget, a gaffe, and on and on. If it were the first gaffe, when the Obamanation stood and offered a toast to Queen Elizabeth, continuing to speak during the playing of the British national anthem, I would not have written about it. The first time that FORMER Speaker Pelosi said something like “500 million US workers lost their jobs last month,” I didn’t respond. It wasn’t until the fall of 2010, following the proclamation of the “Recovery Summer” by President in Charge of Vice Biden, that I questioned the results. And I look at my many colleagues who generate factual, critical responses to the boneheaded or misguided or outright illegal actions of the Left day after day, year after year.
Our efforts have borne some fruit – think ACORN; think Van Jones; think FORMER Speaker Pelosi. Like you, I am extremely pleased, proud, and grateful to all who read our missives and who agree and take action. It is the pace of such progress that is frustrating for many of us. Cong. Barney Frank can state publicly that he obtained a position (pun intended) at Fannie Mae for his former lover and say, in essence, “Everybody does it.” Worse, he is not seen carrying a cardboard box of his personal items out of the Capitol the same day. National Public Radio continues to receive your tax dollars.
It is one thing for Members of Congress to rise and make speeches that leave one aghast, on the subject of tax fairness, for example. It is quite another, though, for the media to allow the seemingly unending blather on their shows. On Sunday, May 29th, Chris Wallace of Fox’s Sunday news program allowed Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland to repeatedly spout her obviously prepared and well-rehearsed words about tax “breaks” for the “richest Americans,” the wealthy,” etc. The other guest, Congressman Alan West of Florida, got in one time the words about the 47% of Americans who pay no income tax whatsoever, but his voice was barely audible because of Cong. Edwards’ repeated interruptions.
While it was difficult for Chris Wallace to intervene in mid-speech, he forfeited yet another opportunity to at least begin to give We the People what we want and need the most in such situations: resolution. What we received was responses from both sides. Yes, Fox News tries, at least, to present both sides of an issue. But the fact that the debate takes place on a TV set rather than the House floor should make no difference. The speakers ought to be speaking in order to inform those listening. Otherwise, they are speaking only to speak. That is what modern-day so-called political discourse has become – endless speeches of the same words over and over. Cong. Edwards’ words were no different than the words of FORMER Speaker Pelosi, Cong. Hoyer, Cong. Van Hollen, Senate Bleater Reid, the Obamanation, and on and on. The more of anything, the more of everything that accumulates endlessly, the less it is worth. That goes for words, too. If the Congressional Record is not the largest document that has ever existed — and by far – I don’t know what is. When the speakers talk on and on, but talk past each other unresponsively, delivering their well-rehearsed speeches yet again, you and I get nowhere. Next week we will hear more speeches on the Sunday talk shows from the same or allied speakers. That, apparently, is good for the Sunday talk shows’ commercials and their revenue. We the People, however, don’t need that. We need resolution.
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Frank Hyland is a long-time Writer/Editor who has written for The New Media Alliance, and also for The Reality Check and has appeared weekly on Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Conservatism on Sunday evenings on Blog Talk Radio, along with Babe Huggett and Warner Todd Huston.