Bill Pezza: Trump distracts us with shining objects
I was sitting in front of my keyboard wondering why I ever agreed to write these articles. It’s not because there isn’t anything to write about; rather there’s so much: It’s what futurist writer Alvin Toffler once called “overchoice.” I feel like a kid in an ice cream shop, looking up at the big board that lists all the intriguing flavors and being paralyzed by indecision.
The current president dangles so many shiny objects before our eyes each day that the distractions multiply. It’s like being in a hall of mirrors and not knowing where to look next. But this is my article, not his, and I have to resist the temptation to be distracted by things like the meme of him in a pope’s garments, which he apparently liked and claimed Catholics liked it too; or his musing about a military parade on his birthday; or, his wistful comments about “taking” Greenland, or making Canada the 51st state. Wait…, see what I mean about distractions?
I took a breath and forced myself to calm down, to gather my wits when many around me seemed to be losing theirs, and I came up with a clever idea to write an article about the most important stuff, the real stuff. I would use repetitive language as a literary technique. It worked for Martin Luther King Jr. in his eloquent and moving “I have a Dream” speech. He said, I have a dream this and I have a dream that…. It worked pretty well for him, but no one can match King as a communicator, not even some notable elected officials who can’t put a coherent sentence together. (You’re welcome to use your imagination here.)
So I decided to use a much simpler approach. I’m allocated roughly 700 words for this column, so I would write “due process” one hundred times. That’s it, due process, due process, due process — no verbs, just a repetition of one of the most sacred tenants of our Constitution, just to draw the attention of people who should know better as they watch in silent consent as the concept is assaulted.
That would take up 200 words. Then I’d jump over to an old favorite, “separation of powers.” No verb again, just separation of powers, separation of powers, separation of powers 100 times, just in case we’ve forgotten that America also has a judicial and legislative branch, both of which at the highest levels seem to have gone on vacation. That would leave me only 200 words and I would still need to address “the rule of law,” and “congressional oversight,” apparently a lost art in this age of autocracy.
Wait, what about the “emoluments clause?” (I have to admit I had to look up the spelling). Surely that deserves some space in an age when a sitting president is raking in tens of millions in crypto currency, whatever the hell that is.
I’m reminded of the final scene in Camelot, where the bad guys are trampling over the round table where the knights — people of virtue and honor — once sat. Their leader King Arthur, about to be overrun himself, sees a little boy and makes the boy promise that he will go forth and remind people that once there was a place called Camelot.
Nothing so grand here. I just wanted to remind people who should know already, that once we had leaders who stood up to fiercely defend the Constitution, due process, separation of powers and the rule of law. I’m afraid I’ve failed. I’m afraid that while these cherished principles are under assault, we’ll be drawn instead to the next shining object that No. 47 dangles before us while the assault continues.
Bill Pezza, a former Bristol Borough Council president, teaches history and government at Bucks County Community College.
