Too Much Rhetoric

News headlines surface.  In the early morning my mind tries to make sense of what I have heard, seen and read.  Other bits of information line up in this formation of images and words to complete some sort of "big picture".  Skewed by some political opinion, only a small portion of what I hear or read in the news is true.  A long time ago, I was told that newspapers are written at a 5th grade reading level.  That tells me something about the intellect of the general population.  It also tells me that the news is a great format for propaganda.  Each political party has an open agenda which they make known to all of us, and a hidden agenda which floats like the better part of an iceberg just below the surface.  Every political message is  rhetoric with intent to sell us some idea.      It is empty, superficial and showy, meant only to seduce voters into voting for some person who may or may not have the constituents' best interest in mind.  Mostly, it seems that politicians have their own interest in mind.  


One headline wonders if students should be allowed to carry guns to school.  Another, more scientific article explains that the human brain is not fully mature until age 25.  That reminds me; young soldiers going off to war are often 18 or 19 years old.  Another headline tells us that North Korea will have the capability to launch a nuclear missile with capability to land on American soil within five years.  We are concerned about handguns?  It's easy to understand why people feel unsafe.  There is a general sense of chaos in the air.   Today politicians are focused on the handguns.  Of course they do not mention North Korea.  That's just a bit too scary.  They don't mention China either with it's massive machine made up of sweat shops full of  children who manufacture our clothing and almost everything else we blindly purchase.  Who cares?  If we can own handguns, maybe we can protect ourselves against what?


When are the nations leaders going to focus on something besides political gain and realize that a "house divided cannot stand"  The rich will protect greed and the poor will be caught up, out of ignorance, in protecting the rich.  If the wealthy politicians were interested in taking care of the country, they would not ship jobs overseas.  If the rich were interested in the general health of our children they would not rage against healthcare for all.  In fact, if the politicians, who are the rich, were aware of their own mortality, they would fight to take care of the children, the elderly and the poor worldwide.  No matter.  As long as the issue is greed and division, we are doomed.  As a friend of mine used to say, "when you stick your head in the sand, everybody can see what your ass is up to".  The world is watching.


When it is all said and done we have tucked away the one guide book which we need to be reading.  That book predicts our times and times to come.  The picture is not hopeful unless the entire country takes a look at it's own need to repent and changes direction.  I am not hopeful about that.  We are all sheep.  The politicians are counting on that.