Truth To Power?

I have a friend who is a brilliant scientist. He’s made, what seems to my layman’s mind, some very big discoveries in his field. We have often joked about his “upcoming trip to Stockholm” to accept the Nobel prize. Of course that will never happen. Not necessarily because he doesn’t deserve it, but because the prize, I have heard, like everything else in the world is as much based on politics as it is on substance. If he were to be presented with a prize, though, I expect he’d make some self-deprecating, humorous remarks at the presentation.

I, on the other hand, in no danger of ever being in such a position, have often daydreamed about using that fifteen seconds of fame to speak out against an injustice. In my youth I fantasized being the recipient of an award at the White House and telling the president, Johnson or Nixon, to his face that their war policies were wrong and evil. Had I the opportunity to appear decades later, I’d love to have told George W. Bush what a moron he’d been in attacking Iraq. And Trump? Don’t get me started.

I would have been correct, (of course!) and perhaps my courage to speak out might have been useful in some way, but I suspect all I would receive for my efforts would have been denigration and death threats. More recently, as I looked helplessly on at the travesties wreaked by the Trump administration, it was astounding to me how many people who were in a position to call him out on so many issues kept their counsel until it didn’t make any difference any more. Even when he made all out assaults on the bedrock of democracy by working with Russia in 2016 and fomenting a rebellion four years later, the Republicans made nary a whimper. It was the same for his entire four miserable years and will be worse for the next four.

Think of Michael Bolton and the slew of high level staff Trump chewed up and spit out. Were they all so stupid as to think they could steer Trump in the right direction by playing along with him, or were so unobservant they didn’t know that every person who ever worked for Trump got the shaft in the end? Just think of how the impeachment might have gone had Bolton voluntarily walked into Congress and spilled the beans on the Ukraine shakedown. Think of what may have happened had Robert Mueller, after his report was falsified and eviscerated by Barr, stood up and said what we all know, “Nope, that’s not what the report says. Yep, Trump, whether or not he can be indicted as a sitting president definitely welcomed foreign interference in the election and obstructed justice.” And just think of how many lives may have been saved had Birx and Fauci, way back when Trump advocated for bleach injections and discouraged common sense and medically appropriate mandates to reduce the spread of the virus, stood up and said, “We want the American people to know this man knows nothing about medicine. His medical advice is not only wrong, it’s ludicrous. He’s lying to the nation for political purposes. And people will die if we don’t do what we need to do. Here’s what we need to do….”

I’m sorry. For the doctors to wait until the day before the elections to speak out was not right. They would have been fired, you may say, then some stooges would have taken their places. A valid point. I guess they felt that even restricted they could do some good. That was the rationale of many Trump administration people. Did they actually do good? I don’t know. We do know none of these people needs the job nor would they lack for job options. Of course, some looney Trumpsters might shoot them. That would be a drawback of speaking out.

Remember the woman who gave the finger to Trump from her bicycle? She was swamped with job offers and is still alive. Now there was a courageous woman and a true patriot. I had the same opportunity early in Trump’s first reign, having to stand on a corner on the National Mall waiting for his convoy to go by heading for Virginia, to the golf course, no doubt. Standing there, I imagined the Washington Monument was flipping him the bird. “Should I moon him or give him the finger?” I thought. And did neither.

I guess you’d say I made the common sense decision that the momentary satisfaction afforded by a purely symbolic gesture would not be worth the consequences. I have stuck my neck out and said my piece often on sensitive issues, in my books and blogs. Of course, since these will likely languish in obscurity, I’m not greatly at risk. Still, if the right (or wrong) person reads my stuff, they might very well decide to use me for target practice. Sure it’s more risky for high profile people, but, then again, they are in a position of public trust. If they are so afraid to speak truth, they should never accept such responsible positions. When lives are at stake, it’s incumbent on such people to do the right thing.

Well, maybe that’s easy for me to say when they are the ones in the crosshairs.

This brings me back to my day dreams. I’m up at the podium in the White House. The President offers his hand. I turn to him and say…… or do I?