Some time ago, the Salvation Army had a public service spot which was purposed to demonstrate the art of distraction. It pictured an attractive young lady in a tight white and gold dress and for sure, most people viewing the photo spent most of the time looking at that dress and the curves it covered. What the caption asked was, “Why is it so hard to see the black and blue ?” The black and blue were the bruises on the young lady’s thigh and mouth. Interesting !

The every day experience is full of distractions – some of which are valuable as they allow a reprieve from the stress and strain of our work a day world. Some, though, not so much. As in the illustration above, the distraction there proved to be a way to hide an evil truth and therein lies the issue of today.
We, as a country, have been subjected over the past eighteen months to the rants and ravings of one Donald Trump – a not so self made billionaire who has little or no respect for anyone or anything that does not fawn all over him, bolstering his immense ego or contribute handsomely to his bank accounts. His conspiracy theory based pronouncements are all but ludicrous and yet, by some stroke of stupidity, he was elected president. Fear and ignorance have won once again. And, in spite of assurances and projections by his ever loyal inner circle, his interactive style continues to be beyond the pale of civil or even rational . However, there is a greater concern, believe it or not, than having the mouth from Manhattan sitting in the oval office and how he got there. It is what is going on behind the scenes after the inauguration is over.
While the new president continues to flail away at every institution and the very mechanics of government, we, as a nation, stand distracted from the greater evil about to rear its very ugly head and destroy any semblance of progress we may have achieved since as far back as the early sixties. The “Breitbart Congress” is pushing a very dangerous agenda with the idea that,as long as Mr Trump sits at the president’s desk, their proposals will be approved and their agenda will become the law of the land.

From the very start, the GOP tried to block and then repeal the Social Security Act in1935 and have been and continue to do so even to today. Now, while living up to its long history of being attentive to the wants of the few and ignoring the needs of the many, Congress is poised to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While the ACA has had its flaws, especially in the quite inept way in which it was initially rolled out to the public, it has been the way in which millions have been able to secure something which has been denied them – health insurance. Now, the GOP wants to repeal the Act and , in spite of claims to the contrary, does not appear to have any plan with which to replace it, leaving those millions again without health care. Proposals ranging from outright privatizing health care to the so called free market to forcing people to rely in those ever inaccessible Health Savings Accounts have surfaced but there is no agreement on any of this. And all the while, those millions of people are awaiting their fate, some in the very midst of treatment plans.
As recently as the first week of the new Congress, a member of the House has introduced a bill to essentially eliminate the Civil Service protections afforded GS level employees of the federal government. While the stated purpose may seem to have some merit on the surface, one can clearly see the opportunities there for senior managers to simply dismiss those employees who do not meet either their personal or philosophical schemes.
On a broader scope, one only has to look at the cadre of proposed cabinet members to see the hidden agenda of the incoming administration but, as most people do not pay attention to these matters, one day all might wake up and find things like no rules for protecting the environment, no support for public education, no protections from Wall Street reckless practices and oil pipelines all over what were once protected wilderness lands.
The incoming president’s choice for the Department of Education has no idea about the IDEA, about Title IX, wants to push everyone to a school voucher system and has no experience whatsoever in public education. His choice fro the department of Energy thought he was going to be an ambassador for the gas and oil companies. His choice for EPA is currently a party in a lawsuit brought against the EPA by the state of Oklahoma where he is outgoing Attorney General and his choice for DHHS has several sweetheart deals on stock in health equipment companies which he purchased shortly before he introduced legislation which would directly benefit those companies.
The question then is what, if anything, can be done. Short of orchestrating an amendment to the Constitution to permit the recalling of members of Congress, the primary tool for swaying this tide of arrogance and vengeful extremism is vigilance. Vigilance on the part of the citizenry, vigilance on the part of watch dog groups, vigilance on the part of advocate groups and, as important as any, vigilance on the part of the media. The media – not those dime store tabloids or outlets for conspiracy theorists and other extremists but the legitimate and purposeful news services, of which there are many.
The incoming administration has had and no doubt will continue to have a strained relation with the news media, especially those long standing, reputable organizations like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the LA Times and the network news services of NBC, CBS, ABC, and even the BBC whose perspective is often very interesting when it comes to U S politics. All of these, by the way, are seemingly anathema to Mr Trump.It will be up to them to be the watch dogs for the country and they must not shy from exposing not only the good but also and especially  the bad and the ugly.