It seems that honoring past presidents has for some reason been relegated to the month of February. I’ve always felt that Presidents Day should be celebrated in and around the 4th of July. It make more sense to me than having every presidents birthday being honored individually which probably explains what it isn’t done that way. What the hell do I know.
I’ve spent a few hours trying to decide on a specific president to discuss and it’s truly been a difficult decision. As I was reading about this one or that one I stumbled on a huge surprise. We’ve had many excellent presidents to be sure and a few real stinkers in recent years. It’s easy to praise Washington, Lincoln, FDR, or JFK, so I won’t do that. I’ve never really read a lot about Harry Truman other than he was a plain talking, kick them in the ass, or drop an A-Bomb on them, kind of guy. Here’s my pleasant surprise of the year so far. I think we need more guys like this.
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Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife inherited the house from her parents and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there. When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his own stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service protection in those days. When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale."
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food. Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices.
Good old Harry was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!"
We’ll never see another like Harry Truman but we sure could use someone with his courage and good old common sense approach to things. So, happy President’s Day Harry, you deserve being recognized as one who set the bar high and then jumped over it.
It’s still February, it’s still cold, and I still hate advertisements. Not just a minor dislike but a really white hot hate. Why is it necessary that every building in every city that’s large enough to house a sporting event have a corporate sponsor. I’m starting to believe that the American businesses are doing a lot better than we’ve been told. Spending millions of dollars a year to have your name on an arena would piss me off a great deal if I were a stockholder.
So it’s February, the month with some really lame observances and a couple of so-so holidays. Since my complaint today is with advertisers I must of course mention the upcoming Presidents Day. I love that we still remember and celebrate our founding fathers, Lincoln, Washington, and others. It just seems to me that we’re getting a little redundant with these things. If we have a Presidents Day why is there a need for individual observances for just a few. I’m realize that if we tried to eliminate Presidents Day every car salesman in the country would march on Washington. It could be called The Million Salesmen March of 2013.
I wonder if our Presidents ever gave any thought to just how their likenesses and names would be prostituted for the good of the automobile industry and others. The term “spinning in their graves” immediately comes to mind.
Now to the meat of this posting. I was sitting at home last night minding my own business and attempting to watch one minute of TV without some annoying ad being shoved in my face. Leave it up to some of our sneaky yet loveable Japanese businessmen to come up with this idea. A car commercial for Honda where they have George Washington and Abraham Lincoln singing their theme song as a duet. To say it was disrespectful and tasteless is an understatement. I wonder how those same Japanese businessmen would feel if we used the images of a few of their emperors to sell Domino’s Pizza or possibly women’s feminine products.
Have we in this country become so greedy that nothing is sacred. That was rhetorical because we already know the answer. The United States is losing it’s integrity and it’s soul. We will disrespect absolutely anything regardless of it’s importance to make a buck. Greed is a terrible thing and it’s something that infects almost all of us. Money, Money, Money!
I could go on and on with this but it’s pointless. You already know that its true because you’ve been raised with it and think it’s the norm. I’m here to tell you it’s not. Paying millions of dollars for a minute of Super Bowl time is outrageous and insidious all at the same time. Everywhere you look are ads. On every building, wall, road sign, and of course TV. Thirty percent or more of your TV time is paid advertisements.
Propaganda and brainwashing are frowned upon when it’s a government or a religious cult doing it but totally permissible for every business in this country. We’re at the point where most of the music we walk around humming are commercial theme songs. They’ve taken many of our greatest oldies and turned them into something they were never meant to be. Shame and them and double shame on us for putting up with it.
My rant is over and I wish February was over too.
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