Be Like Monica


MonicaReading time – 61 seconds  .  .  .

Monica Lewinsky was a 22 year old intern in the Clinton White House when she engaged in her youthful indiscretion with the President. At the time President Clinton was 49, old enough to be her father and certainly old enough to know better. He was supposed to be an adult.

– John Boehner is supposed to know not to invite a leader of a foreign government to speak to a joint session of Congress without first getting approval from the President.

– Mitch McConnell is supposed to know that hostage taking by withholding a vote on a new attorney general is harmful to our system of justice. He is supposed to know that shutting down the government and shuttering homeland security are assaults on America.

– Mitt Romney is supposed to know that 47% of Americans are impoverished, not moochers.

– Ted Cruz is supposed to know something – anything.

– 47 Republican senators are supposed to know not to meddle in foreign policy, that it is under the purview of the Executive Branch of government. And they should at least quote the Constitution accurately and they should never direct a foreign government to distrust the United States of America.

– Governor Scott Walker is supposed to know that he should not be in the pocket of the Koch brothers.

– Sarah Palin is supposed to know – oh, forget it.

What each of these people have in common is that, like President Clinton, they are old enough to know better. They are supposed to be adults. Their indiscretions are anything but youthful and theirs are enormously damaging to America, which Ms. Lewinsky’s activities most certainly were not.

She has moved on, with several painful lessons having been learned, including how our sensationalist press feeds our sensation-seeking citizenry and how that is instrumental in the painful bullying and shaming of so many people. Watch her powerful TED talk here. She has grown and is intentionally being of service to others.

Too bad so many of our “pubic servants” in Washington, people who are supposed to know better, are intentionally refusing to be of service to America.

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TODAY’S ACTION STEP: Corporations that receive government contracts secretly funnel undisclosed piles of cash to help elect and re-elect the very same lawmakers responsible for awarding those contracts.

The President has the authority to shine a light on these influence payments with the stroke of a pen on an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their political spending. Tell President Obama we want disclosure by federal contractors both HERE and HERE.

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    Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

    ACTION STEP: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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6 Responses to Be Like Monica
  1. dominick palella Reply

    If you want to have your government leaders behaving like responsible adults, you have to identify if they are, and if they will actually pay attention to you as their constituents. All the legislators mentioned in your article have one thing in common – you have no right as a citizen to interfere with their dishonorable conduct. Even Mark Kirk, who represents the Illinoisans who elected him, is immune from accountability for acting like a fool – until his next election. While he is charged with representing the people of Illinois, do you think his conduct represents our majority opinion? It actually does not matter, because his conduct is beyond reproach.

    This is the most dangerous problem we face in America today – having our representatives acting as sovereign entities once they step into office. Our rights to representation end the first day they begin their jobs and independently decide whether or not to fulfill promises made during their election campaigns. Signing petitions, asking them to make new laws or calling these individuals to beg and plead with them to do the right thing is clearly a waste of time and energy – if they have no obligation to respond to the people they theoretically represent.

    Unfortunately, many Americans who are eligible to vote are equally irresponsible in selecting these people to rule over their lives. However, this lack of responsibility for most voters is based largely on their perceptions of what our politicians and mass media present to them. Misleading and distorted information floods our airwaves daily, and is at hurricane strength during election campaigns. There are virtually no challenges of consequence from our “free press” corporate news department lackeys. They allow repeated misinformation and lies in political commercials free reign, while their bosses stand aside to collect massive amounts of revenue in advertising.

    This unrestrained use of misleading political propaganda even convinces educated and intelligent voters to consistently vote against their own interests and those of our nation. Simultaneously, it also convinces many to not vote, because they have come to recognize that their choices in elections are mainly between the lesser of two evils.

    I’m developing a political web site to show how to expose false political propaganda and how voters can actually do something productive, before the next national election. That is, to change our lack of democratic representation, enabling voting age citizens to compel their representatives to act with personal integrity and accountability to their constituents when serving in office. The site will be launched by April 1st, no fooling, but if you want a preview, contact me by email.

  2. David Lindgren Reply

    Ted talk was really impressive for Monica. Wish her the best. She has overcome perceive odds to take stand for really a mission of helping others overcome media and internet bullying.

  3. Jim Altschuler Reply

    You were spot on but, as a suggestion, I really don’t think you took that discussion nearly far enough. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun and you plan to do follow-up articles on what these nimrods should be doing as opposed to what they are doing, or not doing as the case may be. Perhaps you already have the arguments, no matter how obvious they should be to any thinking human beings in this country, about what they should be doing and why they should not be doing what they are doing.

    This obstructionist block/political party B. S. plays right into the hands of our country’s enemies. It makes us seem to the rest of the world like a bunch of incompetent boobs who can’t agree on solutions to even basic problems let alone complex ones, and if we can’t even come up with solutions to minor and/or basic problems then, to our enemies, we are weak and ripe for attack. Sadly, such is exactly the case. If any of our external enemies choose to make another attack – financial, idealogical, physical (by land, sea or air), whatever – it is doubtful that we can muster the coordination to fend off and defeat those enemies.

    And we continue to allow internal enemies to operate citing the premises that the right to free speech and the right to bear arms justify their being allowed to continue to exist no matter how obstructive or destructive their actions, even their words, are. Grievances – OK – it is the right of every citizen in this country to say what they want, what they think, what they hope for. Speak up at the appropriate times and in the appropriate forums.
    That DOES NOT include congressional wing-nuts who circumvent constitutional requirements and responsibilities.
    It DOES NOT include deliberately damaging and/or committing subterfuge to keep the majority of the nations populace from having the opportunities for health insurance that they have been denied for well over 200 years, for rebuilding their financial lives, for re-developing hope for their futures and for those of their children.
    It DOES NOT include helping to develop fear, distrust, or disbelief.
    It DOES NOT include denigrating religious beliefs, national origins, races, or any other of the “protected classes”.
    It DOES NOT include creating riots or bombing citizens or shooting those citizens because of their religious beliefs, national origins, races, or any other of the “protected classes”
    or allowing any of those things to happ

    • dominick palella Reply

      As you’ll see on my upcoming site (let me know if you want a sneak peek), what we need to understand is that the greatest enemies of our democracy do not live in other countries which we have invaded to kill their citizens because they threatened our private oil company properties. They are not the big money sociopathic donors, but the sociopaths who eagerly accept their handouts and claim they do not influence them. Our representatives from our President down to our city councils are the dangerous oligarchs that are trying to destroy us from within. We should be less afraid of weapons of mass destruction and learn how to identify the messages of mass deception in their political propaganda.

      I’ve attended a couple of your presentations Jack, but couldn’t make the last one at the Devon Bank, which are a few blocks from where I live. I want to develop an interactive presentation that engages an audience to better understand that many of our beliefs about our government leaders are gross distortions of truth. While you focus on information to encourage voter participation in government, I focus on how voters are deceived by political propaganda and how to use a vetting process to determine the level of personal integrity in our politicians. This will be with pledges of honor that will scare the hell out of those who are dishonest, but be welcome by those who really want to serve in government. I believe that local government is the best place to start, as these politicians are somewhat less influenced by big money financing.

      • JaxPolitix Reply

        Thanks for your perspective on this, Dominick. Looking forward to your upcoming site and, yes, I’d like a sneak peak.

      • JaxPolitix Reply

        Thanks for your perspective on this, Dominick. And, yes, I’d like a sneak peak at your site.