June 1, 2009

Dear Friend,

Are you angry? Are you mad about what is going on in government? True, we can be mad at the bankers, just as we would be mad at a thief who broke into our home and stole things. But here is the question: If you forget to set the burglar alarm before you go to Wal-Mart, you can also be mad at yourself, can’t you?

If you are a Republican, you are mad at the Democrats. If you are a Democrat, you are mad at the Republicans. If you are an Independent, you get to take your pick. But even here, we are missing something really important. Remember something Abraham Lincoln said to an earlier generation of Americans: We are a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." That line echoes down through history and should serve to remind us that, if we need someone to blame, someone to be angry at, we ought to look in the mirror. Blame Congress, blame the president, if you must, for they were asleep at the switch. But blame ourselves for putting them there. Writing about a nation much like ours, Isaiah said:

It would be hard to find a more apt description of where we are right now. God knows, there is a great deal of anger about. But free-floating anger is a bad thing, and it leads people to do bad things. It is okay to be angry, but it is a big mistake to act in anger. James wrote long ago: "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (James 1:19-20).

I was shocked to see President Obama express his anger publicly, and appear prepared to act in anger—even stirring up anger in his audience. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? The more power a person has, the worse it is for him to let anger come to the fore. Remember, there is a man close to the president at all times who carries what is called "the football." It is a small case with all the codes necessary to launch nuclear war.

Last night, I searched the Internet and found FDR’s speech to Congress on December 8, 1941. If ever a president had a right to be angry, this was the occasion for it. But the dominant impression carried in the speech was not anger. Rather, it was a grim determination. He systematically laid out the facts, declared that we would triumph, and asked for the congressional declaration that a state of war existed between Japan and the United States of America. Whatever you may think of Roosevelt, he was a statesman, and what the nation needed on that day was not anger. We needed leadership. We needed the calm determination to fight and win.

I contrast that to President Obama’s expressed anger over bonuses paid, under contract and permitted by U.S. law, to officers of a company the U.S. had just bailed out. No blood had been spilled. Hundreds of Americans were not lying at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. And one wonders what the reaction will be when Americans do die in large numbers at some future time.

Anger is out of place in men who have that kind of power. Let him go to the White House gym, punch the heavy bag for a while, and then come and lead the people to a calm, reasoned response to the problem.

There is much more that could be said, and I said it in a recent program titled Are You Angry? We can send you a FREE CD of the program if you call or write by July 15, 2009. If you prefer to just listen or download the program now, please click here. You don’t want to miss this one. There is no charge for it, so be sure to send in your request.

Keep in touch, 

Ronald L. Dart