Prognosticators

From My Perspective - - -

It becomes a wearying process to listen to “News Programs” and to have Prognosticators and Pundits express what the Newsmaker meant to say and means to say. It becomes somewhat disingenuous, especially when there are those in Punditry who are (a) predictable in terms of what they will utter again and again, and (b) who keep speaking until they can think of something to say. Whatever happened to the Biblical instruction in Ecclesiastes 5:2-3, “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.” And what about the admonition in James 1:19, “…Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry...”

Extrapolation means: “A common method is to look at data on a curve, then extend the curve into regions for which there is no data. Extrapolation is often used to predict the future.” One of the more interesting Prognosticators and Pundits is Peggy Noonan. In her column today in the Wall Street Journal, she references Michelle Obama’s speech before the Democratic National Convention when she with these words: “In order to paint both her professional life and her husband's, and in order to communicate what she feels is his singular compassion, she had to paint an America that is darker, sadder, grimmer, than most Americans experience their country to be. And this of course is an incomplete picture, an incorrectly weighted picture. Sadness and struggle are part of life, but so are guts and verve and achievement and success and hardiness and…triumph. Democrats always get this wrong. Republicans get it wrong too, but in a different way. Democrats in the end speak most of, and seem to hold the most sympathy for, the beset-upon single mother without medical coverage for her children, and the soldier back from the war who needs more help with post-traumatic stress disorder. They express the most sympathy for the needy, the yearning, the marginalized and unwell. For those, in short, who need more help from the government, meaning from the government's treasury, meaning the money got from taxpayers. Who happen, also, to be a generally beset-upon group…”

As Ms. Noonan continues, she makes a transition to include the Republican myopia when she states: “Democrats show little expressed sympathy for those who work to make the money the government taxes to help the beset-upon mother and the soldier and the kids. They express little sympathy for the middle-aged woman who owns a small dry cleaner and employs six people and is, actually, day to day, stressed and depressed from the burden of state, local and federal taxes, and regulations, and lawsuits, and meetings with the accountant, and complaints as to insufficient or incorrect efforts to meet guidelines regarding various employee/employer rules and regulations. At Republican conventions they express sympathy for this woman, as they do for those who are entrepreneurial, who start businesses and create jobs and build things. Republicans have, that is, sympathy for taxpayers. But they don't dwell all that much, or show much expressed sympathy for, the sick mother with the uninsured kids, and the soldier with the shot nerves…”

Who is right here? Or, is there enough blame to go around? Are our politicians just using words to stir emotions and rally people to vote for them? Do they really have genuine concern for the sick mother or marginalized warrior? And, what about those who claim relationship to Jesus Christ? The Evangelical base wants to have a voice and influence in the politics of our day – but – how much is their talk demonstrated by walk - - how often are their words put into action?

Consider these things with me and if those who do Extrapolation project the productivity and achievement of our lives, may they have evidence that we have put feet to our faith, and action to our affirmations.