The Loss of Bill

Bill is a cherished friend. He was the president of a local fly anglers club when I lived in Baltimore. He was one of those fellows with the charisma to get people involved, so I joined the club and eventually served on the board of directors with him. Bill also “drafted” me into serving on the board of directors for the Mid-Atlantic chapter of The Federation of Fly Fishers. He was also active in The Brotherhood of the Junglecock, a national youth organization dedicated to perpetuating the sport of fly-fishing. Bill was an entrepreneur and owned his own business. He retired after 20+ years in the National Guard as a warrant officer, one of those senior non-commissioned officers who knew how to get things done. 

By the late 90’s, Bill’s health was beginning to fail due to diabetes. Eventually, he stopped smoking, but it was too late to prevent his health from deteriorating. The first thing to go, that I remember, was a numb foot that prevented him from wading the rocky-bottomed streams of Maryland and Pennsylvania. After I left the East Coast, I returned a couple times to fish with Bill and some other friends in north central Pennsylvania. The last year that I was able to make the annual trip, Bill was too ill to come. His health was so frail that he was afraid to be far away from a medical facility and the nearest one to our cabin was over 45 miles away, nearly an hour and a half by car in mountainous roads. 

I still am in contact with Bill, occasionally by telephone, but most often through emails. Bill still has his same sense of humor judging by some of the YouTube videos and other stuff he sends to me. Bill has also become a fervent devotee of the Tea Party movement and he frequently “pummels” me with tea party propaganda that he finds on the Internet. 

Sometimes, I scan the material, consider it poking fun at the president (which is a great American pastime protected by the 1st Amendment), grin, and simply delete it. Other times, I go to Snopes.com to qualify the claims. Sometimes I reply to his Tea Party pap with the Snopes link and a subject line that says “The Truth”. I try to strike a balance with this because I do not want to lose a friend over fanatical propaganda.

What increasingly disturbs me are the contemptible, offensive lies being spread by these people. Only 30 seconds of research enlightens me about the unmitigated bile being distributed by Tea Party fanatics. It is my opinion that President Obama and our congress’ efforts are not evil, just sometimes naive, misguided, or poorly implemented … and sometimes they are spot-on. 

Our nation has always overcome naive, misguided policies and poorly implemented ideas. Always. However, the adulterated lies being sent to millions of people via the Internet are truly evil. They defile our great nation and the people that make it great when they are different from themselves. These lies destroy our ability to hold meaningful discourse. Thinking for ourselves is the only weapon we have to defend our nation against the ignoramus’ among us. 

So ignore the Tea Party. Ignore the Republicans. Ignore the Democrats. Consider all political ads as outright lies, because they are. Every single political ad is a lie full of half-truths and innuendos. If you hear something that you do not like, there is no doubt you are hearing a lie.  

Even those ads that do not throw mud at the opponent, hide the shortcomings or the weaknesses of the candidate being supported. If a candidate sounds too good to be true, they are lying to you. Stay informed. No one can defeat an educated, informed populace. 

The last time I spoke with Bill, he was on his Tea Party stump, the gist of which was how President Obama was tearing apart the constitution and turning us into a socialist, if not communist, nation. When I questioned some of his statements or asked for examples, he said I was just “an Obama guy”. 

That seems to be a typical ideologue response these days. When their ideas can’t hold up to valid questions or logic, they label and attack the person. Listen for the attack when someone wants to discuss the issues. 

When I hung up, I had tears in my eyes. I have seen my friend lose his physical health and now … now he has lost the ability to think for himself. 

Royal Dun