Happy Days Are here again or are they?

                            Happy Days are here again or are they ?

         In a personable tour de force, Donald Trump appeared on ABC’s morning “ Today Show.” The genial Mr. Trump fielded a wide array of questions on both domestic and foreign policy issues. “We are going to have such a great country after four years of a Trump Administration,” he chortled. When asked for specifics, he basically said that we would have to trust his ability, based on his successful business reputation and acknowledged acumen.

       Why does that sound a little like Lucy talking to Charlie Brown about holding a football for him to kick? Have we not already seen others running for President promise a “chicken in every pot” or “forty acres and a mule” to attract voter attention?

        While there is merit to Mr. Trump’s claim that static plans are so much blather, it would help us all decide the merits of his sweeping claims if there were at least some detail to lend credibility to the rhetoric.

         Great orators and classical debaters use a device called glittering generalities to win over an audience. The Wikipedia definition for that phraseology is:

         A glittering generality (also called glowing generality) is an emotionally appealing phrase so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information or reason. Such highly valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. Their appeal is to emotions such as love of country and home, and desire for peace, freedom, glory, and honor. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. They are typically used by politicians and propagandists.

         Does that sound like what we just heard on the Today Show? You be the judge. I have always liked a folksier appraisal of all such speakers, “I’M from Missouri!” It is a declaration of healthy skepticism from Midwestern America. It basically asks a talker to show them the facts and skip the rhetoric. Another even more recent comparison is the hamburger commercial that asks plaintively “Where’s the Beef?”

         When you listen to someone running for office, they all seem sincere. It is only after they are elected that you find out whether or not they meant what they said. A long ago Latin cynic, a citizen of mighty Rome, first laid down the rules for assessing salesmen of all types. “Caveat Emptor,” was the rule. “Let the Buyer Beware.”

          Listen well but discerningly these next twelve months. Snake oil salesmen are good at what they do.

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                                   Joseph Xavier Martin