Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!

Few people who are not super rich do that, but Mr. T. D. Poole, who says he's not a rich man, patriotically does it better than most. When I met, one-on-one for three-hours, with him last week, my view of the world was intensified by listening to the man, who said that in younger years he considered becoming a minister. He can quote from the Bible, probably, better than many of the better learned Christian students. But now, while claiming no religious faith, he has turned a ministry into actionable deeds.

Mr. Poole's crusade was highlighted in a column of the News and Observer, Raleigh NC, yesterday, T.D. Poole's latest political ad takes on the national debt: "Poole said he placed the ad because he’s fed up with lies being presented and accepted as facts and with real problems being ignored because they are unsavory. In his view, Republican politicians have a track record for saying the right thing about spending and doing something else, and Democrats all too often have said the wrong thing and done it."

In that article, some of his ad's content is questioned as to its relevance, such as cost per job calculation during a president's tenure or leaving out Congress' culpability as well for the debt. Overall, however, his ad, Damn It! Exclaimed the President! posted on my blog site, conveys a broader message of hypocrisy, fraudulent claims, and in general a lack of ethics and respect; all of which, too often, are a common practice in our society, especially in the current political era. Poole, as with many conscientious citizens who are attuned to civility and ethical bearings, is concerned that this out-of-control, immoral dishonesty seriously impedes solving our huge national problems.

When I began to read Mr. Pools' latest ad, it caught my attention because it started with David Stockman's first presentation of the national budget to then President Reagan. Many years ago, I had read Stockman's book, The Triumph of Politics: In reference to article in the Atlantic, December 1981, President Reagan asked Stockman to explain his betrayal of Reaganomics: "Dave, how do you explain this? he said softly. You have hurt me. Why?" In Stockman's honest moment he could not betray his own conscientiousness. Stockman's recent column, Paul Ryan's Fairy-Tale Budget Plan, is published in The New York Times. Stockman, along with many others in that administration, has long-come to understand supply-side economics/Reaganomics, when carried to the extreme, is poisonous to our nation's wellbeing and debt liability.

And that's one of Mr. Pool's larger messages, a message that may not always hewn to the finer nuances, but is always in search of "fact and truth." He is a True Patriot that loves his country, proven by the fact that he "puts his money where his mouth is."

--------------------------------------------------

Mr. Poole may be contacted at his webpage, The Other Side of The Coin @ www.theothersideofthecointdpoole.org