Where Have All The Statesmen Gone?

 For some time I've been thinking about great or potentially great statesmen serving in our present day congress. Maybe it's because of my age and in looking back in history to when there were outstanding legislators I can't seem to come up with (m)any.And I'm talking about both sides of the aisle. When I was a kid Illinois had a senator named Everett Dirksen. When he spoke the words coming out of his mouth were mellifluous and erudite. I only used those two words for illustration so bear with me.

I can only imagine, as a kid, my pitiful vocabulary, spelling and grammar. I first realized this when I began dating Her Majesty in 1969 as a twenty-three year old dufus. It didn't take long to realize that not only was she educated but she practiced what she'd learned. One of the first tasks for me, if I wanted her to think I wasn't a blithering idiot, was to stop using the word 'ain't', and I did. Furthermore, I put myself on grammar alert. Also, since I was a secondary school teacher poor grammar didn't go over well with those in power.

As time went by and I gravitated into sales my English speaking abilities were absolutely mandatory. I mean, if I visited a potential customer and started off the conversation, "Hey dude, wanna buy my product that them there other guys have?" You get the drift. 

This morning I was watching a news interview with a representative from the House named Jamaal Brown whose district covers the rather well to do areas north of New York City. The man was flanked by fifteen or more colleagues. His schtick centered around congressional hearings on whether or not Tik Tok, owned by the communist Chinese, should be banned in this country. If you haven't looked at the pro's and con's of Tik Tok it would behoove you to do so.

Rep. Brown, in his talk, said the Republicans wanted the social site eliminated and he was against this. He went on, "We ain't got no reason to trust Republicans. They got no swag". I was flabbergasted with the butchering of the language. What we have is a member of one of the most august bodies in the world, a guy who has a B.A. degree, a Masters degree, and he's using grammar heard in Kentucky coal mines in the late 1800's. 

So, I, once again began considering those who we elect. I'm talking people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who peppers her conversations with, "like, ya' know," interspersing F and S bombs liberally throughout.

Is it only me or have our standards sunk so low that proper speech is now a mortal sin? When we demand less we get less all across the board.