God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I find myself saying the Serenity Prayer more and more when I see what’s happening to our country right now.

I said the prayer again the other day when I read that Congressman Mike Flood admitted he didn’t read all the provisions of President Trump’s Big Bad Beautiful One Size Fits All budget bill.

Congressman Flood held another town hall meeting last Tuesday, and when asked about the part of the bill that said the president and his administration could ignore court orders, Congressman Flood said, “I am not going to hide the truth, this provision was unknown to me when I voted for that.” In other words, he didn’t read it before voting for it. Shades of Nancy Pelosi.

God grant me the serenity….

Congressman Bacon holds virtual town halls to avoid the disruption Congressman Flood has experienced at the two in-person town hall meetings he’s held during the first four months of the Trump administration. Congressman Bacon told me that Mike Flood holds these in-person town halls because he wants to “Own the Libs.”

I guess Congressman Flood thought the optics were good to see him standing in front of an angry, disruptive crowd. I wonder if he still thinks that way after a constituent asked him a very valid question about giving the president unprecedented power to ignore the courts.

In trying to calm the crowd, the congressman went on to say, “I believe in the rule of law. I have taken an oath as an attorney, I’ve taken an oath as a state senator, I’ve taken an oath as a member of Congress, and I support our court system.” He then went on to say that he believes the federal court’s rulings should have legal effect.

I wonder if he also believes he should know exactly what he’s voting for.

I asked Congressman Bacon if he was proud of his vote. He told me he was proud of the tax break and that no bill was perfect. I wish I would have asked him if he too had read every provision in the bill.

… To accept the things I cannot change.

I never expect to agree with every bill that gets passed, but I do expect our elected officials to at least know what the hell they’re voting for. I expect them to do what is best for their constituents and the country, and not what is best for any political party or leader.

This isn’t the only thing in the news that gets me to say the Serenity Prayer. Trump’s meme coin grifts, pay for play presidential pardons for tax cheats and corrupt cops, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, ignoring Nebraskan’s voice regarding Medical Marijuana, and a dozen or so other issues get my blood pressure up.

But I can only write about one thing at a time, and today that’s the bill that’s now before the Senate. Some Republican Senators have said that they can’t vote for this Big Bad Beautiful One Size Fits All Bill as it now stands. Most of the comments I’ve read involve the deficit spending and the tax breaks. But what about all the other provisions hidden in the 1100-page document that Congressman Flood and I assume many others have been too busy to read? Will the Senators do anything to fix this, or will they make a few tweaks here and there but keep the part that increases the deficits, hurts some Medicaid recipients, and neuter our courts?

How about it, Senators Ricketts and Fischer? Do you stand for the rule of law, or do you kneel before the wanna be monarch?

The attacks on the media, higher education, immigration, and the lawyers and courts, just to name a few, are turning America into a place that is getting harder and harder for me to recognize.

And while I pray for serenity for me, I also pray that our elected representatives and judges have the courage to change the things they can. Because if we, the people, accept all that is going on with this administration and Congress, it will dismantle the foundations of our government to the point of no return.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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