Before there was George Carlin or Lewis Black, there was Mort Sahl.  In August 1960, Sahl appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and was lauded as the person who could, through social satire, help voters understand the choices in the upcoming presidential election. In what seems unimaginable today, Sahl befriended several presidents despite his sometimes critical commentaries and was often invited to accompany them on Air Force One, which resulted in my all-time favorite Mort Sahl story which, 50 years later, I can only paraphrase.

I was flying back to Washington, DC from California with President Kennedy when the plane hit an air pocket and dropped several hundred feet.  Kennedy comes out of his private office in the back of the plane and walks right up to me.  He says, “Sahl, you realize what might have just happened don’t you?  If we had crashed, your name would have been in small print.” Ironically, the same thing happened again just recently when I was on Air Force One with Nixon.  Nixon walks to the front of the plane and says to all on board, staff and press, “I hope you realize how close the country came to losing its leadership.”That tells you everything you need to know about these two men.

Mort Sahl released 10 comedy albums between 1958 (At Sunset) and 1973 (Sing a Song of Watergate).  Of all these hours of what can only be described as “streams of consciousness,” one bit seems more relevant today than all the rest.  Again, I will paraphrase.

I know they did not mean it this way, but I never understood why the introduction to the television show Superman proclaimed ‘…this strange visitor from another planet…fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.”  In school, we were told truth and justice WERE the American way.  But when you add the AND, doesn’t that mean, “There is truth and justice AND then there is the American way.”

For the record, the original description of the Man of Steel, when he first appeared in DC Comics in 1941, did not include “and the American way.”  It was added when the television adaptation Adventures of Superman debuted in September 1952.

Sadly, it appears Sahl was on to something.  Consider the following.

• Jeffrey Epstein receives a slap on the wrist for running a prostitution ring with under-aged girls.
• Attorney General William Barr does not believe Congress, much less American voters, have a right to see the complete account of Russian interference in a presidential election.
• The Illinois state attorney drops charges against actor Jussie Smollet, even though evidence suggests he faked a hate crime which cost the Chicago police time and over $125,000 in resources to investigate.
• More is being written about the consequences to the children of the parents indicted for gaming the college admissions system than the impact on qualified applicants deprived of educational opportunities.  And despite the fact many of these students posed for staged photographs or provided writing samples that were used by SAT surrogates, “details in court documents indicate students were unaware of the parents’ actions.”   (Source: USA Today, April 12, 2019)  [NOTE: The USA Today story was accompanied by a slide show about Lori Loughlin’s daughter titled, “Olivia Jade Giannulli: Her Life in Pictures.”  Unfortunately, it did not include a mug shot of her with her parents.]
• And of course, there is Donald Trump who lied, telling anyone who would listen that the Mueller Report had “totally exonerated” him of obstructing justice.  It’s as if the truth is Trump’s Kryptonite.

In July 2015, a CNN/ORC poll showed 95 percent of registered voters claimed honesty and trustworthiness were important characteristics of the next president. Likewise, in theory, most Americans believe in equal justice under the law.  However, as we learned in 2016, theory and behavior are two different things.  The question in 2020 is, “Does behavior change when theory meets reality?’  Consider the new-found support for the Affordable Care Act and it’s impact on the 2018 mid-terms.  In theory, Republicans could attack it.  But once voters realized what was at stake if ACA was repealed, their preferences changed.

So, what could be a winning message for Democrats next year?  Now that you know what it feels like when you have leaders who constantly lie to you, treat differently those who profess loyalty to those who do not and put personal gain above the national interest, remember when America was great.  Not when there was truth, justice AND the American way.  It was when truth and justice WAS the American way.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP