I was playing my usual RNC drinking game when the Oklahoma governor made me spit out what would have been a usefully numbing quantity of rum and coke.
Did Mary Fallin just say, "He speaks truth to power" in reference to Trump? #RNCinCLE
— Kyle Bella (@quixoticblazes) July 22, 2016
She did, she really did. Just after 3:55 or so.
I liked a @YouTube video https://t.co/pCPku1qoNa Gov. Mary Fallin RNC full Speech. July 21, 2016. Republican National Convention
— Al Dinger (@IJNIPGM) July 22, 2016
Governor Fallin is most likely unaware of the roots of that phrase in American Christian pacifism, specifically the Quaker tradition, as they sought to turn American policy away from the subtle escalations of last century’s Cold War:
Our title, Speak Truth to Power, taken from a charge given to Eighteenth Century Friends, suggests the effort that is made to speak from the deepest insight of the Quaker faith, as this faith is understood by those who prepared this study. We speak to power in three senses:
- To those who hold high places in our national life and bear the terrible responsibility of making decisions for war or peace.
- To the American people who are the final reservoir of power in this country and whose values and expectations set the limits for those who exercise authority.
- To the idea of Power itself, and its impact on Twentieth Century life.
Our truth is an ancient one: that love endures and overcomes; that hatred destroys; that what is obtained by love is retained, but what is obtained by hatred proves a burden. This truth, fundamental to the position which rejects reliance on the method of war, is ultimately a religious perception, a belief that stands outside of history. Because of this we could not end this study without discussing the relationship between the politics of time with which men are daily concerned and the politics of eternity which they too easily ignore.
You may find the entire pamphlet online here, and judge for yourself whether the Trump campaign has been speaking any Quaker truths.
