That which we are seeing on the political landscape today, from President Trump’s carnie-barker bluster to the non-compos-mentis rants by Ashley Judd and others at the women’s marches yesterday, are rooted in a fixation on words over deeds. That fixation was greatly magnified by President Obama, whose election and tenure were infused with grandiose speechifying and high rhetoric, and whose oratorical skills were singled out for special praise.

Obama’s verbal talents stood in contrast, especially in the eyes of progressives, to his predecessor’s not-infrequent mush-mouthing, and this contrast combined with his preference for the pomp and ceremony of speeches to the sausage making of governance to skew people towards words over deeds.

Yet, all the words in the world amount to nothing if they do not align with deeds. Grand rhetoric may inspire many, especially those predisposed to the message, and they may even spur us to action, but ultimately it is what the speakers of those words do that impact our lives.

Certainly, three million women marching around the country in protest of Trump is a noteworthy event, and the messages that their united voices delivered may be heeded by politicians and policy makers, but their protest of Trump was at its core, since he had yet to actually do anything, a protest against words – against Trump’s vulgar and imprudent utterances.

This takes some of the bite out of those protests, both because words against words will diminish to irrelevance as time marches on, and because the protests weren’t coherent, cohesive or focused in their message.

Trump’s words of the past 18 months or so, words that were reinforced in his inauguration speech, will also diminish in relevance as time marches on. He is now in power, he is now starting to act and, going forward, his actions will be what draw scrutiny and criticism.

When all we have to analyze are words, we analyze words. When there are actions to analyze, however, the analysis of words should become an aside, a playground for wonks, partisans and obsessives. Unfortunately, we’ve grown so accustomed to judging our politicians by what they say rather than the results of what they do that we devote far too much time to their words and far too little time to their deeds.

And, when words are what we prioritize, people compete with words for the attention they crave. Outlandish and shocking statements draw praise from adherents, howls from opponents, and attention from both. As we grow inured to each new shock, people find they have to be even more vulgar and shocking to catch notice. The dilution of the words “nazi” and “rape,” in particular, should trouble us all greatly, but they instead drive us to ever-more-partisan division, as we mob-mentality-cheer the vilest assertions made by our ideological cohorts about our ideological opponents.

Writers, philosophers and statesmen throughout history have spoken of deeds over words:

“Deeds, Not Words” – Motto of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

A gentleman would be ashamed should his deeds not match his words. – Confucius

Brave men do not boast nor bluster. Deeds, not words, speak for such. – Antoine Rivarol

Earn Respect from everyone by deeds, not words. – Mario Puzo

For the deeds of a man, not the words of a prophecy, are what shape his destiny. – Lloyd Alexander

Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it. – Napoleon Hill

Deeds are better things than words are, Actions mightier than boasting! – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Song of Hiawatha”

Let deeds match words. – Titus Maccius Plautus

The supply of words in the world market is plentiful but the demand is falling. Let deeds follow words now. – Lech Walesa

Fine words butter no parsnips. – Unknown

The greatest talkers are the least doers. – Unknown

Unfortunately, we place too-great importance on words and give insufficient consideration to deeds. This isn’t a purely American phenomenon, nor is it a purely contemporary one. Grand oratory gets people elected and garners them power, and powerful speech can mask both incompetence and horror. Some of the biggest failures and worst tyrants in history have been gifted and charismatic speaker, and others with lesser gifts figured out words and tones that resonated with their audiences at particular times.

We are at an inflection point in American history. Our new president is unlike anything any of us have seen in a long time, and the direction that the country will take under his leadership is an enormous unknown. He has offered us many words to criticize, but the power of our criticism will amount to naught if we criticize things he doesn’t actually do. Worse, if we lower our rhetoric to the base and vulgar level we’ve witnessed both from him and from his loudest critics, we impel those whose concurrence we’ll need to amplify our criticisms to ignore rather than consider our criticisms. We also open ourselves to traps. If we criticize Trump for something and he does the opposite, we empower him to ridicule and dismiss us.

All this holds true for every other politician and public figure in our sphere of awareness. Judge them by what they do. Praise their actions when appropriate, question their actions when appropriate, excoriate their actions when appropriate. The power of your words will be far greater when anchored to their deeds.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

If you'd like to help keep the site ad-free, please support us on Patreon.