America’s problem is tone of voice. We care too much. Trump cares too much. Trumpists care too much. Anti-Trumpists care too much.

What point have we reached when a Congressman resigns over the president’s tone? Why do Democrats in media overlook a Conservative agenda being rammed through Congress just because the president sent a Tweet? Lots of bark, zero bite, yet people react as if someone is being eaten alive by mere words. Did the schoolyard rhyme about “sticks and stones” get buried when the First Businessman took office?

I remember as a kid, when the dog was bad, dad would roll up the advertising section of the local newspaper and start beating the dog with it. It wasn’t a Sunday paper, so it couldn’t have hurt, but it made lots of noise. The dog would yelp and scream, but I saw the rolled up paper flopping every which way and eventually lose its own form. “It’s all in the dog’s head,” dad explained. She sees something that looks like a “stick”, she sees dad beating her, so, she thinks she’s getting the tar beaten out of her when, actually, the dog might not even be able to feel the newspaper at all.

The dog thought she was hurt by what she heard and saw, even though she felt no pain.

I can’t believe we’ve de-evolved as a nation to a point where we think like dogs. What’s really going on? Why are we so easily distracted?

Was is such a surprise that bland Republicans’ (McCain, Romney) failure might turn voters to a guy with pizazz? Was it too shocking to guess that the country wouldn’t accept a Clintonian dynasty?

I understand post-election mortems. No one likes to lose. But, why is the after-game back-and-forth egg toss still going on almost twelve months after the election was decided? Haven’t we gotten over what happened for better or worse? Has Trump been picking at an unhealed scab that we didn’t want to believe was still there? Is there something bigger going on?

The country has become so angry that “mean words” keep us awake at night. We long for that moment when we can stick it to the other guy and we almost soil ourselves when the other guy sticks it to us.

Something’s not right when we care so much about one man’s words, even if he is the president.