
<p>Good God! ; The Biden presidency has turned a presidential awards program into another vehicle for mendacious political propaganda. ; I am referring to the presentation of the Presidential Citizens Medal.</p>



<p>I take personal umbrage since I was the person to propose the special presidential award for exceptional voluntary actions by common citizens during the Nixon administration – the ancestor of the current award. ; I was part of a special 10-member White House Task Force set up by the President Nixon &#8212; and headed up by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development George Romney. (Mitt’s dad).</p>



<p>At this point, I will engage in a bit of personal information as historical background. ; Besides, I love to tell this story.</p>



<p>My proposal for the award program was not well received by other members of the task force – with the possible exception of Romney. ; Weeell. ; One evening I ran into Nixon coming out of the Cincinnati Club – and we struck up a conversation while he waited for Pat to come out of the building. ; (Yes, you could do that in those days). ; ;</p>



<p>Nixon asked what I did in Washington. ; I said I worked for him. ; He asked in what capacity – and I told him about my proposal. ; He seemed to like it.</p>



<p>The next day, when my proposal was being discussed – and not favorably – I blurted out “But the President seemed to like it” – at which time the members of the task force looked at me incredulously. ; Except for Romney who had a Cheshire Cat grin on his face. ; He then said to the group, “Larry is right. ; I got a call from the President this morning – and he likes Larry’s idea very much.” ; And suddenly, so did all the other members of the Task Force. ; And thus, the presidential awards program for voluntary action was born. ; We also created the public sector Office of Voluntary Action. (Now you know why I love to tell this story).</p>



<p>The Award program transformed over the years – most notably when President Bush the First dubbed it his “thousand points of light” program. ; Today is the Presidential Citizens Medal program.</p>



<p>The idea was to reward exceptional service by ordinary citizens over a broad range of activities. ; It was never intended to be a political cudgel. ; But that is how Biden operates. ; He has used – or misused – the awards to reinforce the Democrats’ false narrative of a Republican insurrection and fictional coup attempt.</p>



<p>All of Biden’s Medals went to folks involved – directly or indirectly – in the events surrounding the breeching of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. ; The list of awardees is composed of those who have been most active in supporting and spreading the Democrat political narratives.</p>



<p>There is nothing wrong with honoring the Capitol Police who defended the building – Congress already did that. ; But the recipients were not those who took the most heroic actions on that day, but those who took the most anti-Trump positions on television since that day.</p>



<p>There was also a posthumous Medal for Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of “natural causes” unrelated to his presence on Capitol Hill that day (as the Medical Examiner clearly stated in his official report). ; There were also Medals for two officers who committed suicide in the days after the riot.</p>



<p>Biden used the awarding of the Medals to advance his repeated lies about January 6<sup>th</sup> – again implying that five police officers died on that day, or as a result of their presence on Capitol Hill on that day. ; Neither claim is true.</p>



<p>Other awards were even more political – notably the one given to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. ; Incidentally, “citizen” awards – as I originally designed them &#8212; and previous Presidents used them &#8212; were never intended for public officials. ; But it is just another example of the left’s empowering the public sector over the common folks.</p>



<p>In my opinion, Biden has sullied the program that was meant to honor common unsung citizens for extraordinary service to the community or the country in various ways – not to hand out “awards” based on allegiance to a dubious partisan political narrative.</p>



<p>So, there tis.</p>

The First Ever Presidential Propaganda Awards
