The Washington Post recently released a story about a pressing issue that Americans have been demanding to be changed for years in order to make their lives better.
Just kidding. It was about art on the $20 bill.
You might have thought it was the country’s biggest issue, however, since the several-page article is filled with bitter rhetoric about President Trump and his allegedly hateful administration.
The debate over changing the portrait of Andrew Jackson to Harriet Tubman is nearly a year old, but the issue reignited last week during a CNBC interview with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
When asked about his plan to change the bills, he replied “ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It’s not something I’m focused on at the moment.”
The horror.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin – the same guy who advises our country’s budget and is in charge of orchestrating trade sanctions on North Korea, China, and others – is actually being asked about the future art on our currency.
But The Washington Post lambasted the Trump admin for not immediately addressing the issue:
The Trump administration refused Thursday to commit to putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Reneging on an Obama administration decision to replace slave owner Andrew Jackson — President Trump’s favorite president — with Tubman, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explained he would base a new $20 bill design on preventing counterfeiting rather than on a new portrait.
Isn’t protecting our currency from counterfeiting important? Dare I say, more important that a pretty design? This is the United States of America, not The Country Of Chanel.
Other issues that are probably more pressing to the Trump administration include, but are not limited to: a nuclear North Korea, passing a budget, raising the debt ceiling, DACA, raising money for Harvey relief, impending hurricane Irma, more troops in Afghanistan, and so on.
Harriet Tubman, as the Washington Post points out, was fearless. She carried a pistol, often dressed like a man, and freed more than 1000 slaves in the 19th century. She declared she had a right to two things in life: death and liberty, and was prepared to take both.
I highly doubt even Harriet Tubman would find herself preoccupied by the $20 bill issue. There were bigger problems to address when she was alive. There are bigger ones now.
Until a portrait of Andrew Jackson or a statue of General Lee comes to life and threatens an American citizen, I’m sticking to my fear of living dictators in the meantime. I’ve heard hydrogen bombs are far more dangerous than marble figurines and the art on paper currency.