To the clan, all 41 of us:
For years in these Northwest Ruminations, I have pulled
my punches so as not to offend the true believer among us, the true believer in
the Apostle’s Creed or Trump or Evangelism or whatever. And I have sought not to
offend those who do not like being lectured to (which includes all of us.)
But tonight, on this eve of finishing my 92nd
lap around the sun, and being elder of the clan, our current nonagenarian, I
will take off self-constraints and tell you candidly what concerns me about us
and this society that now belongs to you and your offsprings. And I will presume to tell
you what you should do.
I’m not thinking about matters like global warming but,
rather, about us as citizens of this 400-year-old experiment. Right now, it
seems to me that we are f*****g up our system so badly (fouling, fiddling,
FUBARing, use your own f word) that I am beginning to doubt Madison’s rebuttal – Federalist
#10 -- to the argument that a democratic-republic cannot work in a large, dispersed,
heterogeneous community. I still have hope that it can – and will again. I will tell you what I think you should do.
My first concern: we Americans have become crude and inured
to behavior that would have drawn censure from my mother and probably yours. We
turn a blind eye to vulgar flaunting of wealth, to seeking unethical advantage,
to telling jokes about immigrants and anyone considered “other”, to turning
away from people in need, to naked greed, to selfishness, to gratuitous
violence – all too often committed by people who flaunt their Christianity -- too often, faux “Christianity.” For God's sake, let's all of us clean up our acts.
It is community we have turned our backs upon. In our
exalting individual freedom, you and I have eroded our sense of and commitment
to community; we have let self trump community. Time to re-build your
community, however you constitute it. Get involved; take on a responsibility; volunteer
to a committee, whatever.
Second, our understanding of the Declaration of
Independence is scanty, at best. Thomas Jefferson’s sacred words in the
declaration’s second paragraph, backed up by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert
Livingston, and Roger Sherman representing defferent political views and values, are not mere cant but, rather, are directions.
“All men are created equal” means that all must be respected and treated equally by us and all
must be given equal opportunity to pursue their “safety and happiness.”
Next, I am concerned about how little is known of, and
attention is paid to, The United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
the crowning work of Eleanor Roosevelt (and a notable Cold War defeat for the
Soviets.) We are a signatory to it, yet we have dishonored it again and again
since 1948. It’s time to renew our commitment to it’s principals by adopting its
articles as the platform of a pacificatory, progressive party. (Go and read it here.)
Next, I am concerned about our knowledge of and respect for history, ours and other countries’. From both there is much to be learned about evolving relations between citizens and their government. Why did the Weimar Republic collapse? Why do ’racies’ arise again and again: like Aristocracy? Autocracy? Kleptocracy? Have Democracies ever been made to work? (And don’t tell me about Athens: Athens, where women citizens were not even allowed in the Bouleuterion or to appear in court, much less to vote. Meanwhile, Athenians' slaves cleaned, cooked and served their meals.)
We also must pay attention to current affairs; what can
be learned from watching Erdogan, Magyar, Putin, Modi, General Sisi, Netanyahoo? It’s a rare autocrat who
has his/her people’s welfare at heart; perhaps Ataturk was one such, maybe mis-guided Netanyahoo. But
history tells of the many others who were clearly lusting for power, as were
Hitler and Stalin. Others sought to build Empires by annexing or conquering
territory and imposing his or her governance, as did Napoleon and the Great
Khan. Yet others had their own welfare at heart: riches, advantages for himself,
family, and sycophants: the amoral kleptocrat model we see in charge here today.
Of course, the worst of all would be an egomaniacal, empire-building,
narcissistic, kleptocrat desperate for adulation, and lusting after power and Greenland.
History and current events teach that rule of law for all
is one protection from such ‘racies.’ but only if the independence of the
courts is protected. If the ‘crat’, the autocrat or kleptocrat or even the democrat,
enjoys an overwhelming majority in the legislature, that majority can and
likely would alter and weaken the courts which are proving to be our guardians.
The lower courts, that is; we have a Chief Justice willing to emasculate the
lower courts in his career-long quest to legitimize a Unitary Presidency. May
this, too, pass.
We must have a balance of views in a legislature; no one
has a monopoly on best policies, on the correct political view. Don’t just vote
the label; look at the character of the candidate seeking your endorsement and your entitlement. Be a Gamaliel of moderation and respect for
the law.
We need to exult Cincinnatus, teach his example, and
search for another such as him or her among our party leaders. Vance or Rubio
ain’t it; Newsome or Sanders aren’t it. Maybe Whitmer or Moore? Rahm Emmanuel,
as attractive as he is, isn’t a Cincinnatus. Perhaps my man Corey Booker?
Maybe.
We must remind ourselves and these faux Christians among us that He taught us to welcome the stranger. This means the immigrant and asylum-seeker. And how else to bolster the population and our labor force? Encouraging women to become home-makers and baby-makers may be denying us 50% of the nation’s brain power and productivity -- and isn't going to replenish our labor force. Remind yourself where your grandparents and great-grands were born.
Universal day care/preschool would release from home
detention those women among that 50% who want to work and raise a
family. Universal day care and preschool enriches children lives and prepares them
for learning and for collaboration in our society. For becoming educated. Support
enrollment in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and in TK programs. (Don’t
know what they are? Look them up here and
here.)
With regard to education: are you educated? Have you read
or are familiar with Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex; with Steinbeck’s East of
Eden? I think there are only nine
stories of which Fathers and Sons is but one. Others are Road Trip (The
Odyssey – I found the Fagels translation the most accessible, Kerouac’s On
the Road, Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring); Love (Romeo and
Juliet, Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago);
War (Caputo’s A Rumor of War, Homer’s The Iliad, Crane’s The
Red Badge of Courage, Tolstoy’s War and Peace); Inanity of Life (Carroll’s
Alice in Wonderland, Heller’s Catch 22); Courage in Defeat (Hemingway’s
For Whom The Bell Tolls, Heminway’s Old Man and the Sea, The Book of
Job); Aging (Shakespeare’s King Lear, Stegner’s Crossing
to Safety); Compulsion (Melville’s Moby Dick; Dostoevsky’s Crime
and Punishment); Origins (Fuente’s Terra Nostra, The Book of
Genesis, Silko’s Ceremony). Of course, the best of these fit into more than
one category. If you haven’t read them, read them.
With AI taking on an increasing role in analysis and
writing and coding, we’re going to need more philosophy and history majors asking
why? Where do we want to go? And where have we been? We need to nominate and
elect more senators like Patrick Daniel Moynihan, willing to work in either D
or R administrations, to challenge and improve effectiveness, And we need more Richard Fenymans to ask the dumb or unaskable question. Ask
the unaskable question of your Congressperson or at the next caucus.
We must restore and protect a level playing field in our
political-economic system. Remember, even Adam Smith (not my congressman but
the Scottish master of political-economy [what they called economics in those
days.]) Even he, of Wealth of Nations and the
Invisible Hand, called for government regulation of competition lest
monopolists jigger the system and create uneven playing fields. Milton Friedman
should have read Smith more carefully.
Well, I’m getting pretty heavy. I need to lighten up – Oh,
and, yes, we need comedians to open our minds, perhaps even to lead us (Al
Franken? Volodymyr Zelenski? Bill Maher?)
Remember also that Progressive is not a dirty word. It
was first popularized by TR, a Republican. And Conservative is not, either; it
means honoring the institutions that got us here and protecting and sustaining
our core values. By those definitions, I am a liberal conservative
democratic-republican. But be wary of simplistic labels.
Also, be wary of religions, which too often come to
believe they guard the truth, the correct way. Follow whom you will: the
Buddha, or Jesus of Nazareth, or Muhammad, or Aristotle, or Zoroaster, or Johanan
ben Zakkai, or Adi Shankaracharya or whomever teacher you choose -- but don’t
follow religions. For myself, I do not believe in the Apostle's Creed; therefore, I am not a Christian. Perhaps an agnostic fellow-traveller is a better descriptor.
Welcome and worry over the artist; what is s/he trying to
say to us, to get us to see? Better yet, express yourself in art as many of us
already do. The joy of expressing yourself in art – whether designing jewelry
or painting or drawing or making prints or sculpting – is a balm in these rash
and raucous times.
Well, It’s getting close to my bedtime, so the old gentleman will close by presuming to tell you what to do (as I warned you at the beginning and despite you don’t like being so told:
- Value (and willingly pay your taxes for) education, especially of the very young, and of adults who think they are finished with school.
- Welcome the stranger.
- Value diversity; tolerate it even when it makes you uncomfortable.
- Be wary of organized religions.
- Behave in ways your Mom and Miss Manners would approve.
- Visit and ponder over a history museum and an art museum.
- Believe that all men and women are created equal and do as that belief demands of you.
- Value the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- Value marriage vows. Not married? Treat your partner as though you were (and behave toward s/he in ways Miss Manners would approve.)
- Believe that a "Democratic Republic is grounded on the sovereignty of the people” as John Ferland says; and remember: we’re in charge. Vote.
- And, especially, laugh. Don’t forget to laugh.
Good night.
“God bless us, everyone!”
No comments:
Post a Comment