Worth Reading Again

 

“To believe in personal responsibility would be to destroy the whole special role of the anointed, whose vision cast them in the role of rescuers of people treated unfairly by “society”. – Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed” - 1995

“Today it is the elites…those who control the international flow of money and information, preside over philanthropic foundations and institutions of higher learning, manage the instruments of cultural production and thus set the terms of public debate—that have lost faith in the values, or what remains of them, of the West.”- Christopher Lasch, “Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy” - 1995

Thomas Sowell’s “The Vision of the Anointed” and Christopher Lasch’s “The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy” were both published in 1995.  If you have never read them, you should.  If you have read them, you should read them again.  What they wrote in 1995 was true then and even more so now.

Lasch describes the Elites (whom Sowell calls the “Anointed”) as “rootless” world citizens with no sense of responsibility or commitment to their communities. He suggested that globalization had resulted in an “elite class” having little or no engagement with local communities, focused more on personal gain and power. He argues that the Elites had abandoned moral values; relying more on a “self-esteem” rooted in higher education and wealth.  

In “The Vision of the Anointed”, Thomas Sowell describes the Anointed as the intellectuals, politicians and activists who believe they know what’s best for society, but whose policies tend to ignore real-world evidence and result in negative outcomes.  He provides specific examples of policies promoted by the “Anointed” which have made things worse for families, lowered the quality of education and increased criminal activity.

In different ways, both Lasch and Sowell warned us in 1995 that Western Civilization in general and America in particular were headed in the wrong direction. Now some thirty years on, their warnings ignored, we have continued the steady march downhill.  Christopher Lasch is long passed on, sadly dying before the “Revolt” was published.  Thomas Sowell, now in his late 90’s, remains sharp of mind and wit but no doubt has grown tired of saying I told you so.

The Can Kicks Back

 

Politicians love slogans and one-liners.  “It’s the economy, stupid.” “Make America Great Again.”  “Hope and Change”.  “Don’t Stop Believin’”.  “No Kings.”  “(blank) is a Threat to Democracy”.  “Ask not what your country can do for you…”  “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”.  And it goes on and on as far back as one chooses to go.

 

However, these politicians who love slogans don’t care much about reality. Confronting real problems and what it’s going to take to solve them may not keep them in office very long.  So, they make sure they say and do whatever it takes to stay in office; assuring us that one of these days they will get around to solving problems.   

 

Up until now this song and dance has worked pretty well for many of our politicians.  But eventually the problems become overwhelming.  People begin to realize that the government cannot or will not solve them. And no matter whom they vote for things keep getting worse.  

 

The most pressing problems for most Americans are Housing, Healthcare and Education. These are so upside down it will take years, certainly more years than an election cycle, to set right.  And that’s a big problem in itself.  Politicians live for the next election. They are reluctant to risk their careers on programs that are likely to alienate lobbyists and special interests; especially when the beneficial outcomes of those programs are both uncertain and more than a year or two away.

 

In other words, it’s going to take courage and sacrifice to properly address the crises in Housing, Healthcare and Education.  At this point the only people displaying any courage and sacrifice are those who cannot afford these things. Those with the money, position and power to solve the problems are likely to continue kicking the can down the road until the can kicks back.  Indeed we seem to be getting very close to that point.

Commentarii et Sententiae IV...I’ll Take Cleveland.

 

_When one thought the bar could not get much lower, the United States Congress has managed to lower it even further by digging a deeper hole.  The record-breaking shutdown of our federal government is just another sad chapter in the story of an ever- failing legislative body. The latest survey shows the country is divided (no surprise) on who to blame for the shutdown.  35% blame Republicans, 32% blame Democrats, 28% blame both parties and 5% blame “Other”.  I’m in the 5%.  I blame “we the people”.  We voted for these yahoos and those who don’t vote are no less guilty.

 

_Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming the 21^st Century’s “Easy Button”.  Much has been written about the impact AI will have on how we work, how we solve problems, how we communicate and perhaps most ominously, how we think. Every major step forward comes with both a blessing and a curse.  The Reformation and the printing press totally disrupted and transformed Christian Europe.  It spawned wars and revivals; and played no small part in the migration of millions of Europeans to the Americas.  The Industrial Revolution transformed manufacturing, agriculture and how we do battle.  It also elevated the power of capital and drove labor to organize in self-defense.  Without the Industrial Revolution there likely would have been no World Wars, no Holocaust and certainly no weapons of mass destruction. The Digital Revolution was another leap forward, totally transforming how we live today from the way things were when us older folks were growing up. The Digital Revolution opened the door to AI and now there is no turning back.  It is up to us to adapt, adjust and overcome.

 

_And finally, there is New York, New York.  I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures.  So now New York City has a Social Democrat (in reality a Marxist) mayor.  It will be interesting to see how Mr. Mamdani runs New York City.  It will be even more interesting to see how many other Mamdani-like candidates run for other offices around the country. And there are several other cities, congressional districts and perhaps even a state or two where a Mamdani could win. Tennessee Williams, the great American playwright and screenwriter once said America has only three great cities: New York, San Francisco and New Orleans; and everything else is just Cleveland.  These days, I’ll take Cleveland.

The Unexpected

“Oft expectation fails, and most oft where it promises,

And oft it hits where hope is coldest and despair most fits.”

-William Shakespeare  ‘All’s Well That Ends Well.’

People sometimes say that in the end things tend to work out the way they were supposed to.  Some Christians put a finer point on it saying God has a plan and all things work according to His will. However, even as a Christian, I must confess that I don’t know how or why things turn out the way they do.  But I do know that seldom is the end what I expected in the beginning.  And when it hurts, I try very hard not to blame God.

We all start out with hopes and dreams which motivate us and create expectations.  Then life happens.  Look under life’s covers, anyone’s life, and you will see mostly unexpected events and unexpected outcomes.  Hopes fade.  Dreams die.  Marriages don’t last.  Jobs don’t work out and careers go in an unexpected direction.  Children from good homes with all the advantages go wrong and their parents never saw it coming.  Accidents, illness, bad choices or other people’s bad choices, a great wind or a bolt of lightning.  All unexpected, or at least unexpected until it is too late.  

We live in a broken, chaotic world.  Some of us contribute to that condition more than others. But even the best of us cannot avoid reality.  We cannot imagine, much less expect planes flying into buildings.  A global pandemic in an age of modern medicine and miracle drugs?  Unthinkable and unexpected. Donald Trump President? No one saw that coming 25 years ago. 

History is loaded with the unexpected.  No one expected America’s Civil War to last so long or kill so many Americans.  In the beginning most thought World War One would be settled and over in months.  That’s not how it worked out.  When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor I seriously doubt they expected that in less than 4 years the United States would develop the atomic bomb and actually drop it on two of their cities?  Who could have imagined much less expected that in the twentieth century millions of innocent citizens would be killed or starved to death by their governments (both Fascists and Communists).  Go back thousands of years and you will find that most of the world’s great empires rose quickly and unexpectedly.  And after a few hundred years, just as unexpectedly collapsed.

Expect the unexpected. What is left to us is to hope for the best while expecting and preparing for the worst.  If we are among the fortunate, reality ends up somewhere in between.  

Commentarii et Sententiae III

It’s been over a month since my last Comments and Opinions post.  And it has been busy out there.  

_1 The Government shutdown is one more example of a Congress that just doesn’t work anymore.  Everything has become so politicized that compromise is no longer possible.  The only way there is agreement is when everyone gets what they want which is the primary reason why we have a $37 trillion national debt rapidly enroute to $40 trillion.

_2 Trump’s tariff gambit continues to cripple our economy and there seems to be no end in sight.  This is becoming like an episode from The Twilight Zone. 

_3 Speaking of The Twilight Zone our friends and family members from the Left will be holding nationwide "No Kings" pep rallies for the Democratic party on October 18.   For those unable to attend, be sure to catch it on CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley.

_4 While it was great to see the ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, I remain skeptical about there being a lasting peace there. 

_5 Before last week, I didn’t know who Katie Porter was.  If her political career is indeed over, there’s always Roller Derby or Lucha Libre.

From The Good Guys to This

 

One of the nice things about growing old is that it gives you perspective. You don’t have to read the edited versions of post-WWII America.  You were there.  And if the lights inside your head are still burning brightly you remember.

 

One of the things I remember is when the Democrats were the Good Guys.  They were on the right side of most issues.  Civil rights, check. Equal Opportunity, check.  Protect the environment, check.  Women’s rights, Gay rights, Animal rights…Human rights….check, check, check, check.  The other side had Nixon…not good…check.  They even pardoned him.  And don’t forget Senator Joe McCarthy, he was on the other side.  Indeed, the Democrats were the Good Guys; and all of my kin save for one who married an oilman, were loyal, proud Democrats. 

 

So, what happened to the Good Guys? Some would say Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll happened.  That would be an easy and obvious answer.  But it would be the wrong answer.  The cultural revolution that began in the 60’s changed a lot of things, some for the better and some for the worse.  But it’s not what changed the Democratic Party. 

 

If one were to point to a watershed moment it would be Roe v Wade.  The Abortion Battle became a dividing line.  Christians, in particular Evangelicals, Fundamentalists and practicing Catholics lined up on one side and the Democrats essentially said the Republicans can have ‘em.  

 

But they still had Jimmy Carter and he was a good man; one of the best human beings we’ve ever had in the White House.  But he inherited a bad economy and didn’t do much to make it better.  And he wasn’t great on the international front either.  So, the Reagan Revolution began and the Democrats circled the wagons. They decided to make a hard left turn, embraced the Rainbow coalition and got their butts kicked.  America wasn’t ready for that.  The adults came back and moved the party back to the center with Clinton/Gore. 

 

Say what you will, but they had a good run, Clinton and Gore; and if Bill had kept his zipper up, Albert would have won in 2000. He almost did anyway. By this time, the Christian coalition was solidly in place with the Republicans.  Democrats had a hard time accepting that they lost to George W. Bush.  The country came together briefly after 9-11 but then came the WMD fiasco and Katrina. The knives were out for Bush.  Then the economy craters.  The Republicans were going to lose big in 2008.

 

The Democrats’ dreams came true in 2008.  Finally, a Black President bringing Hope and Change.  The Republicans had baggage going back into the 90’s when far-right extremists made a lot of trouble, most notably the Oklahoma City bombing.  It seemed unlikely they would ever win another national election.  A new day had dawned for America.

 

But then Trump came along.  Talk about throwing a turd in the punch bowl.  The biggest upset in political history.  He knocks out Hillary and The Democrat Resistance begins.  Since Trump’s emergence and the MAGA movement, Democrats have been consumed with pushing back by any means necessary and in doing so they move further and further to the left. 

 

They played it safe and went with Joe Biden in 2020 who was perceived to be a moderate.  But in a concession to the far left, they were not sharp enough to pick someone other than Kamala Harris as his running mate.  They further compounded their error by aggressively pursing far-left policies for four years and then running Harris for President in 2024, essentially gifting the Presidency to Trump.

 

The demise of the Democratic party is not good for America.  With Trump 2.0 we may have changed course but that doesn’t mean we are headed in the right direction.  Those on the Left are losing their minds and most of their credibility.  They are convinced that the “new” Republican party is a threat to democracy while those on the Right believe they are doing the Lord’s work. There is no middle ground.  This is the biggest challenge America has faced since the Civil War. The World and the Angels are watching.

Beyond The Pale

 

While the assassination of Charlie Kirk is the latest and perhaps most notable event in a never-ending cycle of killings, what is most chilling is the response from those who hated his message.  

 

The cold-blooded murder of an insurance executive is met with cheers from the crazy crowd, and the assailant becomes a folk hero.  A madman attacks children attending morning mass at a Catholic school and the tragedy immediately becomes a politicized moment for gun control while denigrating those who simply ask for prayer.  Even those who died at Camp Mystic are fair game for those who never miss an opportunity to make it about their agenda (climate change) or worse yet to mock the Christian faith of the families who lost children and grandchildren in the flood.  And now we see people on Tik-Tok gleefully singing “they shot Charlie in the neck” and mainstream media vultures opine that just maybe Charlie had it coming.  These are sick people.

 

To be clear I don’t think these “celebrations” of death or callous efforts to politicize tragedy are exclusively left-wing behaviors.  But it seems clear enough that ever since Trump came along in 2016 and MAGA began its march to control all three branches of the federal government, many on the Left have decided to say and do “whatever it takes” to fight back.  If the shoe were on the other foot, I expect the far-right loonies might respond similarly as we saw on January 6, 2021. But for now, we are where we are and too many on the left are celebrating the death of those who have different ideas about what America should be.

 

We have lost our way in a maze of irreconcilable differences. There are simply too many fundamental issues where there is no common ground for compromise.  Our republic is broken.  States are divided; counties and cities are divided.  Not all, but more than enough Americans no longer share common values and with that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to live under the same flag.

 

All of this will not end well, but it will end.  What will be left of America and what it will look like only God knows.  Some of us still hope and pray that He cares.