In the preceding ,two essays, (#822, “THE COARSENING OF AMERICA” and (#823, “EXHAUSTION”) we dealt, respectively first,, with the observable decline in the nature of social interaction of our citizens, from one of traditional, “bonhomie,” to one of insular diffidence and vulnerability, and, second, the feelings of frustration, in the minds of mainstream America, resulting from the recently, observed failure, of the Nation’s leaders and representatives to consistently, maintain the obligatory, acceptable, standards of civic responsibility and moral compass, which until recently, had characterized, our Republic.
The nature and extent of angst and disappointment of the mainstream American citizen, responsive to such negative changes and demonstrated failures of moral compass, would presumably, vary with the persona of the individual. Nevertheless, we have taken the liberty to express our own personal reactions, which we assume, generally, to be in accord with other like- minded, citizens, as well as our ultimate, mind-set, which, conceivably, may not.
The title of #823, “EXHAUSTION,” was selected, with the intention to express, in a cogent and expressive manner, the universal reaction of frustration, of the traditional, American citizen,( raised up to believe in the avowed American ideals of justice, rectitude and fair play), to the plethora of undemocratic and unjust developments, of late, in the Nation. Too many American citizens have chosen to ignore the foundational mantras of equality, civic morality, and the confident, expectation of empirical legitimacy of our democratically responsive polity. The desire for wealth and continued retention of governmental position, have, in too many cases, triumphed, over civic morality and justice. The latter abomination, incredibly, has been devastatingly, accommodated, by the Nation’s highest Court, which has recently, succumbed to the historically and legal anathema of “partisan,” and “political,” and has, among its other juridical, monstrosities, strained both logic and foundational, democratic principles, in permitting large corporations to donate unlimited funds to political campaigns.
Mainstream believers in America’s foundational principles, have been virtually, traumatized, by the partisan injustice, demonstrated by Congress, in, among other behaviors, sucking up to” Trumpian,” autocratic, behaviors, including, “the Big Lie,” and the tactical disrespect for factual reality. They have been stunned, as well, by the SCOTUS surprise attack, on Constitutional protections (such as the “Establishment Clause”), in banning the half-century old, precedential, right of women to seek an abortion, and, yet again, in the latter’s consequential and partisan, confirmation of the ( highly profitable, self-serving) inaccurate, NRA misreading, of the Second Amendment; permitting any, unidentified and unregistered, Yahoo on North Main Street, U.S.A., to arm himself, “to the teeth.” The horrific lethal toll for such shameful, anti-societal, misfeasance is regularly attested to in the daily press.
Our personal response to such disheartening developments, is adequately described in #824 “EXHAUSTION” which assumedly, is common to a great many other, traditionally, oriented American citizen, viz., one of frustration and a desire to return to democratic normalcy. Our acquired perception of the nature of the classically, recurring, negative developments, however, may differ somewhat from the reaction of some others.
Initially, we would like to express our unlimited gratitude and homage to authors and poets such as, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, James Joyce, George Eliot, William Faulkner, Joseph Conrad, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and so many more, talented and insightful authors and poets. These and other, brilliant writers have provided much needed, insight and perspective, on life, and on the universal nature, and shifting persona of man. We have been, thus, fortunately, enabled, to understand that man’s foibles are classic; as are his, predictably, better times.
For the accomplished degree of our enlightened and rational thought, we would award the highest kudos to John Locke, and the other great thinkers of the Empirical School of Philosophy. Locke’s essential teaching, viz., that man is born with a clean slate, and that his knowledge is acquired solely by experience, has safely, protected us from irrational belief in non-reality, and, like a philosophical GPI, has eternally pointed us in the direction of healthy enlightenment, as opposed to atavistic, darkness. In sum, it is our developed confidence and natural optimism, derived from the life-long study of the classic, universal character of humankind, which constitutes our firm armament, a peaceful sanctuary for optimism in bad times, and contextually, a staunch basis for our “obdurate happiness.”
-p.
plinyblogdotcom 