Month: January 2024

By universal literati consensus, the most difficult-to-understand work of fiction is “Finnegan’s Wake” by James Joyce. The novel, written in Joyce’s arcane stream of consciousness, employs dense and complex language, wordplay, various foreign languages sophisticated puns, and allusive references. By stark contrast, the eulogy or the posthumous portrayal of the recent mortality of the Republican Party is transparent, and a notably instructive scenario with a foreseeably disastrous outcome.

The traditional platform of the deceased Republican Party (the “G.O.P.”) was “conservative,” i.e., espousing “small government,” free market trade policies, nonregulation of industry, restrictions on labor unions, gun rights, the death penalty, the restriction of abortion rights and immigration, increased military spending and firm opposition to social programs like affirmative action.

The second of America’s two-party system, the “liberal” Democratic Party, has historically favored labor unionism, consumer protectionism, workplace safety regulations, equal opportunity, racial equality, regulation of environmental pollution, basic reform of the Criminal Justice System, abortion rights, support for the LBTGQ community, and a clear pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 

 The computed result of the respective outcomes of the popular vote, at various times, determines which of the two parties is awarded majority control, for a term, and becomes the “governing party,” the other is traditionally denominated the “minority party.”  The pragmatic utility to the democratic Nation resides in the dichotomous division of the political spectrum in the equitable and ideological existence of “right-wing” and “left-wing parties. The death or effective elimination of one of the two political parties would dynamically militate against such beneficial balance. Our presented “Wake,” or “Shiva” relates, in fact, to the tragic and untimely death of one of the two traditional parties, the Republican Party.

It is our considered view that the operative cause of death was a virulent and metastasizing pathology whose etiology had (and still has) the lethal two-pronged hazard of a large, previously unaffiliated, amorphous population of ill-informed, populist citizens with varied feelings of grievance, and their awakening, conglomeration and mass response to the demagogic promises of universal (albeit, not specified) relief by the would-be dictatorial charlatan, Donald J, Trump.

In an earlier essay, “POLICING APPLES,” (#M.5) we embraced the empirical phenomenon that “one rotten apple (viz., Trump) can spoil the barrel” (of apples). We would like to supplement that theme by declaring that such a rotten apple, in concert with other decayed fruit (populist and bigoted malcontents), makes for a loathsome and un-American fruit salad.  Without the support of a plethora of ignorant, worshipful discontented, and bigoted followers, there would not have been the tasteless, burlesque of the egocentric escalator ascension and notably, the subsequent existential hazard to American democracy; further, there would have been no resultant mortality of the Republican Party, engendered by said neurotic and autocratically centered, protagonist-in-chief of the present “Wake.”

Trump’s surprising rise to political prominence, from real estate grifter and host of an inane game show, was possible by the Nation’s threatening inclusion of a vast population of inadequately educated and poorly informed individuals, who defensively projected the fault for their personalized grievances on “big government” and the (well- educated), so-called, “privileged “elite.”  Analogous to woodland cicadas, they amorphously rested “underground” for years, unheard and unseen, and, analogous to woodland cicadas, emerged in the propitious year for their active life and joint woodland cacophony.

Donald Trump in his selfish and irresponsible rebellion against propriety, conventional democratic ideals, and visibly and unashamed demonstrable absence of a moral compass was perceived by such amorphous and previously, silent, and immobile malcontents, as a wake-up call to surface and render to him their misguided, cult-like obeisance.

The “death knell” or the “coups de grace” of the “Grand Old Party,” was heard, or administered when the greater part of the party, fearing the voting impact of the large populist Trump cult, irresponsibly forswore party doctrine and constituent responsibility, in exchange for the perceived job security by tactical adherence to the Trump-populist, bigoted and undemocratic programs of misinformation and distorted hype. The disastrous and fatal effects, as reflected in more detail in past essays, were the denigration of, truth, and promotion of conspiracy ideations, including a stolen election and a consequent violent insurrection, attacks on liberal democracy, disrespect for law and the Constitution, the rise of White Christian Nationalism and racial and gender bigotry, anti-Semitism, gun violence, loss of precedential, established abortion rights, attacks on health and safety regulation, opposition to traditional programs of immigration, prejudicial un-American voter interference,  opposition to existential environmental programs, and other non-liberal and anti-democratic action.

Such consequential, ill-considered, and, effectively, “suicidal” morphing of the bulk of the Republican Party, by such abandonment of principle and self-serving, irresponsible, and anti-democratic behavior, in quest of security of position, was the signature death toll, sounding the end of the traditional function of that late political party, whose decease is sadly celebrated by the present, contextual Wake.

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 Our frequent two-hour drive from our legal domicile, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, to our country home in Kingston, N.Y., could be effectively termed, a “journey,” in recognition of our notable alteration in perspective, resulting from such a modest, pilgrimage.

To be clear, we value the exotic pleasure of living in a busy and active metropolis, equally, with the fortuitous opportunity of additionally residing in a cherished rural residence. Our present context does not relate to any trite contrast between the two, social or natural, but rather to said apprehension of our reaction to the radically transformed tempo.

Manhattan’s Upper West Side is characteristically famous for its multitude of dignified, canopied, and well-maintained brick apartment buildings, many close to one hundred years old, uniformly separated by two-lane streets; the latter, busy with private, commercial, and official vehicles, as well as crowds of daytime pedestrians. The dynamic scene is accompanied by a tattoo or musical continuo, of traffic honks, police, and ambulance sirens, the asthmatic wheezes of stopping buses, the subtle underground roar of the City subway, the energetic summoning of taxis, the hum and grind of equipment engaged in elderly building rejuvenation, the occasional music of carried radios, at times the shouts, adult and child, the barking of leashed and commercially walked dogs, the overhead chirps of sparrows and the throaty gurgles of slow, land lubber, head-bobbing pigeons.  

The (usually, fifteen-story) apartment buildings can observably and functionally, be described as internally lighted, uniform honeycombs, with windows, universally facing the busy, two-way streets. If it were permissibly possible to peer into such windowed honeycombs,  one might observe any multitude of diverse human scenarios, from stationary sitting at tables, watching television, reading, celebrating, or disputing, cleaning, making love, engaging in conversation or argument, sleeping, of the young and the old, the robust and the crippled old and infirm.

The Metropolis is eternally lighted, humming, and charged with human and mechanical energy and, on occasion, unrelenting scenes of joy and pathos. It is an eternal, multi-faceted portrayal and broad display of the infinite variety of Man’s contemporary life.  The omnipresent and unrelenting tempo is uniquely contrasted with the miraculous interposition of the verdant and peaceful Central Park, the latter, a cogent reminder of the choice of alternate scenarios.

Our frequent treks from our Manhattan home to rural Kingston start with familiar views of such described streets, stores, apartment buildings, stores, pedestrians, traffic lights, parked and moving automobiles; in general, the described, multi-tableau of a metropolitan tapestry.  A pivotal event is our signature arrival at the (George Washington) bridge, empirically described as a four thousand, and seventy-six-long, two-tier Bridge, spanning the Hudson River and connecting New York City with New Jersey. Such a factual description is at variance with our nuanced and romantic perception of an exotic portal or gateway to the tranquil tempo and verdancy, exemplified by the nearby venue of Central Park.

The ambiance of our two-hour voyage to Kingston is apt preparation for the themed metamorphosis of our contextual alteration in perception. After leaving the City environment, we soon find ourselves, high up on the cliffs of the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New Jersey, overlooking the Hudson and the skyline of New York City. It is, to us, remarkably symbolic of our mutual, although contrasting, nexus between our City home and our Country residence in Kingston, that the Hudson River, faithfully and symbolically, flows with us to our destination.

In our voyage, we see fascinating, magnificent hills, prehistorically, composed of layered sedimentary rock at the side of the highway, a testament to the eons of successive lakes, or river bottoms having succeeded each other and then fossilized. We see mountains and thousands of trees of every variety, wildlife, birds and buzzards, ponds, streams, and seasonal flowers. Before reaching Esopus Creek in the Catskill Mountains region we see many large areas of cultivated, short, sculptural-looking, fruit trees, which we enjoy as much as artistically sculptured objets d’art. Soon, we, delightedly, reach our Ulster County home on Ruby Road, which we have affectionally named, “Ruby Rose.”

The large, Living Room-Kitchen, and Dining Area is enclosed with glass and has high ceilings with glass clerestories. The outdoor ambiance populated with large, beautiful trees, grass, and outcrop stones, is observably visited by deer and other woodland friends and, in contrast to the steady beat of the cosmopolitan tempo, is pacific, natural, and aesthetically stimulating.

We find both venues to be conducive to writing essays, but the Rubyrose setting and tempo may be somewhat more emotionally suitable for writing poetry.

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We have observed that the reasonable (not immoderate) exercise of the many societally recognized virtues, such as empathy, honesty, truth, accuracy, loyalty, equality, and sensitivity, are universally and eternally laudable and beneficial to society. By contrast, we have learned, by empirical experience that certain generally accepted virtues in the extreme, or practiced in discrete contexts can have negative, and even hazardous effects.

For example, the commendable practice of loyalty, to one’s family, friends, and country provides a needed and comforting sense of belonging and identity; the latter virtue an existential ingredient in Man’s empirical development of self-image and personal place.  Yet, even though a reasonable degree of patriotic and familial loyalty is fully compatible with the (unrelated) virtue of compassion for others, many (MAGA) citizens see immigration as a wrongful “pollution” of the American population. These selfish individuals who have transmogrified their purported (virtue of) loyalty to the Nation to the degree of xenophobic bias, have overtly opposed the Nation’s traditionally empathic admission of needy immigrant families, and so have perverted the otherwise, admirable virtue of loyalty.

Contemporary, industrialized society understandably values the pragmatic virtue of efficiency, indisputably, significant in the commercial context of the profitable, mass production of goods and services. Nevertheless, the misapplication of such virtue has resulted in a grave and observable detriment, to the dynamic functioning of integrated society, on a universal, and permanent basis.  

We take no pleasure in the empirical confirmation of our consistently expressed fear of the application of the otherwise, commendable, and pragmatic virtue of efficiency, being blindly and irresponsibly applied in the context of the humanistic features of society predictably, resulting in irretrievable, harm. As stated in a number of our past essays, the ill-considered application of the “virtue” of convenience and efficiency, in the singular societal context of human behavior, most notably, inter-personal interaction, was inarguably, destined to be antithetical to its requisite dynamics and healthy existence.

Human beings have chosen to live in society due to their innate need for personal contact and interaction with other humans. Such personal interaction is the foundational, experiential basis for the existence of independent, self-awareness and personal identity, the latter, developed by the empirical interactive responses of other humans. In addition, the elements mandatorily comprising personal security and vital societal cohesion are positively confirmed and buttressed by personalized communicative contact. In past writings, we have expressed our deep concern that the substitution of the comforting, mutual recognition of identity, by the parties to a conversation (in person or by telephone) and its inherent facility of spontaneity of relevant response, by the impersonal and “highly efficient” smartphone, would be individually and societally disastrous.

As feared, the World has rapidly become defined and utterly subsumed by the digital world. Mental health, especially of the young, has been negatively affected in a world, dominated by singular handheld screens; such robotic tragedy, further exacerbated by the prophylactic necessity to eschew personal contact during the pandemic. It is our disturbing observation that children seem to have become a different species, adept at navigating the digital world, but often, as reported, depressed and inept at impulse control. In our view, the ubiquitous and thoughtless homage to the “virtue” of facile efficiency has permanently altered society for the worse.

The ages’ societally lauded, virtue of personal ambition, or aspiration for “success,” may be considered a true virtue, perhaps, even a pragmatic necessity, in our enterprising Capitalistic economy. However, the context of such useful virtue, observed in the persona of many individuals, has often demonstrated perverted extremes and neurotic aspirational misconception. Such perversion has driven such nuanced individuals to an insatiable lust for the proverbial, “gold medal” in their misguided aspiration to be the “winner” in a subjectively proclaimed competition, for the amassment of (excessive and, pragmatically speaking, useless) wealth. No one can, as a practical matter, live better, or happier on two billion than on one billion, or, for that matter on ten million, dollars. Neurotic enslavement to a personal financial scoreboard for such insatiably, misguided individuals is their skewed personal perception of the measure of “virtue” operative in their nuanced definitional success.

In our writings, we have, principally and consistently, defined healthy and rationally determined “success,” rather, as the  realistic and joyful personal perception, later in life, of self-fulfillment; the latter an intrinsic, and eternal, contextually applicable, “virtue.”

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While painfully ruminating on certain current negative phenomena (viz. book banning, censorship, and xenophobia) our thoughts,  somehow, wandered back to the time of our senior year in High School and  a memorable character, “Geenzie” or, properly, “Jeremy Klotz.” Geenzie was physically unable to join our coterie of friends who regularly played basketball after school in the schoolyard and rarely accompanied us to dances and parties for the same reason as his non-participation in sports. Geenzie was fat, big-bellied, with short arms and legs, and haplessly, clumsy and poorly coordinated.

Thus, there was scant reason to befriend and socialize with him, with the sole and compelling exception that his family owned one of the rare, newly developed, color televisions with a wider-than-usual screen, acquired by the good fortune of his father, Albert’s, employment as Assistant Manager at the corner appliance store. On most Saturday afternoons, in the appropriate season, we would assemble, at Geenzie’s living room, to enjoy colorfully watching College football games. However, such opportunity to watch College football games in color and on a bigger screen had its countervailing considerations; his apartment was eternally, uncomfortably hot, which latter feature enhanced the less-than-aesthetic impact of the malodorous, deeply-couch-ensconced presence of Geenzie. But, properly, to our theme.

While, we regularly indulged in neighborhood sports and greatly appreciated and much-lauded the demonstrated high skill of the uniquely talented televised players, Geenzie, by contrast, who was as athletic and supple as a burlap sack of stale Vidalia Onions, would loudly and emphatically, deprecate every instance of an incomplete pass or failed tackle. The ironic recollection that he needed to struggle, simply to free himself from the soft surface of his couch yet unashamedly, had arrogated to himself the franchise to jeer and comment at every failed play (albeit by such especially talented football players), informs our present, analogous understanding of the nature of the ironically, low caliber of the book banners, censors and xenophobes, the protagonists of our, disturbing ruminations, as stated above.

Those many of us who have valuably and enjoyably included the reading of good literature in the woven fabric of our lives, empirically, could and would not, possess any desire to limit or restrict others’ literary choices The reader’s naturally developed enlightenment and acquired respect for nuanced interests, would, systemically, disincline him from such un-American, arrogant, and despotic activity. In our view, it has, eternally, been the semi-literate, reductionist, based upon some purported, moral or religious grounds, who would choose to trespass on such basic freedom. Such dedicated censors would appear to be more than adequately possessed of the qualities of ignorance and incapacity, and like Geenzie, hopelessly deficient in relevant skill or rectitude.

Identical principles apply to all ubiquitous species of hapless and un-American censorship of the written word, inclusive of the recent advent of the attempted arbitrary constraints relative to the tactical expurgation of academic education. Moreover, these tailors of expression and would-be diluters of empirical history have empirically, demonstrated the personal absence of a modicum of intellectual and moral basis, for their purported “self-righteous” and reductionist behavior. History, like creative writing, is not store-bought hanger merchandise, in need of alteration; and most emphatically, not by such consummately, reductive, and unskilled, tailors.

In addition to their colossal ignorant bias, we assign a “Geenzie” measure of ineptitude and lack of perspective to America’s selfish and provincial xenophobes, who remain in dedicated (MAGA) opposition to the immigration of foreign families, desperately seeking an acceptable way of life. Their myopic ignorance extends to their appalling lack of recognition that our Nation is (virtually, 100%) populated by immigrants and their progeny, (inclusive of the most radically biased and selfish xenophobe). We, as first-generation American citizens, have eternally sided with Lady Liberty, who forever raises her beacon as an invitation to needy immigrants; and as well, with her personal poet laureate, Emma Lazarus, that our fortunate nation, for moral and humanistic reasons, continues to admit foreign nationals, escaping from dangerous or impoverished countries; and seeking a better life, as did we and our forebears.

Notably, American citizens who have had the benefit of the broadening experiences of traveling abroad, and the enlightening satisfaction of social interaction with citizens of other countries and ethnicities, would predictably, refrain from espousing the xenophobic, ignorant prejudice, inherent in stagnant, provincial entities, as personified by our recollected, archetypal- schlemiel, Geenzie.

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It appears to be a universal nuance of the human persona, that repeated cautions and warnings, regardless of the seriousness of the articulated jeopardy, suffer some measure of loss in impact and exigent significance, by their numerous reiteration. Looking back at the virtual plethora of rational admonitions (appropriately and urgently) articulated over the past twelve months, concerning the existential threat, posed by Trump and his unwashed MAGA horde of populists to our democracy, it may be useful (with apologies to Sr. Guglielmo Marconi) to express a description of the imminent threat to the Nation, in the analogous terms of a dynamic electrical grid.

The electrical grid, itself, is a network of synchronized power and its connected consumers. We understand that Grids are synchronized, meaning that all distributive areas operate with a three-phase alternating current so that predictable voltage swings occur virtually, simultaneously.

The empirical likelihood of the election of the darling of the MAGA populists, Donald J. Trump, whose immorality and autocratic intentions proclaim him, historically, as the first American President to be criminally indicted, poses an existential threat to the structural apparatus and the generational power source of our historically unique and reliably functioning, American Democracy. Trump, in, no doubt, in his maiden reputational moment of veracity, has publically and unashamedly declared that, if re-elected, he will be a “dictator,” (i.e., “for one day”). In our selected analogical context, he predictably would autonomously and dictatorially“short-circuit” our democratic and, well-functioning, tri-partite grid and rule.

As analogously expressed, to the scientifically devised structure and operation of the existentially democratically (three-phase) grid, any such consequential power failure or, extinguishment, of our Founders’ constitutionally mandated, architecturally structured design of the Nation’s singular “balance of powers,” would, in very short order, result in a disastrous and irreparable termination of the salutary flow of the foundational dynamics of the Nation’s soundly and equitably established polity and conceivably the ultimate ” blackout” of our celebrated American way of life. Should such a national catastrophe be permitted to occur, as demonstrated by history, such tragic conditions are not, empirically, alleviated by any facile procedure analogously comparable to routinely changing a blown fuse.

As an enlightened American citizen and, notably, in the citizen’s self-interest, it is mandatorily advisable to soberly and responsibly, recognize the coming Presidential election, in realistic, empirical, and impactful effect, as a pitted and ultimate contest between the salutary, free, and enlightened existence ofour constitutionally granted, franchise of personal liberty and the autocratic, historically, predictable, darkened and repressed state of autocracy.

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