plinyblogdotcom

Great credit need be given to our erudite and philosophical founders, who, in their bold conception, eliminated privileged birth, [ as in European history], were the architects of a novel federal confederation, limited by appropriate checks and balances, yet preserving States and Citizens rights; most especially, championing a one man, one vote system. But they get two, but not three cheers, for their formulations. If there is any benefit at all from the frustrating Trump Presidency, it is the long overdue lesson we should have learned during the Nixon disaster; that our constitutional method of selecting a chief executive, who then serves a mandatory period of four years, has proven to be democratically flawed, even dangerous.

The well-worn aphorism that repetition of the same act, with an expectation of a different result, qualifies as a recognized presentment of insanity, seems appropriate. In an earlier blogpost, we referred to Emerson’s statement that “foolish” consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

If there is any derivative benefit, at all, from the current Trump fiasco, it is the long overdue realization that our system of Presidential selection, locking in the selected executive (whoever he may turn out to be), for the mandatory term of four years, is dangerous and notably undemocratic.

We would  respectfully suggest the alternative of a parliamentary system, most importantly, maintaining our traditional two- party system of government. The voters would select the victorious party (in keeping with their perceived philosophies), which would select the Chief Executive. Should the latter turn out to be a Nixon or a Trump, a vote of confidence could then be authorized, wherein the nation could express its democratic will. This would perpetuate, indeed, improve, on the founder’s plan for a representative democracy.

We would vehemently discourage a multi-party (proportional) system, which has proven to tip the scale of power in favor of small minority parties, needed to complete a required quota for legal governance.

-p.

Ever since the warm bare feet of homo sapiens first padded across the surface of terra firma, he has been impressed with the necessity for speed, specifically, regarding his personal safety and success in bringing home the family dinner. This concern was eons later, replaced by the pressing need of the modern commuter to submissively arrive on time at his place of employment.

Travel between points of embarkation and arrival, has always been measured in time (rate x time =distance). Travel by horseback, and subsequently, horse drawn carriages, was strategized and considered in terms of distance, difficulty and estimated time of travel. The phenomenon of roadside inns developed as a practical accommodation for travelers whose travel lasted overnight. Later, mechanical devices replaced the horse, and with their rapid development, made travel more accessible and, of course, faster. With the epochal rise in industrial development, the secular aphorism of employers, “time equals money,” speed became a universal mantra, not only in industrial production but also, in agriculture and remarkably, animal husbandry.

The dimensions of our vast planet effectively grew smaller, as a practical matter, by the constantly improving phenomenon of swift air travel, facilitating business and cultural exchange. Indeed, the increase in the speed of military aircraft made the seemingly impassible “breaking of the sound barrier,” a useless relic of the past, like the once formidable, and now historical, “four-minute mile.” Speed in commuting, production, upward mobility, communication, in computation and aggregation of data, of large box store marketing and a vast prevalence of fast food emporia have become regular features of an increasingly impatient societal mainstream.

We would bravely venture to say that even spoken vocabulary has its own nuanced meter and speed of enunciation. Slowly articulated words like, transportation, fudge, reciprocal and apprehensive, can be compared with other words, more quickly uttered, such as ice, happy, church, slim and cool. It may be debatable as to whether the differences in speed of utterance are founded in differences in syllabification or conceptual meaning, but differences in word speed do, in fact exist. For example, our word of the moment, “exponential,” seems to be ejected rather quickly, despite its multiple syllabification.

The word, “exponential” has apparently been expanded and significantly increased in present usage. It is defined, by apparent consensus, as “a matter which itself is ever increasing.” Of all the words in the American-English lexicon, we find this word rationally troubling. Its utility is comparable to  frustrating attempts to manually pick up liquid mercury. Conceptually, how can the speed of a subject which, by agreed definition, is itself constantly and eternally speeding up, be useful or meaningful for any particular expression? To accept the concept, would necessarily rate it as being conceptually faster that the speed of light, since physicists consider the latter a constant (as opposed to an ongoing, ever- increasing speed). It is a word which, we feel, should be limited in use.

The word does have an admitted utility, when used to demonstrate or compare present day developments with their antecedents, to highlight obvious and remarkable developments, ex., in areas such as science, medicine, transportation, communication, fashion and technology. While we find it useful in this regard, contrariwise, we see its utility, as applied to futuristic references, non-specific and useless, except, perhaps, somewhere within the occult genre of science fiction literature. A subject which constantly increases in speed, as we speak, is by such defined nature, incapable of holding still for any degree of rational evaluation or meaningful literary understanding.

-p.

Serious students of literature and poetry would be familiar with the category of 17^th Century poetry, termed (by Samuel Johnson),” The Metaphysical School of Poetry.” This highly intellectual style is best known for its expanded use of metaphor to relate people to inanimate subjects. The best known Metaphysical Poet would appear to be John Donne, famously known for his verse, “No Man Is an Island.” It is this 17^th Century poet and his composition that provides the theme for this writing.

In words to such effect, Donne poetically sermonized that no one person exists(independently) like an isolated island but is part of an entire continent, such that if even a small bit of turf were eroded from the continent, mankind would similarly be diminished. The clear message is that all men are so interrelated that the death of one is a true loss to all. Accordingly, the final line discourages inquiry as to the identity of any deceased, for whom the (death) bell tolls, instructing that it tolls for all mankind. Novelist , Ernest Hemmingway used Donne’s words, “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” for the title of his novel, centered in the Spanish Civil War, in which so many idealistic Americans lost their lives in that failed cause, fought for freedom and democracy.

Donne’s idealistic (religious) sermon, if heeded, would have seismically changed the course of history over ensuing centuries, which experienced no end of warfare of national, international, and most especially religious motivation, costing vast numbers of deaths and great human suffering. Mankind, to this date, has yet not responded to the poet’s plea for a common recognition among all human beings of universal identity and equally valuable worth.

We cannot attempt to fully recount the number and variety of sincere, but failed, efforts expended to achieve world peace and a common identity among people; two world organizations, attempts at a common language (Esperanto), treaties, cultural exchanges, international agreements and accords of every kind. Representatives of diverse ethnic groups, nationality, religious zealots, xenophobic demagogues or cynical profit seekers have variously appeared in every era, like a perennial poison ivy, to rally a challenge to peace and brotherhood. We have eternally been prevented from enjoying that idealistic concept of the one continent sung, by John Donne. What history has done, is inarguably, not Donne.

We are obliged to be repetitious in returning to a constant plinyblog theme, v iz., for as long as young children continue to be taught, explicitly as well as subtly, lessons in “we” and “they” (instead of lessons in “us”) John Donne does not stand a metaphysical chance in hell.

-p.

 

It would appear ungrateful, scandalous, perhaps, secular sacrilege, to characterize the founding fathers of this nation, as philosophically naïve or unduly optimistic. They creditably, put the tyrannical and tired history of Central Europe behind them in fashioning a new nation in which privileged birth was eliminated, a central confederation of States, restrained by checks and balances was created, removed Church from State (and God from government), protected the minority against the “tyranny of the majority” (majority rule), gifted citizens with a protective “Bill of Rights” and in general, functioned as superbly gifted architects and designers of a new and admirable nation.

In addition to popular elections, the founders anticipated constructive debates between literate and informed citizens of differing views, to inform a rational and responsive administration of the new nation; as a result, the country would be administered in accordance with the revealed will of its people.

Our Founders, warmly adrift in their idealistic dreams, especially their philosophy of “one man, one vote,” could not possibly have foreseen the sociological-political impediments looming like great, ominous cloud-warnings transmitted from the future, portending great danger to their wisely conceived and well-intentioned expectations.

Mention, nevertheless, must be made of the tragic American Civil War which not only divided citizens, but resulted in a geographic and social division of the nation and only slowly, thereafter, a painful reunification.

After the mutual, existential necessity of joint survival during a great depression and two world wars, internal conflict reared its insidious head to fracture the American nation in ways never anticipated by the founders. Discreet, highly charged, issues arose dividing the nation, and giving birth to insular groups sharing a common view on issues, in social conflict and divorcement from other similarly insular groups of disparate view. The utilitarian, anticipated practice of constructive debate envisioned by the founders became non-existent due to the consequent demise of civic amity.

Such sharply divisive, issues include, immigration, abortion rights, gun control, gay marriage, climate change, government assistance to the needy and economic justice. Many citizen’s adamant stands on these issues, appear to be greater than their love of country, and most certainly their love of countrymen of divergent views. The proper administration of our nation has been hampered far too long by  ignorant champions of selected, limited and reductionist dogma; whose tactics drown out and obscure the legitimate will of mainstream, responsible citizens, properly dedicated to the general good of the nation. The irresponsible one-issue voter, in ignoring the balance of his candidate’s platform, other than the specific issue, is especially responsible for the regular distortion of the manifested will of the voters.

We require an admittedly, unprecedented, unusual and emergency procedure, akin to medical emergency measures undertaken when the success of orthodox life-saving efforts appears doubtful. Our proposal would require for its legitimate use in every case, a showing of current necessity for the preservation of the democratic republic, and approved as such, by a judicially appointed committee composed of both parties, reasonably in advance of the time for candidate nominations.

In such (necessary) cases, the “hot button,” emotional, knee-jerk issues, such as abortion, gun control, immigration policy and gay marriage, would be reserved and relegated to an official government questionnaire, answerable by all willing qualified voters, and thereafter submitted to the legislative branch of government for its consideration. The candidates, themselves at election time would be given a common questionnaire on their platform [ excluding the” hot button” issues, listed in the bi-partisan questionnaire.] Strange? We might perhaps learn the positions of the candidates and the results of elections would, at long last, be meaningful as democratically representative.

Still shocked? Please consider the following possible scenario.  In a time of great international conflict, a candidate, elected solely based upon his position on abortion by reductionist single- issue voters, rather than upon relevant criterea of mature judgment and gravitas, might prove to be a great danger to the nation.

Our representative democracy has been for too long in serious peril; we urgently need bold and creative solutions.

-p.

May we, at long last, be permitted to say, “We have had enough.” We are fully ready, willing and able to incur any predictable accusations of presumption, arrogance and contrarianism, but it is far too long that we have (painfully) withheld our needed observations on the subject of contemporary “poetry.”

We feel morally and aesthetically obliged, in the vital interest of literature and the fine arts, to remark upon an unreasonable and unscholarly tolerance and of what (even the self-proclaimed literati), tolerate as “poetry.” We, schooled in the traditions of Wordsworth, Tennyson, Coleridge and Auden, feel dutifully obliged to rail against the non-imaginative and lazy examples of what is often publicly accepted as contemporary poetry. Poetic art no longer appears to be the traditional fine distillation of aesthetic thought and image, but more often, amounts to a nihilistic display of pseudo-intellectual gibberish.

It appears necessary to state, that poetry is neither composed of half-masticated words nor arbitrarily amputated sentences and is not the unique shaping of partially expressed images; it certainly is not the impressive selection of remote and archaic vocabulary, whose evident purpose is to feign non-existent erudition, or faux poetic sensibility. Such ersatz verses with their bold pretense to serve as poetry unfortunately, seem now to appear everywhere, even, sad to say, in our “literary” magazines.

So, what is the authentic character of (proper) poetry, and when do you experience it?

Poetry is the magical aesthetic shorthand, the chord music of great thought or portrayed vision. It, like good music, is fashioned to evoke intended sensations and emotion by the diligent selection of suitable words, set in a tactical and artistic form to a suitable tempo. The poet, unlike the novelist, is merely afforded a protracted canvas on which to fully portray his artistic expression.

We, in our admitted aesthetic orthodoxy, subscribe to the classic recipe for poetry penned by the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge; who observed that poetry is the product of (both) “economy of speech” and “word imagery.” Functionally, poetic metaphor is the vehicle with which this is successfully accomplished. For example, if we wished to poetically portray our uniquely beautiful and gifted granddaughter, in the Coleridge metaphoric tradition, we might choose to describe her as a “red rosebud on a clump of white snow”.  Apt choice of metaphor, particularly in combination with its attendant visual imagery, can be fully savored in the true poetic tradition.

To slowly and enjoyably sip the sweet nectar of this classic art, a writer is mandated with poetic vision, sensitive selection of words, and sufficient familiarity with the contextual impact of tempo, syllabification and length of line. It takes the music of a Walt Whitman, and the images of a Robert Frost, to successfully distill this very fine brandy. Absolutely nothing less will do.

 

-p.

In an early blogpost, “VOILA, LA SOUPE” we chose to happily recount and extol the veritable cornucopia of true blessings, attributable to human aging. This was done, with full awareness, that by contrast, the stereotypic image universally portrayed by the media, renders homage only to a deified, and  pretended universality of youth; portrayed in its most surreal form of artificially beauty, and  photo-shopped in the interest of a penchant for advertising the sale of the very latest fashions.

The early blogpost observed the temporal obsolescence of earlier causes of anxiety and stress, school grades, dating, marriage and family, rearing children, finances, success and upward mobility. Many retainded  the opportunity to pursue personal subjects of especial interest which conceivably developed, when time permitted, in these early stages of life. Those who pursued such paths of self-improvement and internal enhancement would now have the unfettered opportunity to further their interests and truly achieve a life of pleasure, fulfillment and (internal) happiness.

While we affirm the eternal truth and value of the foregoing, we did, feel somewhat remis in our earlier, tactical avoidance of any reference to the “Old Chevy” stage of life. The motive was to eschew any reference to it which would easily have been devalued and discounted in the glow of the tsunami of public adulation of youth and young bodies, joyfully celebrating the use of consumer products, offered for public sale; transmitted, Pied Piper style, though every media outlet. Let us again state that this purported view of human civilization, together with its allure of everlasting youth and (superficial) entertainment are false criteria for human success and a shameful act of ingratitude for the generous gift, by evolution, of our advanced brain. The “Old Chevy” stage of human life was not at all forgotten, in the early post, but rather postponed by a felt sense of practical necessity.

The purchase of a new auto, requires no especial repairs or maintenance except regular upkeep, gas, oil and the like. As is the case with the human body, for which it is the selected metaphor, the new model which ran beautifully and efficiently will, before long, require adjustments, repairs and multiple required visits to the service station; as the monetary value of the same declines, with its accumulating age and declining physical appearance, major adjustments and repair may become existentially necessary.

But by the most fortuitous strike of Charlie Darwin’s biology clock, we evolved into sentient beings, with potential for inner growth and development, with intellectual and spiritual capabilities for potential self-improvement, societal development and social understanding. Those that had wisely chosen to follow the path of self-growth and life enhancement reserved much to live for and look forward to, in old age.  Physical prowess and youthful appearance, understandably take a remote second place when, for example, qualitatively compared with a uniquely valuable and capable life such as the treasured, Stephen Hawkins. Others of us, far less distinguished citizens, will certainly derive great benefit in our older years from our life-enhancing activities. Others may wastefully morph into car wrecks, Old Chevys, studying decay.

-p.

A cool Connecticut forest morning
Night’s incessant sibilance, finally ended
As if responsive to our rapt attendance–
The ambient silence is explosively shattered,
By shrill songbirds, detonated by bedazzling atomic sunlight,
Infiltrating the divergent tree spaces
Reflecting elongated parallel geometry,
True drawn, like the slant of an hypotenuse.

The nearby brook chokes throaty gurgles
Flora re- agitate lazy sun-driven shape shifts
The Earth, managerially, emits a sweet green exhale,
Sending breezes to dispel residual nocturnal etherea
Stolid trees now reprise their two-step terpsichory
Now is prime time for clear thinking,
A time for pure intense joy— it’s
Nature’s proclamation of dawn’s advent-
It is my time!

-p.

Caution, dear reader, brace yourself. In a few days, the perennial tsunami, occurring every February 14, will predictably reassert itself, in all  its traditional surge. The real fans of the feared flooding are the usual suspects, the greeting card companies, the chocolate manufacturers, the florists, the retail jewelry businesses, the pajama industry and the novelty sales folk. The expected tide of the Valentine’s Day flooding, judging by previous experience, will inundate all land masses, human population and baffle all human reason. Among other phenomena, the advertising industry will publish a virtual hurricane of notices, featuring photo-shopped, seemingly amorous couples, in intimate proximity to their highlighted sales merchandise.

Since (mercifully) this holiday has only a short half-life, one day, the need for effective, sales propaganda on the part of relevant businesses becomes urgent. Unaccountably huge profits are earned by companies who presumptuously maintain that there is a realistic (and commercial) need to supplement the interaction of couples, who love one another with their manufactured paraphernalia. Greeting card companies are especially guilty of this self-serving assumption and hire distinguished “poets” to create doggerel, consisting of inane expressions of love and fidelity, for thousands of presu anonymous consumers.

The most objectionable of the various Valentine’s Day symbols, is the trite red valentine “heart,” an outmoded and retro configuration, that appears without relief, on all holiday products, greeting cards, gift wrapping paper, stuffed toys, pillows and candy boxes.This  stale symbol is imprinted on all items for sale on Valentine’s Day, as well as on the consumer’s mind, by Manchurian Candidate type propaganda.

Various research people [ who apparently have no more pressing fields of inquiry for the employment of their PHD acumen] have uniformly reported that the subject symbol, is derived from an early incorrect understanding by [no less than] Galen and Aristotle, who believed that the heart contained only three chambers. [It may be noted that Dr. Galen and Aristotle were accurate on a great many other subjects.]

The Valentine’s day depiction of the human heart, maintains the very same proportionate degree of accuracy, as a wood duck, in appearance, bears to a moose. Nevertheless, it has, over the ages, been imposed upon, and willingly accepted by, the consuming public as appropriate.

In accurate fact, the human heart is shaped like a pear, and is the approximate size of a man’s fist. This life-or-death chest muscle is taxed with the job of circulating blood and oxygen throughout the body. It has no time, or descernable inclination, for holiday Hallmark sales propaganda, as the latter’s purported source of love, courage, strength or kindness.

Additionally, The statement, “He has a good heart” should properly be relegated to a determination of health by a cardiologist, and not a positive  comment on such traits as a person’s generosity or empathy. We are only concerned with cardiologists and not “cardeologists.” How would you value a positive comment on generosity, like, “He has good kidneys.”

It is certainly inarguable that all human thought and emotion are exclusively functions of the brain and not the traditionally romanticized heart muscle. Admittedly, however, it would be impractical to artistically create a brain-shaped cartoon figure to serve as a symbol of the love holiday.

The senseless Valentine heart is best replaced we feel, by a preferable love symbol, the unique and marvelous tulip bulb. Certainly, the outline of the traditional bulb is simple to replicate, artistically. More important, the bulb has always been a reliable symbol of future growth and predictable beauty. Furthermore, relative to the modern conception of true and healthy love, the tulip bulb is independent and self-sustaining, having within its inner self a sufficient systemic source of future nourishment as well as the natural ability and inclination for growth and the achievement of its innate potential.

The tulip bulb, in the Middle Ages, was thought to be magical and priceless. There are historical records of its individual sale for the modern equivalent of several thousand dollars. If you should offer one to him/her and it is refused, we earnestly suggest that you look elsewhere.

ADDENDUM:

Why should it be necessary to dedicate a one- day holiday in recognition and expression of love; and, further, to do so by trite gifts of holiday nonsense? Love, where it is genuine, is experienced on a regular basis, and expressed in tender interaction and caring, personal acts. This one- day holiday is sadly  comparable to gifts of free turkey dinners on Thanksgiving to the needy. Hunger exists year- round and the poor and unfortunate need more than a gratuitous symbol.

(* minor edits)

-p.

Can one describe a chocolate’s taste
Or find soft words for baby’s smile
Can words tell honey’s sweet bouquet
Or express relief to rest awhile

Can one recount a rainbow’s arch
With words that bring to view its sight
Or portray the shadows of the moon
And thus, reveal its pale cold light

Are there apt words to sob relief
When the lost toddler’s tearfully found
That describe the lilac’s inebriate scent
The ocean’s wave’s full basso pound

Is there a word for the brush of lips
On newborn’s cool and silken brow
Or the splatting sound of dripping rain
That strikes the verdant leaves and boughs

Can one describe a rose’s red
The weathered hue of an old windmill
Tell me please, where do such words go
With so many heartfelt thoughts to fill

One need not fret nor search in vain
When it seems, words do not ensue
The sentiment’s so well conveyed–
Most times, a subtle tear will do.

-p.

 

 

 

 

The noun, “provenance” is an elegant one and is pleasant to enunciate; it utilizes the lips, breath and a minor bit of nasal resonance. An authenticating concept, it is used in the fine art and antiquary business to investigate and evaluate origin, authenticity and prior ownership (or possession) of a subject item.

The word is most often used to designate origin but can also be utilized regarding issues of sequence. It is in this latter sense of the word that we would devote this writing. For example, the most magnificent feature of Darwinian evolution is its revelations concerning the origins (or provenance) of man, vital to the understanding of the human body, and explanatory of its vestigial organs.

In an earlier post, whose subject was, our sadly underused exercise of natural reason, we cited a true personal experience of ours. When only a young sophomore in high school, we were confronted with a verbalized challenge from a classmate (the magnificent prize being two candy bars). We were asked the apocryphal question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg.” After the expenditure of a few moments of thought, we flabbergasted the challenger with the correct and logically undeniable answer.  Since most of us believe in Darwinian evolution (even as children), and since it is common knowledge that all chickens, without exception, are hatched from eggs, the answer presented itself, necessarily, to be the egg. That first egg, logically, was laid by the creature which was but one step prior to the chicken, as we know it, in the evolutionary process. This example of provenance was cited, in the earlier setting, to show that we can utilize our reason to solve many of our problems, but often, do not seem to bother; as shown by the fact that this famous question is still heralded as among man’s so-called, “unsolvable problems.” The solution was, of course, based on logically understood provenance.

In matters of human experience, the determination of sequence, causal or otherwise, may not be as easy of solution; they are not simply matters of logical deduction (or induction). Events are subjectively attributable to variable causes, agreement as to which, is an additional subject of debate.

A great many American voters were completely nonplussed and blindsided by the unpredicted result of last year’s Presidential election. An egotistic, glitzy, television game show host, who was universally determined by experts to be incompetent in character, ability and knowledge to be the President of the United States (and ipso facto) leader of the free world, was elected to that historic office. Mr. Trump has validated all such prognostications, embarrassing the nation and confusing the entire world with his obvious and overt ignorance as to all affairs, national and international. His unprincipled and unembarrassed use of the office to enrich himself and his immediate family, resembling the corrupt governance of a banana republic, his expressions of support for racial and gender bigotry, his frivolous, unpredictable behavior, his derogation of learning and science (especially climate science), his adolescent predilections, all result in the conclusion that our country is beset with a virtual tsunami of jeopardy.

Despite this summary recitation of many of the concerns regarding the Trump administration, this post is not intended to center on that alarming travesty as such, but rather, to deal with its factual provenance. How did America get here, a subject, certainly relevant to the concern of all ardent citizens. We see two possible scenarios, the first, productive of a more optimistic and hopeful vista, the second, infinitely more pessimistic and indeed, profoundly worrisome.

[The first scenario] The election of Donald Trump, with its attendant pathology, was but a singular, one-off aberration, and based on the ensuing deplorable results, will not soon be replicated. It was an outcome driven in large part by a conglomerate of discontented voters, notably including the low-information, flat earth, reductionist cohort of our population, which generally does not vote, mesmerized by Trumps’ snake-oil salesman’s unspecified promises of a better tomorrow; in tandem with their tactical manipulation by well financed special interests, cynically seeking to increase profits from deregulation, regardless of the impact on the health of the nation and the planet. This was in combination with a lower than customary voter turnout from the more liberal, educated voters, disenchanted with the candidacy of Hilary Clinton.

[The second scenario] The contemporary quality of the American voter has markedly declined to a level, far below the Jeffersonian standard for the successful operation of a republican democracy (the literate and informed citizen). The national tendency regarding its preoccupation with superficial entertainment, in preference to literate and cultural activity, its derogation of scholarship and educational achievement including scientific progress, has resulted in a severely degraded citizen-voter, whose insular ignorance and reductive understanding makes him an easy prey for demagogic legerdemain. The elevation of Trump to the Presidency was not merely an episodic event, but a representative expression of the contemporary quality of the nation, and is predictive of future election outcomes.

In this regard, it may again be worth noting that the creation of plinyblog, two years ago, was dedicated to the goal of personal development and self- enhancement, for the dual benefit of the individual and the nation. It will continue to urge the reading of good literature, participation in the arts, awareness of government issues, the practice of empathy and secular based morality. It sees the avoidance of the virtually unlimited life potential, made possible by the generous gift from evolution of an advanced brain, acts of shameful ingratitude.

Of the two cited scenarios, we are dogmatically inclined to choose the first. We continue to retain faith in the ultimate and redeeming good sense of the American people. While a popular preference for superficial diversion and the tendency to insular and reductive thinking is far from desirable, we hold fast to the expectation that in each era, a substantial number of intelligent and thoughtful citizens will, responsibly and devotedly, manifest the appropriate criteria for useful citizenship, intended and confidently foreseen by our founding fathers.

Most encouraging and heartening is the realization that the quality of the nation’s electorate was recently such that it elected President Obama, an ideal embodiment of the criteria for a capable, intelligent and empathic chief executive and citizen, and did it, resoundingly, twice.

-p.