Back in November 2016 I said I was retiring from Politics; all
my ‘knowledge’ was debunked; all my beliefs in the political system and my
faith in people’s judgement, their likes and dislikes, their principles, were
shattered; I declared myself out! Unfortunately, I have been weak and the easy
ways of Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) lured me back in… No more!
I moved here, to the USA – through legal channels, by the way – in 1977, at
the heals of probably the 2nd biggest constitutional crisis the
country ever saw (the first one being the Civil War). For the first time in the
country’s history a president had resigned; a knowledgeable and talented but corrupt
and unworthy president had been forced out of office by a diligent congress
doing their job; and by the way, the presidency and the congress were dominated
by the same party; but congress (and eventually the President) put country
first. It looked like the country had recovered and continued its maturing and
evolving into something the world never saw before: the greatest country on
earth…
Reagan and Bush 41 held that course; but then came the
Clinton years and all the scandals. I remember before that time, I used to sit
down with my daughters to watch the national news (Brokaw, Rather, Jennings,
Shaw) to ensure they were aware of the countries realities. Then, at the height
of the Clinton scandals, I used to guard the TV to ensure my daughters were not
watching the details of the dress, oral sex, ‘my little humidor’. Gore and Bush
gave an example of civility and ‘country first’ the likes of which is
unfathomable to be seen today. And then came Obama as an apparent symptom that this country
had come – literally - out of the dark and medieval ages of racism and bigotry.
But it was a false symptom; it was too much too fast; the country was not ready
for a non-fully-white-Anglo-Saxon President; hell no; the war cry became “we want our country back"! The
evolutionary boomerang returned, and returned with a vengeance; all the biases,
racism and bigotry, thought to be gone many decades prior, were only repressed and
right below the surface and, with only one speech by one individual, became
legitimized and normalized again. And thus, we have devolved; now we are
fighting as hell to go back to times when we thought we were great; when
everybody knew their place; when everybody knew what water fountain to drink
out of, what waiting room to sit in… As I heard somebody say, “if you don’t look like us, or sound like us,
or pray like us, you ain’t got no business to be here” …
The country’s political discourse has become a septic tank;
country first is no longer valid; values, principles and tenets, which stood
for decades, are discarded to the side at the very first disagreement
regardless of the damage that could be caused. When allegations are made, the
response is to attack and discredit instead of setting the record straight;
debates of ideas are commonly replaced by personal debasements. Men of honor of
yesteryears sell that honor in exchange for political agenda gains. Nazis,
Alt-Right, skin-heads are referred to as ‘very fine people’… To keep the ship
afloat, every potential dissention is delegitimized; the FBI is corrupt; the
Department of Justice is corrupt; the judiciary is corrupt; the press is
corrupt. Facts are commonly disputed with ‘alternate’ facts. Cult to
personality is the mainstay; there seems to be only one acceptable perspective
and, therefore, only one truth…
That’s why I’m taking a Sabbatical; I am going to only watch
and read – if at all - for a while. I need to de-learn the lessons of late and
then learn again; need to regroup and find again myself in all this jungle… I
need to find a way to appreciate people not for their values and how they show
them, not by their principles and how they apply them, not by their faith and
how they practice it; not by their beliefs and how they express them… I need to
find ways to believe this is only a temporary aberration, that our evolution as
a society is not a boomerang but a spear, always onward, and that - as a nation
- we still have room to shine and be an example of all things good again!!!
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