I recently went to lunch with a good buddy of mine who, the last time I saw him, we found out where we agreed to have lunch at that time was the national epicenter of the pandemic. This time, it was not a virus that we were dealing with, but the unfolding national emergency that--regardless of whatever your political conviction, you have to admit we are in.
Like the pandemic, it feels like eventually this virus will get us sooner or later, too.
These are the times that try men’s souls, said Thomas Paine. And it sure feels like all of our souls have been getting one hell of a workout. It is a hard time to be an American. And it is a hard time being any other nation who considered the US a reliable ally.
One of the things that we are going to learn from all of this is that it takes great courage to admit you are wrong. As a country, I am certain that in the near future we will be enjoying a good dose of humility, both domestically and on the world stage. But for how long depends on how quickly we can amend the error of our ways. Our place in the world will depend on our admitting we have been wrong.
The current leadership, tasked with the job of protecting our democracy, has taken the idea of the American Experiment, and replaced it with American Hubris. The experimentation with our form of democracy can be found in the Latin phrase used to describe the United States: E Pluribus Unum or “Out of Many, One.” Our strength has been from encouraging unity through compromise, reform with mercy and leadership through good examples. While I can confidently state that the majority of Americans still cling to those moral values, there is an entrenched minority that wants the opposite. And they aren’t just political figures either. More and more, it is an elite of business leaders who choose not to be in touch with Americans. And people who believe in their own exceptionalism. Hubris, indeed.
They have shown they want unity through submission, reform with no mercy and the old “Might Makes Right” that King Arthur created his round table to go against. We know who they are, well, because they make no bones about telling us all who they are and what their goals are.
History teaches us that such behavior usually comes to a bad end. Right now, Americans believe that it will be rectified through voting later this year. But history also teaches us that our vote will be assaulted by those who are espousing a return to medieval ways. It will get dicey.
The reality is that reality doesn’t lie. What people witness, thanks to the very outbursts by this medieval crowd, delivered through social media and on news platforms, is that they want the vast majority of us back to serfdom. Serfdom is compliance and submission. Serfs were called to fight for and feed their lord when not fighting. The lord’s rule was absolute because they harnessed power through intimidation.
If we look at the current chaos through this perspective, it becomes pretty clear that our personal freedoms are threatened in ways we are only beginning to comprehend.
These same people have, like in the medieval days, have invoked the name of God by enlisting certain members of the religious world to enmesh themselves in the temporal, political landscape. It’s a strange world indeed, when there are American Catholics who repudiate the words of the Pope. They treat the Vicar of Christ as a political figure rather than a religious, moral figure. It takes a certain amount of hubris to go against what Catholics believe is the representation of Christ’s leadership on earth.
Other various forms of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and even Buddhists are doing or have done the same thing, at home and around the world. It is currently chic to revolt against the better angels of their nature, because “Might Makes Right.” And they have the hubris to believe that they know better than God. They may not say that, but their decisions and deeds prove otherwise.
Here is where it gets tough. We all will be guilty through association here in the United States if our domestic messes continue to pollute the world stage, ruining our alliances and fomenting resentment. We may very well lose our ability to be free people in a free country.
When Nazi Germany was defeated, there weren’t a lot of Germans saying, “but I was one of the good Germans.” They knew the rest of the world really didn’t want to hear that. Such good people in Germany were swept along in the horrible flood of fascism. Many of those people were trying to avoid drowning themselves. There was no joy in surviving something that ruined your country, let alone caused 50 million deaths world-wide.
Germany has taught us that any country, even the United States, can lose its way. We are all dangerously close to getting caught in this current. We all will be swept along in the flood. We have to take a stand against the decimation of the Republic. Through word, action and even placing ourselves in harm's way.
It’s going to take courage to bring this sad chapter of American history to a speedy end. It will take courage for those who wrote this chapter to admit they were wrong and courage for us to forgive them. If we fail, we will be serfs, serving whichever lord has the most power. We can’t afford to fail.
READ MARTIN’S OTHER BLOG HERE.