New Year's Message, January 1. 2018

In the Northern Hemisphere, where I live, New Year's arrives shortly after the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year.  Two holidays around that time of year, Hanukkah and Christmas, attempt to mitigate the darkness outside with light, the menorah having a prominent place in Jewish homes, and Christmas decorations in Christian and secular ones. Darkness within the human heart is, of course, the more significant problem; the long nights of winter are much more benign than dark nights of the soul.

As a nation, we are, as it were, somewhere between Thanksgiving, which occurs on the fourth Thursday of November, and the winter solstice; our nation's light, here and around the world, is decreasing, no doubt about that.  In any nation's future, the renewal of a more democratic and just spring is not inevitable; it will take a lot of hard work during days of severe weather.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the current bout of climate change is caused by our president and his enablers.

Neither Millard Fillmore nor Franklin Pierce, whom Walt Whitman excoriated for policies that helped bring on our country's greatest crisis, the Civil War, can still be considered the worst American presidents in history; that dubious distinction already belongs to Donald Trump.

He is weakening the country on all fronts.  Our allies have painfully come to the conclusion that the United States is a country in retreat.  By withdrawing support for the Trans Pacific Partnership that fostered economic ties between eleven nations, for instance, Trump has given China the opportunity to step in and take the lead.

On the domestic front, everything he has been doing serves to increase inequality, both in the economic and social senses of that word--the recently passed tax legislation is a good example of the former, while his demonizing of black athletes who protest against injustice is a good example of the latter. His attacks on journalists who report things he doesn't like, designating their reporting as "fake news" is another example of national damage.  The list goes on.

The most important institutions which enable democracy to thrive, namely, a free press and a system of independent checks and balances, are under attack, let there be no doubt about that.

Recently, a conservative commentator mocked the response of some Democrats to the very regressive tax reform that has recently become law. Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, for instance, referred to it as "Armageddon."  The commentator found reactions such as hers to be wild exaggerations; he is right for the wrong reason.  Damage will hardly be noticeable at first.  Inequality will continue to increase, but that tendency has already been the norm for decades.  When a country as great and as powerful as the United States begins to decline, there are many buffers to make that decline bearable for many--at first.  A middle-class family, for instance,will still be able to take the occasional vacation; modern versions of the Brady Family will still be able to watch favorite shows on cable, etc., while the price of higher education for their children gradually becomes more and more unaffordable. Bridges in need of repair will continue to function--until they don't.  Members of poorer families are already used to the fact that  public transportation is dismal, and will hardly notice when the bus that takes them to work becomes somewhat less dependable.  Decline tends to proceed by whimpers and not by bangs.

An insidious decline is all the more dangerous, however, since by the time it elicits effective opposition, it may be too late.  Once you start descending a mountain, the easiest thing to do is to continue your descent; it takes  a lot of determination to stop, turn around, and begin heading up again. Democracy cannot be taken for granted; it is fragile, like an aging father who needs ongoing medical care.  In democracy's case, however, every one of us is the doctor.  Too many, far too many of us are practicing quack medicine.

We need to turn off our TVs and join the resistance.  Democracy in the United States has no future.  If that statement proves to be fake news, and I am cautiously optimistic that our descent will be limited, perhaps even reversed; if the future indeed proves to be brighter, however, it will be the result of a significant segment of the population standing up for and fighting for truth.

Two Reasons for the Current American Malaise

The United Sates is in decline, and things are getting worse.  Some of this is inevitable, and has to do with the rise in wealth around the world.  A good deal, if not all, of our decline, however, is our own fault.  Our political system is, to put it mildly, broken.  Our social system, that is, the current state of education, and the truly abysmal state of health care, contribute to the increasing malaise.  It’s not only our institutions that are at fault—a large part of the population knows more about Beyoncés and Gagas than they do about science and literature. Many live in a virtual world of entertainment, instead of in the real world where facts, sometimes hard facts, matter.  Integrity, dedication, life-long learning, and, most of all, working hard at something you love to do, are still the essentials.  These qualities, on the whole, seem to be getting rarer. The fault is in ourselves; if ignorance votes at the polls and indifference doesn’t even bother to show up, greed and solipsism, forsaking the common good, will win.  And they are, arguably, winning. I don’t want to give the impression that things are hopeless, because they are not, far from it.

In this article, I will briefly discuss two interrelated areas where the American decline, in my opinion, is most apparent. First a few words of introduction.

World War ll, in a way, was Hitler’s gift to the United States.  By 1945, Germany lay in ruins.  The U.S. benefited from the brain-drain of Europe, which began when Hitler took office.  Brilliant refugees, Einstein, for example, enriched the United States   World War ll ended the Great Depression, and brought about the transfer of power from Europe to North America.  Third world countries remained undeveloped.  The heady days of American prosperity had begun.

The heady days of prosperity for the majority of Americans are over.  Why? I will discuss only two of the principal causes of the current malaise, in order to keep this little essay little; this list is by no means exclusive.

1.The Decline of the First Amendment

Recently, my wife and I attended a performance of “King Charles lll” at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C.  The play begins with the funeral of the current Prince of Wales’s mother. Her son has become King Charles lll.  In Britain’s parliamentary democracy, custom requires the signature of the monarch on every bill before it becomes law.  Custom also demands that the hand must sign as mechanically as a rubber stamp, without any input from the monarch’s brain.  In the play, a bill has been passed that abrogates free speech, strengthening the ability to sue for libel.  The King, acting in a very American way, refuses to sign it, causing a crisis about the prerogatives of royalty.  It ends badly for King Charles; his eldest son, with the blessing of Parliament, deposes him, returning monarchs back to the status they have had for a long time--Once again they become figureheads, that is, as far as the state is concerned, heads that no longer figure.

Nearly all Americans would root for King Charles.  Our royalty is our Constitution.  To all true-blooded Americans, of all races and creeds, the First Amendment reigns supreme.  Adopted on December 15, 1791, it guarantees the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, the right to petition for a governmental redress of grievances, and the right to choose one’s religion, including the right to choose no religion at all.

Nothing reveals the importance of these rights more than their absence. The classic example of fascism is Nazism, which, with all its pomp, can certainly be considered a secular religion, the established religion of Hitler's Germany.  The disaster of Nazism is a warning to us all as to what can result when a powerful nation has no purchase for the inalienable rights protected by the First Amendment.

The First Amendment is the most powerful guarantor of free speech in the world.  Interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean that not only bills abrogating free speech cannot become laws, it limits the ability to sue for slander as well.  (Our current president has a dictator’s fondness for the First Amendment, that is, none at all.  All of Trump’s attempts, however, to sue people who say things he doesn’t like have been thrown out of court. So far.)

The mindset of cultures where free speech is not guaranteed does not understand cultures which consider free speech to be sacrosanct.  In most Muslim countries, for instance, criticism, much less caricatures, of Mohammad aren’t permitted, and sometimes are even  punished by death.  When a Dane, exercising his free speech, lampooned the Prophet in cartoons, many Muslims abroad were convinced that he did so with governmental support.  They could not fathom that democracies have laws which restrict the power of government.  That the government of Denmark refused to ban an activity which they deem blasphemous was proof enough for them that the government was in agreement.

A key advantage of free speech is that if competing ideas are allowed to mix, as cream in a butter churn, the butter, the good ideas, will eventually rise to the top. 

One of the great aspects of free speech is that it fosters humility, a virtue always in short supply.  I might believe something passionately, but I acknowledge that I could be wrong.  The same thing applies to those with an opposing view.  Once opposing views pass through the alembics of many minds during unhindered debate, with time truth will prevail.

This of course is an ideal that has never been completely realized; however, in modern America, the First Amendment is under threat as never before.  Money talks while far too many keep silent.  Votes are bought.  Politicians sell themselves in order to get elected.  The heinous Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court allows rich special-interest groups to make unlimited political contributions.  Too many people are too busy with Beyoncé to realize that they are beyond say in the direction of our democracy.  Why should a politician, bought off by the rich, listen to ordinary citizens, the backbone of democracy? We are getting to a point where, manipulated by sophisticated propaganda relentlessly advertised by special interests, the unhindered exchange of ideas no longer occurs. 

The decline of the effectiveness of free speech, however, is not inevitable.  With better leaders, elected by a better-informed electorate, the practice of the First Amendment in America can be very much improved.

2.  Health Care

What a mess!  The United States, the richest country in the world, is eighth place in rank among countries in the world regarding such things as infant mortality rate and longevity.  Not bad, but we should be doing better.  Regarding health care, however, the U.S.A. ranks thirty-fifth, just above Romania.  We spend about twice as much on health care as do other industrialized countries.  Our bangs for the buck seem to be coming from handguns.  The disastrous state of health care in America threatens our respectable rankings in other areas.  If we continue to emphasize external defense while neglecting internal defense—and improving the health of all citizens is certainly an internal defense, American decline is all but guaranteed.

I am writing this the day after the Congressional Budget Office announced the likely effects of the current Trumpcare proposal.  Millions will lose coverage; the numbers of the uninsured will increase greatly.  Oh, yes, the rich will get a lot richer, since Tumpcare is limited care, Obamacare on the cheap.  The proposal is an absolutely disgraceful transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich.

Mr. Trump announced that the decrease in regulation, and the return to an almost unfettered free market, will assure that the insurance industry will be able to cover everyone.  This is ridiculous.  No country has ever been able to provide affordable health coverage for all without governmental involvement; it can’t be done.

It is mere propaganda to promise coverage at no higher cost to those with preexisting conditions, if the healthy are not required to participate, and if we all, especially those of us who are very rich, do not pay our fair share of the cost.

Republicans obviously don’t consider health care to be a right.  Their primary concern is to reduce taxes. 

Among those who would be most affected by Trumpcare are the Trump voters. When will they realize that they’ve been had?  

Elected Republicans are backing—at least for now—an incompetent president, since they believe he is a means to accomplish their ends.  All politicians want power, granted; but when Republicans sacrifice the common good for the good of a few, which they are currently doing in a truly shameless way, decent conservatism becomes an oxymoron.

Threats to the First Amendment and the lack of health care for all are not the only threats to our nation.  Other factors, such as a uniformed and a politically inactive electorate, rising inequality, fanaticism, ignorance, a broken educational system, xenophobia, racism, sexism, polarization, etc., if left unchecked, will also continue to significantly contribute to a decline of a nation that still remains among a beacon of light in a darkening world.

Each of us must earn the oil which keeps the torch of liberty burning brightly.  If we don’t, night will remove an incomparable vision.