July 10, 2020
I believe the oceanic tides will continue to rise and fall (i.e., change) as long as the planet Earth has a moon and a sun that causes them to do so. However, the worlds of politics, economics and morality also seem to change but there is no moon or sun that causes them to do that. Rather, it seems to me, that a collision of significant events coupled with the presence of a leader with courage and wisdom can result in positive change or, if the leader is both evil and cunning, result in a societal disaster. An obvious example of that statement—which applied to all three of those ‘worlds’—can be seen in the pandemic which started during WWI called the ‘Spanish Flu’ and the soon following world-wide economic depression which gave Adolph Hitler the opportunity to seize power in Germany and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to institute significant social and economic change in the United States of America. I doubt if it is any mystery as to which of those ‘leaders’ I consider evil and cunning and which I consider courageous and wise. The ‘morality’ factor is equally obvious. Hitler gave us the Holocaust and destroyed Germany, while Roosevelt eventually gave us Peace, Social Security and the world’s strongest economy.
Now, in 2020, the pandemic caused by the Covid 19 virus has caused a worldwide health crisis and the resulting world-wide economic chaos. That combination has seemed to awaken a very sleepy United States electorate which had been willing to accept the inanities and stupidity of a Donald Trump Presidency as long as the good times and fast money continued to flow past the struggling masses and economically deprived majorities of our society and into the hands of our already rich and famous few. Then came the George Floyd Murder along with too many other examples of extreme racial hatred and injustice and, all of a sudden, the moral world tilted into a societal explosion that could result in the end of the Donald J. Trump Presidency and Republican control of the United States Senate. Could it be possible that the tide of Lust, Avarice and Greed that has dominated our social order for almost the last four years is changing to one of Faith, Hope and Charity on which an ideal social order, in my opinion, should be based? No, I doubt that the degree of change will ever happen. That amount of change would be the equivalent of the tides in south Florida, which now average under 4 feet of change, all of a sudden would be like those in the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada, which average about 47 feet from low to high tide. If that would happen, Florida would probably disappear faster than the Trump administration. However any degree of change from the horrible extremes of the Trump presidency toward a more equitable and just social order will be most welcome, as far as I am concerned. The end of the Trump Presidency and Republican control of the Senate is almost too much to hope for—-but, that’s what I’ll be hoping and praying for to happen on November 3rd, 2020, if not before.
Donald J. Trump is certainly a truly evil man but, thank God, he is definitely neither cunning nor even very smart. In fact, I don’t think there is any question that Donald J. Trump is his own worst enemy. Every time he opens his mouth or tweets through his Twitter account, the tide of his Presidential popularity recedes a bit farther into the distance. There’s a rumor that his Republican enablers are giving him until Labor Day to reverse the outgoing tidal flow of our electorate’s enthusiasm for his Presidency. That means, we could have only about 60 more days to listen to his mean and hate-filled diatribes all based his playing the ‘race card’ of White Supremacy—which worked well for Reagan, Nixon, Clinton and G.H.W. Bush and Trumps’s election but, doesn’t seem to work as well now as it did before. I think the reason that is happening is simple: White people’s hatred of Blacks and Browns is going out of style! It’s about time that is finally happening! It has only taken over four hundred years. Talk about a slow tidal change in White people’s attitudes! I can only hope, and pray, that that tide doesn’t reverse in my remaining lifetime—or ever!
Another element to consider is, if the tide goes out on Donald J. Trump and the Republican control of the Senate, what will the returning tide bring in with it? I think we have about four months before we will know that answer and a lot of surprises could happen in those next 120 days. Will it be Joe and ?????, or, will some not-so-very dark horse(s) come out of the virtual conventions chaos and ride the in-bound waves of change to the top of both tickets? My estimate of Joe Biden is that his tide ran out about 4 years ago. However, if he picks a woman of true presidential caliber, She and Joe can spend the next four years righting the wrongs of the Trump Administration disaster. That would be the tidal equivalent of spending four years in the Caribbean where tidal change is almost unmeasurable—and, probably, just what our country needs—before we get our first woman President—which, I think, is also just what our country needs. Think: Nixon, Clinton, ‘W’ and Trump before you start an argument with me. Men have had Two Hundred and Forty-four years to make the U.S.A. a more perfect union and we now seem to be farther away from that goal than ever before. It’s about time we turn that responsibility over to the other gender. Sometimes I think of the United States as being much like a family of distinct individuals. Who better to keep that bunch of young, strong-minded individuals in line than a strong Mother?
I asked Hubris what he thought about us having a woman President. He said, “Lou, does that mean we will have to wash our hands before meals and say our prayers at bedtime?” I thought about his reply for a few seconds and then replied, “Hubris, I’m afraid so, and maybe us men will have to stay out of the pool halls and saloons, and go to work! Have you thought about that?” Hubris didn’t take a second to reply, “Lou, what price glory!” And, with that bit of horse sense we both agreed that it much too hot for our evening ride.
So, until next week it’s Adios Amigos and—say safe!
Lou
Word count 1,110 Copyright, July 10, 2020, Louis J. Christen