A calm recollection for our troubled times. That early Lincoln Lyceum speech certainly seems prescient. (I tried the gimmick of using a long excerpt as an early "guest post" in my Substack, to limited effect.) Maybe because it is difficult to see clearly what surrounds you in the present, I don't see any one issue or any cluster of issues today that even comes close, objectively speaking, to the debate over slavery. Which seems pretty cut and dried, black and white (as it were) at least in retrospect. I'm trying to come up with a list as I write--the size of the permanent federal bureaucracy, trans rights, the hyper-vigilant policing of speech on college campuses, the place of immigrants, the hollowing out of our middle class amid deepening inquality...--each one and all perfectly valid matters for political debate and pragmatic policy responses. But not one, nor some or all of them considered together, justifies or explains the apparent depth of civil/political strife facing the United States today (at least to me). For that reason, the strife feels manufactured, the character of the debate deliberately inflamed, and out of all proportion with the objective circumstances. While there may never be an "objective correlative" for anything that happens in an irrational world, I still want to know why. Who does this benefit? I know enough to know that I don't know a lot. There are invisible forces afoot, including technology and monstrously big money. And it does feel like the pressure is building, and that the formal political structures may not be able to channel it effectively. (That point seems obvious). As I've learned through reading some history and serving as a political officer in certain countries that were going through wrenching transitions, the inflamed debate and unresolved pressure are likely to spill out into the streets and explode, as we are seeing here, into violence. Are these the early sparks of a coming conflagration? Or a warning light flashing red that we will respond to appropriately before it's too late? That is the question, not that I expect any answer other than what happens. Although the "die by suicide" phrase echoes in my mind and makes me queasy...
A calm recollection for our troubled times. That early Lincoln Lyceum speech certainly seems prescient. (I tried the gimmick of using a long excerpt as an early "guest post" in my Substack, to limited effect.) Maybe because it is difficult to see clearly what surrounds you in the present, I don't see any one issue or any cluster of issues today that even comes close, objectively speaking, to the debate over slavery. Which seems pretty cut and dried, black and white (as it were) at least in retrospect. I'm trying to come up with a list as I write--the size of the permanent federal bureaucracy, trans rights, the hyper-vigilant policing of speech on college campuses, the place of immigrants, the hollowing out of our middle class amid deepening inquality...--each one and all perfectly valid matters for political debate and pragmatic policy responses. But not one, nor some or all of them considered together, justifies or explains the apparent depth of civil/political strife facing the United States today (at least to me). For that reason, the strife feels manufactured, the character of the debate deliberately inflamed, and out of all proportion with the objective circumstances. While there may never be an "objective correlative" for anything that happens in an irrational world, I still want to know why. Who does this benefit? I know enough to know that I don't know a lot. There are invisible forces afoot, including technology and monstrously big money. And it does feel like the pressure is building, and that the formal political structures may not be able to channel it effectively. (That point seems obvious). As I've learned through reading some history and serving as a political officer in certain countries that were going through wrenching transitions, the inflamed debate and unresolved pressure are likely to spill out into the streets and explode, as we are seeing here, into violence. Are these the early sparks of a coming conflagration? Or a warning light flashing red that we will respond to appropriately before it's too late? That is the question, not that I expect any answer other than what happens. Although the "die by suicide" phrase echoes in my mind and makes me queasy...