A free society is not fearful

Chinese warships are headed towards the Middle East. The militaries of Earth’s great powers are converging in the world’s most dangerous region during the most volatile hours of the 21st century. Here in America, there is anger, fear and political chaos.

Jim Jordan, the extremist and insurrectionist, who covered up a massive sexual assault scandal while he was an assistant coach for the Ohio State University wrestling team, has been denied the speaker’s gavel in the House of Representatives. That said, he still managed to secure 200 votes, which would have been an unimaginable proposition just a few years ago. 

Donald Trump, the deeply and increasingly deranged accused felon, reigns supreme in the Republican primary. The polling shows the reality. He is well on his way to being the Republican nominee. 

Incredibly, he is defeating President Biden in multiple polls:

In the latest Emerson College poll, released on Thursday, Trump leads Biden in a hypothetical poll by 2 points, 47 to 45 percent, with 8 percent undecided. That’s up two points for Trump over the past month, while Biden’s support remained the same. It also found that, among 18- to 29-year-olds, Trump leads by about 2 points, 45.2 percent to 42.9 percent. He also leads among 30- to 39-year-olds by about 11 points, 49.6 percent to 38.5 percent. 

Trump also leads Biden by 4 points in a CNBC All-America Economic Survey poll from Wednesday. And, he leads by 4 points in a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll of seven key swing states from Thursday.

All of this makes me think of the Yeats poem, “The Second Coming:”

Turning and turning in the widening gyre 

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   

The darkness drops again; but now I know   

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I heard something yesterday that caught my attention. The person said that people “confuse quiet for peace, and they aren’t the same thing.” This is so true. Being tuned out to the opioid crisis didn’t obviate it, nor did being tuned out to the chaos in Central America, or the simmering rage in the Middle East.

By the way, not enough has been written about the deadly consequences of Donald Trump allowing his dim-witted son-in-law stumble around the Middle East trying to make peace. In part, this is the result. Now there is war, and it threatens to engulf everything. These are very dangerous days. Yet, it doesn’t seem to register with most of America’s elected leaders, who are content to live the life of a reality show contestant while the fires burn. 

Nancy Mace wear a ‘Scarlett Letter’ A

How far are we from disaster?

Why can’t most people not see what is becoming clearer to me. Am I wrong? Crazy? What do you think? 

I said this in September of 2020, and when I did, some said it was crazy. Was it? 

The chaos around us is everywhere, and it is accruing to Donald Trump’s benefit. It is a tragic paradox that the true threat to America is strengthened by the winds that precede catastrophe. Instead of weakening the demagogue, danger and trouble give him more ammunition. Fear is a contagion and people will give up almost anything if they become fearful enough, including their freedom. 

This is why America’s greatest leader in the 20th century, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his presidency with a clarion declaration:

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

This was true then, and it is true now. Americans need to recognize that fear created the conditions for what people dread in their nightmares. The only difference is that the fear we are talking about brings those nightmares to life in the daylight where democracy dies, and millions of people along with it. A free society is not fearful, and a fearful society is not free. 

Franklin Roosevelt understood that freedom from fear was elemental. In fact, it was one of the four freedoms he held as universal when considering the innate dignity of the human being. The four freedoms, which he aspired be shared among all peoples everywhere in the world were:

Freedom of speech 

Freedom of religion 

Freedom from want 

Freedom from fear 

These great aspirations must be renewed in the 21st century, and the United States must embrace them as universal, necessary and moral. Though we must never again seek to impose democracy with military action, it is equally important to understand the consequences of failing to celebrate its singularity. It is the only system of government that has ever been that places the human being above the government jackboot. When freedom is extinguished the darkness that follows always brings great evil with it. Always. This is why there must always be a search for better. It is why renewal is such a vital component of national life and our history in America. We can begin anew at any time, and the reality is that soon this nation will either turn from disaster or meet it. It seems to me that hour is drawing closer. I think I can feel it. Can you?