CSotD: Deteriorata
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We'll start today's posting with Francis, because it won't end as cheerfully or encouragingly.
I guess the proportion of people who truly listened in church is about the same as those who truly followed the news, and so here we are.
It's okay to stop helping the poor just as it's okay to crawl into bed with Vladimir Putin and they can pluck some obscure scripture out of context to explain why, though they're actually not plucking it but having it handed to them.
For that matter, Pat Marrin's world in Francis is not all that realistic. I walked out of one church when the priest explained that, when Acts talked about giving your wealth to the poor, it meant spiritually, not materially, so you could keep all your stuff.
Anyway, I probably should have paired it in a Juxtaposition with John Branch's piece, because, yes, I miss all of them except possibly Harding and Nixon, and Harding was only a pliable stooge, which is different than leading the disgrace.
I don't think you have to be much of a Pollyanna to find some good in each of them, even Nixon, who founded the EPA and opened the door to China when he wasn't masterminding a criminal conspiracy to destroy fair elections. But you sure have to be one to ignore Watergate and claim the EPA as the defining point of his presidency.
On the other hand, I also think it's kind of sad when people cherry-pick the worst aspects of each president and make that the defining point. Yes, Jefferson owned slaves, and, while you certainly shouldn't consider it irrelevant or a minor flaw, it was a … what's the word? … deplorable part of the society he lived in.
We should never forget that, but, then, we should not subscribe to a childish view of history in which people from a century or two ago make decisions based on our knowledge and values rather than those of the time in which they lived.
The compexity of history is what makes it fascinating, but it's also what makes it challenging, particularly for people who insist that characters in history must be two-dimensional cartoon characters, each embodying only one aspect.
History is based on "the preponderance of the evidence," however, and as the Trump administration approaches in the manner in which that rock approached Indiana Jones, we ought not to stand around wondering if perhaps it's made of plastic foam.
We'll find out soon enough.
And, by the way, none of this is to say that you have to hide your personal values and interpret history from some pre-determined, academic standard. Keith Knight, in a longer cartoon than this snippet, makes a point about Obama's presidency that is both personal and politically important, echoed in an Atlantic article by by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Having a black man in the White House matters, and, as they both suggest, not simply to African-Americans. In fact, if it only mattered to African-Americans, it wouldn't matter very much: Obama had to do more than simply stand around being black in order to have a real impact on the nation.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Meanwhile, Steve Sack and Mike Keefe note the transition from a presidency of the nation to a presidency of the president.
Certainly, there have been outsized presidents who put the stamp of their personality upon the office, most notably Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, but also Kennedy, who, whatever else he accomplished, established a sense that the Greatest Generation had not simply defeated Hitler and Tojo but was continuing to ask what they and their children could do for the country through the Peace Corps, through Vista, and by going, on their own, into very dangerous places to register black voters.
And, as Matt Wuerker points out, Trump, too, is placing his mark on the office, as a place for Russian stooges, for plutocrats and oligarchs, for oil companies, for those who preach about preserving domestic jobs while importing goods from abroad and who inveigh against bankers and then appoint their officers to cabinet positions …
… and, as Bruce Plante points out, and Charlie Pierce explains, for wealthy donors who have set agendas and not the sense or knowledge to comment intelligently even on the sources of their obsession.
DeVos either refused to answer, or was too foolish to understand, the questions put to her by Tim Kaine, but it hardly matters, because, as Pierce notes, she and her family "contributed substantial sums to 10 of the 12 Republicans who were sitting on the committee that was vetting her Tuesday night."
So it doesn't matter that she played duck-and-dodge with a lunatic story about teachers shooting grizzly bears.
It's just a puppet show anyway. They're not required to disclose their finances, but the majority in both legislative houses are well aware of why they should be confirmed.
As I said the other day, I wish we could be fools in private, but we have a place in the community of nations where our foolishness matters, and, in the words of Deteriorata, "whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back."
Though I'm not sure that sound is laughter, nor that they will continue to do it from behind our backs for very long.
Fortunately, it appears you don't need distance in order to see what we've done, and, while I'm sure the hate mail will pour in for this Clay Bennett piece, I'd like to think that Trump's cratering approval ratings are a sign that we're waking up and that we'll restore order as soon as possible.
Keep it up, gang.
I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro' the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people.
— Thomas Jefferson
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