Intellectual Honesty Is Being Plucked One Feather At A Time

Sunday suggestion: Find and watch Fareed Zakaria's GPS show from this morning (October 7). His guests were Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright, and their thoughtfulness, intelligence, and reasonableness on matters domestic and foreign speak volumes about the way we used to discuss issues of the day. I miss the intellectual giants of my earlier days, men and women of both parties, and journalists like Fareed who don't shout, don't pander, don't prejudge, don't denigrate, don't play blame games and point fingers.

Like many of my friends who grew up in the 60s and 70s, and went to war, and/or went to work as public servants or volunteers for sound and noble causes--worthwhile causes that built houses, fed the poor, created bridges of understanding across our nation and between nations, kept the doors of immigration open, tried to heal the wounds of segregation, tried to be better people as part of their personal ethic--Like many of them, I believe in comity, in trust, in reaching across aisles, in open and non-judgmental dialogue, and in the basically good character of all people.

Yes, it is true that I have railed against this current administration, but not because I am judging men and women of any party, but because some of the leaders who have been chosen are intellectual frauds or vacuums. Because wealth in politics--hyperfed by Citizens United--has been a growing cancer on the electoral process. Because some men and women--of both parties--have dug their heels in so deep that they will not move an inch toward even the most obviously sane outcomes. Because I see the Constitution under siege by politicians and jurists who seek to interpret only certain portions of that document to their advantage, and to dismiss other portions of the founding directives that threaten their primacy, power, and control. Because, for a reason unknown to me--and I have wracked my brain over this for years--it seems sectors of the public have learned to respond to fear and ridicule and hate and false narratives in ways unimaginable in my earlier days.

No, I am not forgetting our past shame--the shame of racism and segregation and Jim Crow, the moral and ethical shame of sex discrimination, the shame of lying leaders (of both parties), the shame of carving out portions of America suitable for the rich while letting the decay of our inner cities fester, the shame of objectifying women and building male-convenient walls and ceilings around and over them--and my generation has much to atone for; I get that.

I get that rural America has almost been forgotten as the breadbasket, and that politicians now look at rural and impoverished America as little more than a gerrymandering jigsaw puzzle, worth only as much as the votes that can be assembled to form predetermined pictures of electoral stability. I am sad to see how so many Americans have become pawns or worse and how their desperation, fears, insecurities, and financial fragility are nothing more than mini-platforms for politicians of all stripes to stand on at the most convenient times (for the politicians). 

Madeleine Albright, in a warning about letting rights slip away, used a quote from Mussolini, who said, "If you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, no one notices." The current administration, in my view, is, in fact, plucking the Constitution and our system of laws one feather at a time--and too many of us don't realize we are being plucked.

And I tire of the yelling, high-volume braying that defines virtually all cable news and talking head networks. "Expert" panels carefully selected to ramp up tensions through cherry-picked issues are designed to be little more than cage fights on glossy, chrome-trimmed sets wrapped in red, or blue, or red,white, and blue. I don't yell, and I don't like to see other people yelling when soft spoken, earnest arguments based on facts and real events could be far more persuasive (at least to me). Passion is fine with me, but screaming how passionate you are is not the path to my appreciation for your your position.

I will continue to take positions, and I'm sure from time to time I will lose patience and throw louder words and phrases into the social media world; but this past month, and the past three years, and the rising trend line of rudeness, anger, and willful division have taken their toll. Watching Fareed this morning, and listening to two former leaders who used big words, historically-based examples, informed examples of China, Iraq, immigration, and foreign affairs generally, along with intellectually-honest points-of-view, and reasonable projections for the future...that was what I need more of for a while.