The current state of political discourse is rising to a fever pitch. This is somewhat inevitable—given the stakes. I get the reasons. I understand the passions and political process. We are being exposed to extreme behaviors that are creating isolation, fear and suspicions. Friends are fighting and alliances are forming. People are revealing the depths of their passions and, in some cases, unmasking their true nature. I find this both important and disconcerting.
It is important for the simple reason that we are a nation founded on the idea that individuals can hold their own dear and sacred beliefs . This premise is cooked into our DNA. I have no issue with someone who deeply believes in the rapture, the second coming, scared rocks or spiritual trees. That is their business. That is why this big messy experiment we call the United States of America is so important. We can’t abandon this right. However, when this right is taken as a liberty to forcibly inflict pain and suffering on others through violence, belittlement or intimidation then we are succumbing to the fever.
Usually when someone has a fever they should rest, be quiet and take something to counteract the inflammation or infection. In the case of the current inflammatory atmosphere what is the right analgesic? Is it louder shouting, harder punching or nastier name calling? Obviously these are some of remedies many folks find in their medicine chests.
Is there a doctor in the house? Is the doctor better education, libraries, parents and social systems? We all have our own strong opinions on how to right a wrong. I find that most solutions are simply masked marauders trying to sway another person to see the light of “my” way.
I have reached a breaking point: one side of me wants to run the hell away from it all and retreat to my studio; the other side wants to stay in the middle of the discourse and learn how to change the system. My radical youth days are resurrecting their passions in my corpus. My artist side tells me it will make no difference whatsoever. I am fearful that people will never change and will only seek their own comfortable cocoons nurtured by sycophantic friends. Would retreating to my studio solve anything or make a contribution to the medicine chest? Is this a cop-out?
For the moment I am really sad for our country. I am sad for the innocent young children being dissuaded from love by angry, racist and bigoted parents. I am sad for people clinging to a “christ,” “allah,” or scared rock thinking they have found the one and only light. I am sad to see mother earth raped for greed. I am sad…period.
I do know what when I am painting in the studio my sadness evaporates. I am fever free. I am free. I am.
Therein lies my answers.
Well said, Jeff! I’m feeling the same, but haven’t expressed my concern openly. You have a much more prominent voice – keep on expressing. Will be good for all of us collectively, and cathartic for you.
thanks Peter. It is tough times right now. I am optimistic by nature and trust that in the end the evil will be rooted out. I just hope i happens in my lifetime…Hope you and Kathy are doing well.
From an anonymous friend:
Just read your “Fever Pitch” and gotta say that’s a Good One. Kudos.
As a lawyer I am appalled that Comey felt he had to play along with what has not only the appearance but the genuine stench of a rigged game designed, with exquisite premeditation, to save Hillary’s tattered hide at the expense of established law, the Constitution and federal precedent. There is no precedent nor any justification for Comey’s shameful absurdities and from the sweat-flop look on his face when he uttered them it was as if Comey was swallowing his vomit. I think he knew he was standing the law on its head just so he could be a “good team player”—and the public welfare be damned.
All of these miscreants are lawyers and all of them knew better than to meet with AG Loretta L — and Loretta, this brilliant lawyer and seasoned prosecutor, knew very well that her misconduct was no mistake. (Comment: And if the Clintons really had such a close social relationship with Loretta that they could socialize and gab with each other about the state of their personal lives then she should never have been appointed to prosecute Bill’s spouse in the first place … but you won’t hear commentary like this in the editorials produced by the beholden flacks at the WaPo or the NYT! ) I think Loretta knows she’s teacher’s pet and so she was willing to risk engaging in this misconduct because she knew her ridiculous excuse (O, this was just a mistake, me bad, so sorry, never do it again) will be accepted by this administration as her get-out-of-jail ticket.
I cannot find one lawyer who still believes A.G. LL is fit for this office, or any government office. I and all lawyers I know, know that had any prosecutor, not just the AG, had engaged in LL’s misconduct, they would have been prosecuted and disbarred. Bill, apparently desperate to return to the oval office and rule by proxy, didn’t care because he’s already been disbarred. But Bill’s still a lawyer and he damn well knew better than to seek out the AG who is responsible for determining his wife’s fate and thus his fate as well. So Bill’s clandestine half hour meeting was no “mistake” — he knew better than to spend even so much as a minute with the A.G., let alone spend a unrecorded, private half hour “with this woman.” They all knew better, and that goes double for Michelle, Valerie G., Hillary, and triple for BHO, etc. And now we have BHO campaigning on Air Force One, presumably at taxpayers’ expense, for a woman who apparently believes: 1) that the average American won’t understand why her disreputable antics render her unfit for any office because 2) they’re more devoted to smoking pot and watching MTV and 3) won’t know let alone care that she has lied in the past, lies in the present, and will continue to prevaricate because she has a home built for her by an inbred clannish political party that finds it profitable to keep this tool, their tool, in power. Sad to say, but the other political party is equally bankrupt. And in some different ways, worse so.
I am disappointed to see how swiftly Eiizabeth Warren slid into the slot that was arranged just for her. She could have been a candidate instead of agreeing to become a part of a back-up system.
Here is this angered lawyer’s take on the forthcoming election: Come November what “We the Sheeple” face is akin being offered a choice between seriously painful constipation and/or bloody diarrhea.
There, I said it.
Anyway, thank you for being so delightfully insightful.
Jeffrey, Thanks for corralling these thoughts and sentiments and for putting them to “pen”. I share this particular Zeitgeist as do many of my peers. I struggle with the paradox of flee or fight and believe most in this country suffer the malaise brought on by monumental choices for leadership which do not offer the real choice we wish to make. You’re reference to your “radical youth” reminded me of an Aquarian Age expression that I’ve carried all these years; “The Revolution starts at home”. The meaning there-in has changed over the years, but I hope it never becomes a “cop-out”.
Thanks Robert