The Collapsing American Empire

On July 14, 1789, French protesters stormed one of the most profound symbols of their oppression under the rule of their kings, the prison called the Bastille. It was almost defunct, holding only seven prisoners at the time, but its significance rocked all France. The French Revolution had begun and the Bourbon Empire was about to collapse. Empires fall. All empires collapse under their own weight. The actual moment of death is obvious, but the process of dying can be so slow that no one even notices until that final moment. Rome fell, once and for all, in 476 but was spiraling downward for centuries. Bourbon France began its death throes on that afternoon in July, but the reasons for the revolution's success were being laid down on the road to the guillotine for decades. The British Empire collapsed in 1948 but the process began as soon as Queen Victoria was pronounced Empress of India a hundred years before, or perhaps could be traced to England's inability to hold onto its colonies in the New World. Churchill's efforts to preserve the Empire came to naught because the trends were already there. Make no mistake. The United States is an empire. We have our hands, our money, our language and our soldiers in every part of the world. Most Americans don't even realize we are an empire. But we are, and we are dying. With everything going on around him, Donald Trump is poised to destroy the democratic system in order to hold onto his power. All the signs are there: deep divisions among the people; blind unyielding sycophantic loyalty to their leader from a significant part of the population and the other members of the government; corruption in government running rampant and unchecked; the will of the majority totally ignored by those in power; interference in the way our leader is picked, by another powerful leader who wants us weakened; stiffer, even cruel policies against immigrants; and serious profit-taking among the small class of super-rich patrons of the President. A new poll came out, based on a Pew survey asking which president in your lifetime did the best job. The Number One President turns out to be Barach Obama. Memories are short and so are the parameters of the survey, but democrats Obama and Clinton ranked 1-2. Republicans Bush, Bush and Trump did not fare as well, with Ronald Reagan still revered by those old enough to remember him. Memories are short, which is why long term processes that affect the life of an empire go unnoticed. Most of us just go on with the daily job of living, regardless of what is happening on the larger stage. That same poll placed Donald Trump in position number 5. He is not wildly popular but he does have a solid base of support. How will those voters feel when Trump declares himself tsar?

Freedom of Thought

About 350 years ago, the man whom Isaac Newton said had the most elegant mind of their time, declared, “The world is my country, science is my religion.” Throughout history people have been excommunicated, expelled, executed, boycotted and banned for thinking outside the box a given society finds comfortable. Due to an accident of birth, Christiaan Huygens was free to express his ideas without fear. In the United States of America, that freedom from fear has been a cornerstone of our democratic way of life. So far, so good, but we must forever be vigilant. We must forever watch against those who think the box is just fine the way it is, or, worse, fondly remember a smaller box still.

The Reading Room, or TMI

I used to think, going to the bathroom, what a waste of time. It was one of those questions for God I was collecting. What's up with the platypus? Why fleas? Why do we need to eliminate? Why is that efficient? Why aren't we green? Wouldn't it be ever so much more efficient, and less violent, and easier to boot, to photosynthesize? Just get some sunlight or a vitamin D3 supplement and you're good to go. No muss, no fuss, no cutting down our cousin trees to make toilet paper, no wasted time. But then, I realized, I would never know the joy of a pepperoni pizza fresh out of the oven with cheese so hot and stringy it literally attacks and attaches to your lips. I would never know how to cool down my throat with a lovely long pull on a frosty glass of imperial stout. I would never get to see a three-in-the-morning Montana sky with all those Milky Way stars shining down on me like something out of a van Gogh. Mostly, I would never get to enjoy the wasted time spent in the bathroom, going, cleaning, preening, trimming, brushing, going again. Sitting. Reading. I make great progress on a book while on the throne. I will never complain about elimination. In fact, I look forward to potty breaks. The peace, the quiet, the satisfaction, the relief, the two pages closer to the end. And besides, without all of this I would never understand why my four year old granddaughter CharleeRose thinks that poots and toots are the funniest words she ever heard.