The United States may no longer be the leader of the free world. Because I think, we, as a nation, took care of that when, we, also as a nation, let a crass, classless caricature of a president in Donald Trump, take the oval office, our White House. I imagine though, that we will be thus, only for as long as it takes to clean up the mess that the clumsy one leaves in his wake. And don’t think for a second there are not droves of activists, across the globe, taking action, and spending time and money, to minimize what damage he does leave in his wake.
The trouble now is, that the longer this imposter is in office, the more opportunity he has, to hack away at the constitution and thus our freedoms. The stronger then, will be his will be his ability to subvert the checks and balances against tyranny.
A new kind of war
This is a war of another kind. America may no longer be the big dog, but we still have plenty of dogs with which to fight. Lest the readers forget, we still have a more powerful Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard, than any other group of countries combined. We still have a very extensive infrastructure, weak though it may be in places. We still have an enduring constitution, and a Bill of Rights, which will still be there to help us pull out of this mess, once we remove the tyrannical few from our midst.
This is a war for the minds of our children. The enemy, visible or otherwise, is attacking, through social media and buffoonish public behavior, the very intellect of our nation. It tells them that it’s OK to have a seemingly ‘kept’ nude, centerfold model, from the ‘down but not out’ USSR, as the first lady of The United States of America.
It tells them that patriotism is dead, and that our once great nation, is now led by a mad king, a naked emperor, and, evidently, a loyal subject to an evil empire. You can figure out which evil empire that is, I’m sure. This will be a war targeting the arts and science. It’s against equality, justice for all, and freedom of ideas and speech.
If you can still remember your world history, then you will likely be saying to yourself about now, how familiar some of this sounds.
For there was once a war fought against another enemy in Adolph Hitler, where the same ideals; of justice for all, equality, and freedom of speech and ideas, were under attack. The same twisted anti-intellectualism oft rears its head in history, whenever tyrants take the helm. The reader would do well to remember, it didn’t turn out well for Adolph, nor his harem of sycophants either. Unless the entire world has gone insane, I doubt even less it is going to go well for the ‘enemy’ this time.
Evolution or extinction?
The world as we know it, however, is going to change. It’s going to have no choice. None of us in the Free World can view governments in the same way. We just can’t. Not if we wish to move forward as a species, and evolve, much less survive climate change.
It is the same reverence for ignorance, inequality, and waste, that has brought us to the brink of mass extinction. It must needs be at its unequivocal end, for us to continue to survive, even for a few more centuries.
The crux of the problem, as far as I can tell, is the old crusty idea, presently rearing its ugly head, that one man can rule anyone, sans checks and balances, as Vladimir Putin is doing in Russia, and our little mini-Vladdie, evidently, wants to do here in America. That idea is a bloody dinosaur; a dead horse; an obsolete and archaic notion. It has got to go, along with any of its proponents, if anyone is asking me.
Sure, the world needs to be focused on climate change. But that will never succeed, as long as tyrants are free to take what is not theirs, and silence their opposition.
It might well be time that we evolved, as a species, beyond national borders, and petty dictators, and instead create a world government based on intellectualism, education, equality, and justice for all.
A new world?
Lastly, I envision a world government that consists of secular, scientifically trained, dedicated public servants, that work together to ensure our survival as a planet, and not merely little fragments of it. Anti-intellectualism, racism, sexism, nationalism, and the black hat/white hat mentality they foster, has created a comfortable world for zealots, tyrants and/or sycophants to rule over. Subsequently, leaders are permitted to achieve power through brawn or deceit, and not intellect and compassion.
Instead, in this upside-down world we now see ourselves, intellect has become cause of ridicule.
Isaac Asimov, who was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, had this to say about anti-intellectualism:
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
And now with that final quote, it just seems to be an apropos way of ending this discussion. I hope that everyone who read this, will think harder about ways to fight anti-intellectualism, instead of how we often just talk amongst ourselves about it.
If you are at this point in my article I want to thank you for taking the time to read it and would ask that if you have anything to add, that you would please do so, in the form of comment, at the bottom of the page.
