Assault on the Lady in the Harbor

Sometimes, a rhetorical question (formerly known as ‘begging the question’) is sufficient to provide us with an answer to that question, with or without Omar’s razor-sharp advice.

[Before I ask a rhetorical question in the next paragraph, I must once again state a kind of waiver, i.e: This article is not about President Trump. It is an example of the shortage of reason that pervades much of current society.]

Question: In a world of seven billion people and counting, why would a man who is one of the wealthiest people on earth and President of the United States, serve as a Russian agent, thereby committing treason?

The current uncharacteristic animus amongst Americans compels me to tell you that I’m neither Liberal nor Conservative. And I’m not sexist or prejudiced. (I also don’t plead to have someone believe I’m objective. But I am.)

There is an irony about my objectivity: When I speak to a liberal and a conservative at the same time, the liberal thinks I’m a conservative, the conservative thinks I’m a liberal. So much for circular arguments! In any case, I don’t expect either of them to change an iota of their political views.

As the two go at each other, I’m marginalized. That doesn’t bother me at all. Instead of being upset or breaking into their circular arguments, I listen to their angry voices and look at their body language, especially their glazed eyes and tightened jaws while the other is speaking. Of course the same is true when I speak one-on-one to a partisan of either political party.

All that is aggrandized when strangers fight in the streets and suffer serious injuries; at times, resulting in death.

While a plethora of partisan claims and counterclaims continue, the fundamental political issue is whether or not this nation will take a major step towards socialism—a specter that Bernie Sanders now correctly and triumphantly proclaims, “has become mainstream.”

That which both obscure and prestigious university professors imparted to university students is threatening to flower in America. I’m certain that academia has powerfully contributed to the advancement of socialism. I’m certain of that because I was a student at N.Y.U. in the fifties, and I now hear echoes of those professors when I speak to university students. The same is true of prominent politicians.

Since radio, the Internet, and especially TV, are saturated with sounds and images of a nation that has not been as divided since the Civil War, I will try to restrict my comments to brief personal observations.

As tragic as the death of George Floyd and the initial spontaneous riot may be, the endless continuing riots are not spontaneous…at times, the demeanor of rioters appears to be festive—that particular assessment may be harsh, but I know that being beaten and kicked in the head is barbaric…looting is motivated by greed, not anger…for many rioters, playing the role of martyrs in a country that will (understandably) not severely punish them—let alone execute them—is an exotic form of slumming…Washington is not the Bastille…destroying cities emulates the senseless destruction of Atilla who was known as ‘The scourge of God.’…he, too, had no ’reason’ to destroy cities—he did so simply because they were cities…as I wrote in my previous article, the bullies in the mob are having a great time.

Observing a nation fall into the oppression of collectivism is a nightmare. I’m almost sure that America will remain a Representative Democracy. I hope I’m right!