ZZZZZZZZ . . .

There is a medieval tale told about the lord of a vast estate who one day decided to ask three questions of a simple-minded, though thoroughly decent, serf. The reward for answering all three questions correctly was the guarantee of remaining on the estate for the rest of his life. If the  serf failed to answer any of the three correctly, he would be summarily thrown off the estate and thus be out of work. Scared to death that he would soon be both homeless and jobless, he pleaded with his bright and beautiful daughter to help him out. The questions, he told her were:

1. What is the biggest thing in the world?

2. What is the fastest thing in the world?

3. What is the best thing in the world?

“And did you get any hint or suggestion that the lord of the manor had any idea what the correct answers were?” the young maiden asked her distraught father.

“None that I could determine,” her father answered.

“That seems likely,” his daughter responded, a twinkle in her eye. “And so, I will give you 3 answers which cannot be wrong, for they are all well beyond both argument or logic.”

“Beyond what?” her father asked. “Never you mind . . . just memorize the answers I will share with you,” she said, and proceeded thusly: “First, the biggest thing in the world is the earth itself. Second, the fastest thing in the world is an idea. And third . . . well, I firmly believe that the lord of the manor will except ‘a good night’s sleep’ as the best possible answer. Got that?” she asked, a broad smile on her face. The next day, the serf showed up in the master’s morning room and gave him the three answers. And behold, all three answers were found to be perfect . . .  and that as such, he and his daughter would live out their days at the vast estate. (According to at least one version of the tale, the daughter wound also wind up marrying the master.)

So what brings this tale to mind? Well, the other day, while awakening to “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, Annie, stretching herself into wakefulness said: Isn’t it wonderful that without ‘45 hogging every headline, Tweet and minute of news, we can get a good night’s sleep and not have to worry so much about what tomorrow’s headline is going to be? God bless Joe Biden and his administration!”

I tell you, my better half is frequently more insightful than I . . . by far more than half. I don’t know about you, but I actually have been sleeping quite a bit more soundly since the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the creation of the newest Cabinet. It is such a joy (מחיה m’chaya) to awaken each day to a bit of normality; to a cabinet peopled by men and women who are both supremely able and experienced in the areas of governance they have been chosen to lead. They got their jobs and positions not because of their “loyalty to the chief” or the amount of gelt they raised, but rather because of their resumes, experience and areas of expertise. This is something new . . . or a return to something old; a pattern we have not come close to experiencing since the beginning of the Trump years.

During the first month of the Biden/Harris administration we have weathered storms of ice, cold and frigid death; of a second impeachment, a clarion call that “America is back” to both our allies and non-friendly nations . . . as well as a dramatic lowering in the number of those contracting COVID-19. We have begun to experience just how much progress can be made when the decibel level is lowered and those who disagree are treated with a bit more humanity and respect. Under “normal circumstances,” this is not a matter of earth-shattering proportions; coming on the heels of the previous administration, this is a change of earth-shattering proportions.

Yes, we have witnessed Senator Lindsey Graham’s threat to impeach Vice President Harris just as soon as Republicans take back the House; as well as newly-elected Representative Marjorie Taylor’s Greene’s (Q-GA) promise to impeach President Biden and Congress’s promise to hold up any COVID-19 relief measure for the American people. And yet, Biden/Harris’ public approval rating is at nearly 70% - far, far above anything achieved by Trump/Pence during their 4 years in office.

This is not to say that the far right-wing conspirators (whose numbers include political enfant terrible Roger Stone and Infowars’ founder and chief conniver Alex Jones) who created, carried out and financed the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol are either sanguine or silenced. They are still part of a horrific and dangerous cabal which will keep American Democracy in the crosshairs for the immediate future. And yet, with a Justice Department under the leadership of Merrick Garland, they shall, I firmly believe, be brought to justice; they shall soon learn what years behind bars truly mean.

All in all, the changes which have already begun changing and disinfecting the political world at home will, God willing, add up to many, many more sleepful hours and positive thoughts about the immediate future of the United States of America . . . the last, best hope the world has for humanity and normality.

Copyright©2021 Kurt F. Stone

The Living Embodiment of Irony

ironic //īˈränik: happening in the opposite way to what is expected, and typically causing wry amusement because of this.

Anyone notice the extreme irony of Donald Trump’s last days as POTUS as compared to his first? Throughout the fateful 2016 campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “Boss Tweet” spent a great deal of time promising to build a “big beautiful wall” between the U.S. and Mexico. He promised it would solve most, if not all our immigration problems by keeping out the violent, job stealing dregs of humanity stealing across our southern border. And the price? No object; Mexico was going to pay for it. He was so serious about this wall that beginning in late December 2018, he actually shut down the federal government for well over a month unless and until Congress gave him all the money he wanted in order to complete it. At one point, he even famously said he would be “proud” to own the governmental closure required to secure the funding . . . and then put the blame on Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats. (BTW: when asked about what happened to the Mexican payment, he simply denied ever having said a word about it and, true to form, blamed the “lame stream” media. about it.  

Four years later, as President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris are about to shed their respective title adjectives, we find that during his four years in office, Donald Trump has built precisely 15 miles of wall along our southern border.  And here’s where the irony comes in:  In the final days of the Trump/Pence administration, a virtually impregnable fence has been constructed all around the Capitol grounds to keep the very symbol of our Democratic Republic safe not from illegal immigrants, but rather from home-grown, home-sewn domestic terrorists.  In other words, Donald Trump accomplished what he promised . . . but in the most ironic way imaginable. 

The first blog I posted after Donald Trump’s inauguration came out on January 23, 2017 and was entitled Can Knowledge Be More Dangerous Than Ignorance? That was blog #629, and already evinced a weary, jaundiced feeling about the new administration and its leader. Today’s blog, which posts 3 days before the next inauguration, is #826. This post carries a degree of hope and energy a vast number of us have not felt for a long, long time. Ever since November 3, 2020, the Biden/Harris team has shown a greater degree of humanity, organizational smarts and political professionalism than anything we have experienced since the end of the Obama/Biden years. But let’s not kid ourselves: the country faces formidable challenges in such diverse - though ultimately, interlocking and tangible - areas as public health, economy, racial justice and international relations, not to mention such abstract necessities as empathy, civility, and trustworthiness. We as a nation must together relearn that just because the law does not forbid something, doesn’t mean that it should be done.

I for one have been both heartened and thoroughly impressed by the caliber, competence and experience of the people named to join the incoming administration. Unlike those they are replacing from the previous administration, these men and women are capable of hitting the ground running; they have no need to introduce themselves to their institutional constituency. Let us both hope and work for their acceptance by the United States Senate.  Now controlling the barest of majorities in the Senate, the Democrats should be able to manage this feat without undo exhaustion or political horse trading.  Then too, I urge senatorial Republicans to give the Biden/Harris team an opportunity to lead.  Try hard not to claim before your constituency that the Biden/Harris folks are “a bunch of  ultra left-wing communists and socialists.”  You know that’s not true, so why lie to them?  For the sake of an election in 2022 or 2024?  

Let us also urge the opposition not to waste time and precious energy pointing out each and every one of the incoming President and Vice President’s shortcomings, character flaws or supposed past vices.  They are both good and honorable people . . . who also happen to be human beings. By now, you should know that they consider themselves to be servants of the people.  After what we’ve experienced these past four years in terms of what one might call “private cupidity as public policy,” it will be next to impossible for anyone with an ounce of honesty or reason to accuse Joe Biden or Kamala Harris of being corrupt. Woodrow Wilson, likely the most academically sagacious of all presidents once said, “the difference between the two parties is that the Republicans are the party of property; Democrats the party of the people.”  For Republicans to support Donald Trump even after all he has done for himself and then turn around and accuse Joe Biden of essentially being the head of a crime syndicate is not only deeply ironic; it is the height of madness.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and a Democratic Congress are not going to bring clear skies overnight. They will, I believe, do their very best to bring honesty, civility and morality back into politics. It’s not going to be easy. President Biden is facing the most divided nation since Abraham Lincoln . . . and he knows it. But unlike his predecessor, he has lived a real life devoted to making the lives and dreams of real people manifest. If ever a POTUS/VPOTUS need prayers said on their behalf, this would be it. Were I to have been honored with delivering the opening prayer (which I was not . . . no problem) I would quote the angriest, most insightful of all the prophets: Isaiah (61:1):                                          

        ר֛וּחַ אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהֶוִֹ֖ה עָלָ֑י יַ֡עַן מָשַׁח֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֹתִ֜י לְבַשֵּׂ֣ר עֲנָוִ֗ים שְׁלָחַ֨נִי֙ לַֽחֲבֹ֣שׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֔ב לִקְרֹ֤א לִשְׁבוּיִם֙ דְּר֔וֹר וְלַֽאֲסוּרִ֖ים פְּקַח־קֽוֹחַ

(Ruach adonai eh’loheem ah-lye: ya’ahn mashakh adonai oh-tee l’va-sayr ah-na-veem sh’lakhani , l’ckhavosh l’nee’b’ray-layv, leekro l’ishvuyim d’ror, v’la-ahsureem p’kakh ko-akh.”

Namely, “The spirit of the Lord God was upon me, since the Lord anointed me to bring tidings to the humble, He sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to declare freedom for the captives, and for the prisoners to free from captivity.”

Of a certainty, this is a tall, tall order; but one I feel resolutely certain President Biden and Vice President Harris will carry out with every fiber of their being.

Copyright©2021 Kurt F. Stone