I kinda get where you’re coming from, Marycat ... but I think there’s an upside to reclaiming our grossly abused symbols, like the flag and “patriotism”. In 30 years of marriage, my initial proclamations of love to my wife have not predicted consistent, loving behaviors. So even now, when I say “I love you”, there are dark memories that come up of less-than loving behavior... yet, the unsullied, hopeful words of love today, words that I have defiled, can still communicate a worthy aspiration!
It sounds like you were not raised in a religious tradition. They are full of symbols - the cross, the Star of David - and propaganda. Having been raised in one myself, and moved on, I understand that kind of regard.
“I want us to find out the promise of the future, what we can accomplish here in the United States, what this country does stand for and what is expected of us in the years ahead. And I also want us to know and examine where we've gone wrong. And I want all of us, young and old, to have a chance to build a better country and change the direction of the United States of America.” RFK, University of Kansas 1968
Your examples of the moon, Kennedy and Vietnam are persuasive to your summary. I had to laugh at your statement 'the moon landing have pointed to it and said "If we can do that, why can't we do this?" I often use that in talking over service needed ..."We landed men on the moon 60 years ago, and you're telling me we can't get a bottle of ketchup to this table because of ..... ?" It is a good question! Making things better is the American way I grew up with. The world knew America for that.
I can relate, as I was pulled out of college for that stinkin' war. While I was scrambling to join the Navy to avoid the meat grinder, Trump made zero contribution to any military service. What I found offiensive about the military draft was that it went aganist the Constitutional Amendment that prohibited involuntary servitude. The war seemed to be more about US imperialism than anything else. The Tonkin Gulf propaganda and the war in general put my patriotism at a low ebb. That era ended and I have recovered my patriotism, mostly.
Bravo! I enthusiastically display the American flag today in support of the type of multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-gender and defiantly open and pluralistic democracy that you eloquently defended in this brief statement. Thank you for sparking hope in the type of aspirational (in many ways) democracy that is the best of America.
Well said. The flag is ours and belongs to -- the multiracial country. Certain types are playing the 'opposites game' like it's their flag. America has morphed and evolved to this point, within the means of the Constitution. So the equation is solidly as Ruth writes of. Because it's ours, it's ours to defend. As if a thief was attempting to take a wallet.
To see Trump hugging and kissing the American flag was one of the most disgusting actions I have seen. He was attempting to hijack the national symbol for his fascist movement, covertly saying that being fascist is patriotic. Of course the poor pigeons that follow him, don't see it that way.
Ickkk... what an image. When he's on display, I use my hand (all fingers) to block him out. It's a couch exercise I've been doing since @2015. Man, this is nuts.
I know what a psychopath is (what I've been calling rump*) but had no clue what a secondary psychopath was. Thanks for that call. I've attached a link if folks are interested.
I know he's a psychopath (secondary - would you explain the difference?) and have said that for years. I have Mary L. Trump's incite as to why he does what he does. Add on all the other crimes he pulled and seeing his face on the media is so hideous I don't want to see what he looks like even though that's seared in my mind.
On this lovely note, time to take out the old man (@15 yr corgi :) ) for a walk.
Secondary psychopaths are not born with this disorder like a primary psychopath, but acquire it at a young age. The only difference besides this, is that not all secondary psychopaths lack empathy. Trump does lack it. Trump has the Dark Tetrad personality of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism and sadism; which makes him a true monster.
Wow, Paul!! Thanks for the link to this Wonderful music video !!! The new lyrics, harmonized so beautifully to the familiar America the Beautiful melody... illicited many joyous tears .... great suggestion !!!!
Ruth, I am in full accord with your notion of associating "liberty and justice for ALL" with patriotism and the affirmation of democracy. And because I am reading David Wallace-Wells' book The Uninhabitable Earth, I can't help thinking that unless we move massively, as a body politic, toward the elimination of the burning of fossil fuels, the games of would be authoritarians pale in the face of skies altered by fires, cities ruined by floods and wind, and droughts affecting agriculture, causing food shortages and migration.
After moving my daughter into her living space in Brooklyn, NY last month in the middle of the traveling smoke from the wildfires raging in Canada and traveling along the jet stream pattern of wind that flows from west to east, I’ve also been doing some reading as well on the climate crisis. These are extremely unhealthy levels of smoke, with Detroit, Chicago and New York City experiencing some of the worst air quality in the world according to IQAir. These are especially unhealthy levels for children (as my daughter begins a pediatrics residency in Brooklyn) and people with pre-existing respiratory & cardiovascular issues.
In my recent reading I have learned that Dr. Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of the media watchdog organization “End Climate Silence” (also has a new book coming out in 2024 entitled “The Language of Climate Politics” by Oxford University Press). She upholds that it is the ongoing use of fossil fuels that is putting carbon dioxides into the atmosphere and creating disastrous conditions causing extreme weather occurrences that are already affecting our health, safety, and capacity to live normal lives. Dr. Guenther also maintains that it is our task and the role of the news media to make connections in every story being reported on those crucial connections and the realities of the climate crisis. Dr. Guenther further provides that if we do not make these connections, we are facilitating a type of climate denial where we are professing that something that is happening is not really happening. We would be going forward as if the climate crisis were not already here and not already wreaking havoc on our future and well-being.
Interesting Diane that Dr Guenther's new book has the word 'language' in the title. I also wish every home in America had a print dictionary. I'm tired of words changing, switching or twisting meanings online. Words are words to me. Concepts are what evolve from the basic building blocks of 'words'. Call me crazy . . .
WWTJT? What would Thomas Jefferson Think if he were to see what's happening today in the country he helped to establish? He would be furious with the blurring of the wall between church and state! He knew of the corrosive influence of religion on politics and vice versa and would decry the recent rulings of the Roberts Court. He would be disgusted by the book banners and burners. Above all he believed in the free exchange of ideas, he would hate Moms For Liberty and all they screech about. He would lead the revolution against Trump, Trumpism and the creeping authoritarianism of the radical right. After all, what they want is to put a modern day George III (a dim bulb for sure, but still smarter than Trump I bet) in power.
Not a chance. Jefferson certainly had a blind spot vis a vis slavery, but he celebrated diversity in the country and its immigrants. And given his approach to so many things, I think it's reasonable to imagine that Jefferson in the 21st Century would find slavery as revolting and immoral as we do.
I think we need to be very careful in condemning Jefferson, Washington and the other plantation owners. As Jan says below, Jefferson was a renaissance man of broad interests who may well have evolved.
And then there's this:
The author of the Declaration of Independence wrote a withering attack on slavery when he stated, “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.” (Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” 1785).
He could have felt both that enslaved Africans were inferior which he says in the piece Mary linked to and slavery was a moral travesty. Two different things, yes?
Thx for the link to American Yawp. But as to his attitude during his lifetime, we have to look at ALL of his writings, from 1781 when he first wrote the "Notes" to his letters to Adams before he died in 1824, yes?
Jefferson was a renaissance man of broad interests, so I would like to agree he would flex, continuing to use the Constitution's intent as his compass.
Love the WWTJT messaging. Separation of church and state -- some people don't get it. That is what we were founded on. That is the root of alot of malarkey. I do not want someone's religion imposed on me.
It's no accident that Hitler was obsessed with the Middle Ages and monarchy. It was an age when a megalomaniac could get away with being a megalomaniac. Fascist leaders have a grandiose self image; Trump sure does. They see themselves as kings.
thanks for adding the bit Steve about the Middle Ages. The more we assimilate history into logical thinking -- the brighter and clearer thoughts become, say the Lucid readers of Ruth's historical inputs!* I'm going to look into King George III abit too, he had actually signed the charter for my church in New Jersey 1752 when state & church were formally linked.... use to frequent a 'King George's Tavern' Basking Ridge/ NJ! yikes.
Monarchies are obsolete, as they are the last vestige of ancient thinking. The few monarches remaining today are still fairly restrictive. The Kingdom of Tonga is one of them. I remember that the king had prohibited swimming on certain days of the week.
thank you, Ruth, as always. i agree with the caveat of both/and - the 'and' being the biosphere; that is the watersheds and ~180 bioregions without which we can't breath or grow food (often politicians talk of creating jobs without regard to the upstream or downstream sequelae of production) moreover, the etymology of patriotism comes from from Greek patriōtēs, from patrios ‘of one's fathers' - can we come up with a more inclusive word to indicate our shared planet that includes the nations of the world? the Greek oikos, meaning household, the root of ecology and economy, may fit the bill - a planetary oikos - perhaps someone can come up with a less awkward word than planetoikos?
Me too! Although I see the efforts of founders of private space companies like Bezos and Musk making the bet that our human habitat won't survive what we are doing to it and we - some of us who can afford it - will go to an alternate planet.
Thanks Risa for the out of the box creative thinking you shared. Appreciate. And words matter. They are the building blocks to creation of concepts and personal understanding of what-the-heck is going on. I agree, if we could 'budge' off the patrios-version to something more inclusive would be eye-opening --- equivalent to going to DisneyWorld as a young child in awe.
What you speak of is true patriotism. The "patriotism" that MAGA exposes is a fraud. Jefferson and the rest of the framers would be horrified at Trump and his followers. Tom Payne would be writing pamphlets against fascism .
Agree and love the Tom Payne reference there! So true!! We should comprise an SNL (Saturday Night Live) skit with a host of the forefathers, wrestling in the graves over this twisted malarkey. Each forefather with their beloved issue/petition in the Constitution vs how current twisters are attempting to rewrite history!* A tornado of bad ideas!
If you like history books, my favorite historian of the founding period, Joseph Ellis, wrote the book, AMERICAN DIALOGUE: THE FOUNDERS AND US, in 2015 because so many people asked him what the founders would think of the US today. He says when people asked him during the Iraq War what would Washington say about Iraq, he said Washington has two responses: 1. Where's Iraq? 2. How did we become the British?
He writes for the general reader, not other historians. I find his prose delightful.
Funny! ~~ thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to check it out at the Library. Humor is effective communication, and as you show -- it can linger with the reader! A great SNL idea with Washington / Iraq War scenario. Could be a weekly series like Weekend Update, but call it ... Forefathers' Forgivings?? or Forefathers Misgivings... starring... like a visit to the Hall of Presidents (Disney)-- where the 'presidents' speak/ startle the visitors!*
For consideration in our SNL skit, May I crowbar in a founder, much less known than George Washington, who invited the Amanda Gordon of the day, Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) to dine with him at Mt Vernon (such a bi-racial dining, a very rare occurrence) to regale him with her elegant, Olympian poetry ... worthy of a cinematic minute, Phillis singing to George these words: In every human breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call love of Freedom. It is impatient in Oppression, and pants for Deliverance!!
Thinking about July 4th....Another off-putting by-product of the Trump era was Trump’s almost “intimate” behavior with the American flag, - hugging, kissing it, etc. When I see flags waving around my neighborhood, I’m conflicted with: “are they Trumpers?” - or people just being patriotic? I’ve been dismayed that the GOP zealots have ‘taken THE flag’ and made it their own symbol. I wish that Trump would just embrace and fondle his “own” Trump flag and leave the U.S. flag alone! God knows his merchandising has made him a fortune.
Agree, that flag fondling, kissing video of Trump was so destructive. It was so extremely offensive and I want to say childish, but wouldn't want to insult children so harshly.
A lifelong friend, who came here when she was three yrs old to escape Germany, sent me a note yesterday about her community and how obnoxious people seemed to be about putting up numerous American flags. She believe they're thinking more than one flag makes them more patriotic? It made her upset and angry. Her community also put two Am. flags that fly in opposite directions. She said it's 1 country/1 flag to represent all of us and NOT 1 country with two flags that to her, represented a divided country. She sent management a letter asking to change it.
I got Steve Schmidt's fabulous substack letter and forwarded it to my friend. this morning He's a bit biting but he has been tamer lately :) . It had her in tears as I thought it might.
I'm doing much much less these days simply due to age and do what I can. When I lived in NC, I put two upside-down American fraying flags on my window and when we moved, I put them up immediately.
Patriotism in 2018 for me meant when I went to a Triple A minor league baseball game, when the national anthem was played, I took a knee. I read the anthem and Kapernick was right (and at the time, it was sort of understandable). I have Colin Kapernick t-shirts that I wear (one with Rosa Parks) and got nicely honked at by a couple of black guys in a truck yesterday (I was thankful). Patriotism means talking to different people/strangers and making them feel welcome in these crazy times. But again ... it's difficult to do that now but it was great while it lasted. We left NC (Asheville) to come back to a state where there's color everywhere and we prefer this. So, all I can do now is wear t-shirts and tell people on social media what's happening based on Ruth Ben-Ghiat and others. Defending this country is patriotic.
'Patriotism means talking to different people/ strangers and making them feel welcome in these crazy times.' --- so adequate said in nutshell. The American way.
Happy fourth of July to all of my fellow Lucidite friends.
Call it democratic backsliding, the GOP now a minority party, does not recognize the legitimacy of nonwhite groups as equal members of society. They want hierarchy and one party control over the levers of power in government and society. They seek to impose a white Christian theocracy on the rest of us.
Today's GOP are not only fundamentally wrong and must be rejected, they are hardly patriotic despite their flag pins on their lapels. Democracy is core to the American ideal of self government. That means everyone has a say in their government not just some people, who think they're better than everyone else. Freedom from the tyrannical rule of a king is what started all this. Its what I think of on the 4th of July. This is patriotism to me!
'They seek to impose a white Christian theocracy on the rest of us' -- where do they get that thinking from?? Logically GOP leaders know it is wrong against why our country was formed. The country was founded seeking religious freedom, in the shadow of the religious costly warring that had gone on in Europe in previous centuries.
Where do they get that thinking from you ask? With religious fundamentalists be it Christian/evangelical, or Islamic fundamentalists for example. They all have one thing in common ; extreme adherence of belief. When you have that then you have hate, intolerance, division and ultimately war.
Agree and thanks for the concise clear messaging. ... it's like their thinking is done in an air-tight tupperware container of the past. No air. Happy in the 'frig, off on its own. Forgotten. Eventually molds. and destroys itself.
Chris Hedge wrote about Christo-fascists and their longing for a Christian theocracy in his book, "American Fascists". Hedges is a Harvard Seminary graduate.
They get it from right-wing talk radio hosts like Dennis Prager who preaches the Left is destroying America and our Judeo-Christian values enshrined by the Founders to make us a white Christian nation. This, of course, is false and a corruption of the founding.
Author Anne Applebaum ("The Twilight of Democracy: THE SEDUCTIVE LURE OF AUTHORITARIANISM) calls them political entrepreneurs. There is so much $$ to be made pushing victimology.
I've got a history book for you, if you like to read: We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy" by Robert Tracy McKenzie (https://www.ivpress.com/we-the-fallen-people). He's a professor of U. S. history at Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts institution.
I heard him on a recent podcast where he said students' parents ask him for books on the founders. He says that all of that "founded as a Christian nation" is false. They're just looking for leverage in the culture war.
Or this article, "Populism Poses Dangers to Democracy. It Does the Same to Christian Witness" where he says "(T)he populist story (MAGAs who are all Christians) undercuts two pillars of historic Christian orthodoxy. The first is the doctrine of original sin, the understanding that we all enter the world as natural rebels against our rightful ruler. The second is the concept of imago Dei, the doctrine that each of us bears the image of God, a status that confers equal dignity on us all" (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/september/mckenzie-populism-poses-dangers-democracy-christian-witness.html).
Thank you for these resources. It's great to start to hear the true believers of Gospel, pastors and ministers start to speak out. More voices need to out there on this. America was founded on religious freedom, escaping Europe after centuries of religious based warring. Separation of church and state. After all, Jesus said "follow me' -- i.e. Jesus never did shake-downs!
The vast number of threats to democracy today have made me far more “patriotic” than I have ever been before. I am grateful for being born into this privileged state and welcome the migrants who wish for the freedom this country uses for a motto if not a reality. We can and will continue to fight for the freedom loving people of the world.
Perfect... and, alas, necessary today. My American flag is up this weekend. (Last month it was the Pride Flag, and in a week, I'll fly the Ukrainian flag again... in solidarity.)
For close to 80 years now I have sustained what my mother and step father lived and taught by their example , I trust and honor it still today. Raised in the theatre I rubbed shoulders with many famous and mostly down-right-to-earth but eccentric variety. Some were different color, different nationality , different gifts , but different was common. My stepfather loved all the arts, gardening included , was a talented actor, pianist , director and my mother a good dancer and actress too.I felt a privileged child later on in life for what they taught me. That was to appreciate my surround, my home, my friends, and others with all their gifts . I traveled out of the country enough to note vast differences ...appreciated those people too for their often respect, different languages, culture, and their many gifts. I learned about poverty, abuse, unfortunate circumstances and most what the inflicted suffered through ...many who still smiled.
My career was molded from this and I served lovingly though sometimes horrified what depths people go to or through. I became a mother and know the love most any other mother feels, seeing many suffer quietly as their child died serving their country or came home hollow inside.
I don’t think it’s much different for any other nationality or walk of life , but I know many are duped by bad leaders and leadership ...but even then -amongst them - lies many great minds, love of their country , and some can (or are inspired to ) move to a better life , hopeful in that chance. Some of those made this America what it is today, fought ( and even died) for this thing called freedom, some even went back to their countries to work for change there.
There’s always a few in every sector, led often by the cunning and deceitful, who disrupt. Who in confused alliance follow, join, and herald ways of discord. The history books attest the many and many more will be written of those now who are in the process of that same discord.
But I truly see/believe as even with mankind’s tendency the world is better. Yes, WE face new threats ...but we have overcome them. We can still.
I won’t make much more dent in progress , I know my children will, I hope yours do too.
Beautifully written personal history. I am struck how diversity molded and refined you. Many in the straight and narrow paths would benefit, perhaps live a more joyful life by inviting diversity into theirs.
I hear you and believe your voice is one of the most important voices we have today. Thank you.
All things considered, I see the importance of your arguments. However, the entire concept of ‘nationalism’ is ultimately dangerous. As a species we need to evolve. There is a strong movement among younger people to establish this broader concept and I’m just putting in a plug for that at well. Check out WeALL.org.
Thank you Pam for the commentary on the younger people. I appreciate that you include that, please keep updating / remind us. They are the string-on-the-violin we must reach.
Check out this book by historian Jill LePore, "This America: The Case for the Nation" where she "repudiates nationalism here by explaining its long history—and the history of the idea of the nation itself—while calling for a 'new Americanism': a generous patriotism that requires an honest reckoning with America’s past" (https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631496417).
I hear you and believe your voice is one of the most important voices we have today. Thank you.
All things considered, I see the importance of your arguments. However, the entire concept of ‘nationalism’ is ultimately dangerous. As a species we need to evolve. There is a strong movement among younger people to establish this broader concept and I’m just putting in a plug for that at well. Check out WeALL.org.
I kinda get where you’re coming from, Marycat ... but I think there’s an upside to reclaiming our grossly abused symbols, like the flag and “patriotism”. In 30 years of marriage, my initial proclamations of love to my wife have not predicted consistent, loving behaviors. So even now, when I say “I love you”, there are dark memories that come up of less-than loving behavior... yet, the unsullied, hopeful words of love today, words that I have defiled, can still communicate a worthy aspiration!
Fallible are we, the human mind can work like a trap, that continually needs to be pried open to experience goodness and joy we learn.
It sounds like you were not raised in a religious tradition. They are full of symbols - the cross, the Star of David - and propaganda. Having been raised in one myself, and moved on, I understand that kind of regard.
Agree, symbols, in the wrong hands can be hijacked, imo.
“I want us to find out the promise of the future, what we can accomplish here in the United States, what this country does stand for and what is expected of us in the years ahead. And I also want us to know and examine where we've gone wrong. And I want all of us, young and old, to have a chance to build a better country and change the direction of the United States of America.” RFK, University of Kansas 1968
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/remarks-at-the-university-of-kansas-march-18-1968
Your examples of the moon, Kennedy and Vietnam are persuasive to your summary. I had to laugh at your statement 'the moon landing have pointed to it and said "If we can do that, why can't we do this?" I often use that in talking over service needed ..."We landed men on the moon 60 years ago, and you're telling me we can't get a bottle of ketchup to this table because of ..... ?" It is a good question! Making things better is the American way I grew up with. The world knew America for that.
I can relate, as I was pulled out of college for that stinkin' war. While I was scrambling to join the Navy to avoid the meat grinder, Trump made zero contribution to any military service. What I found offiensive about the military draft was that it went aganist the Constitutional Amendment that prohibited involuntary servitude. The war seemed to be more about US imperialism than anything else. The Tonkin Gulf propaganda and the war in general put my patriotism at a low ebb. That era ended and I have recovered my patriotism, mostly.
Sending love to the Vietnam veterans here....
Bravo! I enthusiastically display the American flag today in support of the type of multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-gender and defiantly open and pluralistic democracy that you eloquently defended in this brief statement. Thank you for sparking hope in the type of aspirational (in many ways) democracy that is the best of America.
Well said. The flag is ours and belongs to -- the multiracial country. Certain types are playing the 'opposites game' like it's their flag. America has morphed and evolved to this point, within the means of the Constitution. So the equation is solidly as Ruth writes of. Because it's ours, it's ours to defend. As if a thief was attempting to take a wallet.
To see Trump hugging and kissing the American flag was one of the most disgusting actions I have seen. He was attempting to hijack the national symbol for his fascist movement, covertly saying that being fascist is patriotic. Of course the poor pigeons that follow him, don't see it that way.
... covertly hijack. A quick steal of a large or total segment of the population. I call time out!
Ickkk... what an image. When he's on display, I use my hand (all fingers) to block him out. It's a couch exercise I've been doing since @2015. Man, this is nuts.
Once people realize that Trump is a secondary psychopath, his behavior becomes understandable.
I know what a psychopath is (what I've been calling rump*) but had no clue what a secondary psychopath was. Thanks for that call. I've attached a link if folks are interested.
I know he's a psychopath (secondary - would you explain the difference?) and have said that for years. I have Mary L. Trump's incite as to why he does what he does. Add on all the other crimes he pulled and seeing his face on the media is so hideous I don't want to see what he looks like even though that's seared in my mind.
On this lovely note, time to take out the old man (@15 yr corgi :) ) for a walk.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3505104/
Secondary psychopaths are not born with this disorder like a primary psychopath, but acquire it at a young age. The only difference besides this, is that not all secondary psychopaths lack empathy. Trump does lack it. Trump has the Dark Tetrad personality of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism and sadism; which makes him a true monster.
In the meantime, we probably need a new patriotic national anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiydluD0PyM
Wow, Paul!! Thanks for the link to this Wonderful music video !!! The new lyrics, harmonized so beautifully to the familiar America the Beautiful melody... illicited many joyous tears .... great suggestion !!!!
Ruth, I am in full accord with your notion of associating "liberty and justice for ALL" with patriotism and the affirmation of democracy. And because I am reading David Wallace-Wells' book The Uninhabitable Earth, I can't help thinking that unless we move massively, as a body politic, toward the elimination of the burning of fossil fuels, the games of would be authoritarians pale in the face of skies altered by fires, cities ruined by floods and wind, and droughts affecting agriculture, causing food shortages and migration.
After moving my daughter into her living space in Brooklyn, NY last month in the middle of the traveling smoke from the wildfires raging in Canada and traveling along the jet stream pattern of wind that flows from west to east, I’ve also been doing some reading as well on the climate crisis. These are extremely unhealthy levels of smoke, with Detroit, Chicago and New York City experiencing some of the worst air quality in the world according to IQAir. These are especially unhealthy levels for children (as my daughter begins a pediatrics residency in Brooklyn) and people with pre-existing respiratory & cardiovascular issues.
In my recent reading I have learned that Dr. Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of the media watchdog organization “End Climate Silence” (also has a new book coming out in 2024 entitled “The Language of Climate Politics” by Oxford University Press). She upholds that it is the ongoing use of fossil fuels that is putting carbon dioxides into the atmosphere and creating disastrous conditions causing extreme weather occurrences that are already affecting our health, safety, and capacity to live normal lives. Dr. Guenther also maintains that it is our task and the role of the news media to make connections in every story being reported on those crucial connections and the realities of the climate crisis. Dr. Guenther further provides that if we do not make these connections, we are facilitating a type of climate denial where we are professing that something that is happening is not really happening. We would be going forward as if the climate crisis were not already here and not already wreaking havoc on our future and well-being.
Interesting Diane that Dr Guenther's new book has the word 'language' in the title. I also wish every home in America had a print dictionary. I'm tired of words changing, switching or twisting meanings online. Words are words to me. Concepts are what evolve from the basic building blocks of 'words'. Call me crazy . . .
'make connections in every story.'
I hope she covers what humans are doing to reduce fossil fuel use, not just bemoaning climate denial.
Agree. It is also part & parcel of the authoritarians plan. Alot to debunk @ the same time?
Yes, both are threats and I can see how if it gets really bad, more people will be looking to strongmen to calm their fears.
Agree, how can we re-direct them? (Strongmen are really little men)
I don't know.
WWTJT? What would Thomas Jefferson Think if he were to see what's happening today in the country he helped to establish? He would be furious with the blurring of the wall between church and state! He knew of the corrosive influence of religion on politics and vice versa and would decry the recent rulings of the Roberts Court. He would be disgusted by the book banners and burners. Above all he believed in the free exchange of ideas, he would hate Moms For Liberty and all they screech about. He would lead the revolution against Trump, Trumpism and the creeping authoritarianism of the radical right. After all, what they want is to put a modern day George III (a dim bulb for sure, but still smarter than Trump I bet) in power.
Need I go on?
Not a chance. Jefferson certainly had a blind spot vis a vis slavery, but he celebrated diversity in the country and its immigrants. And given his approach to so many things, I think it's reasonable to imagine that Jefferson in the 21st Century would find slavery as revolting and immoral as we do.
I think we need to be very careful in condemning Jefferson, Washington and the other plantation owners. As Jan says below, Jefferson was a renaissance man of broad interests who may well have evolved.
And then there's this:
The author of the Declaration of Independence wrote a withering attack on slavery when he stated, “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.” (Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” 1785).
He could have felt both that enslaved Africans were inferior which he says in the piece Mary linked to and slavery was a moral travesty. Two different things, yes?
Thx for the link to American Yawp. But as to his attitude during his lifetime, we have to look at ALL of his writings, from 1781 when he first wrote the "Notes" to his letters to Adams before he died in 1824, yes?
Jefferson was a renaissance man of broad interests, so I would like to agree he would flex, continuing to use the Constitution's intent as his compass.
I think NOT, Marycat!! For an interesting, refreshing perspective on fairly considering the founders who i owned slaves, I offer this article ---- https://open.substack.com/pub/freeblackthought/p/in-defense-of-president-george-washington?r=d62km&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Love the WWTJT messaging. Separation of church and state -- some people don't get it. That is what we were founded on. That is the root of alot of malarkey. I do not want someone's religion imposed on me.
Trumpism and King George III--
It's no accident that Hitler was obsessed with the Middle Ages and monarchy. It was an age when a megalomaniac could get away with being a megalomaniac. Fascist leaders have a grandiose self image; Trump sure does. They see themselves as kings.
thanks for adding the bit Steve about the Middle Ages. The more we assimilate history into logical thinking -- the brighter and clearer thoughts become, say the Lucid readers of Ruth's historical inputs!* I'm going to look into King George III abit too, he had actually signed the charter for my church in New Jersey 1752 when state & church were formally linked.... use to frequent a 'King George's Tavern' Basking Ridge/ NJ! yikes.
Monarchies are obsolete, as they are the last vestige of ancient thinking. The few monarches remaining today are still fairly restrictive. The Kingdom of Tonga is one of them. I remember that the king had prohibited swimming on certain days of the week.
We could laugh if it wasn't so. ...so ....
thank you, Ruth, as always. i agree with the caveat of both/and - the 'and' being the biosphere; that is the watersheds and ~180 bioregions without which we can't breath or grow food (often politicians talk of creating jobs without regard to the upstream or downstream sequelae of production) moreover, the etymology of patriotism comes from from Greek patriōtēs, from patrios ‘of one's fathers' - can we come up with a more inclusive word to indicate our shared planet that includes the nations of the world? the Greek oikos, meaning household, the root of ecology and economy, may fit the bill - a planetary oikos - perhaps someone can come up with a less awkward word than planetoikos?
A wonderful messaging challenge, Risa .... surely percolating in a lot of noggins now!!! In the meantime, I rather like:: THERE IS NO PLANET “B”
Me too! Although I see the efforts of founders of private space companies like Bezos and Musk making the bet that our human habitat won't survive what we are doing to it and we - some of us who can afford it - will go to an alternate planet.
Thanks Risa for the out of the box creative thinking you shared. Appreciate. And words matter. They are the building blocks to creation of concepts and personal understanding of what-the-heck is going on. I agree, if we could 'budge' off the patrios-version to something more inclusive would be eye-opening --- equivalent to going to DisneyWorld as a young child in awe.
What you speak of is true patriotism. The "patriotism" that MAGA exposes is a fraud. Jefferson and the rest of the framers would be horrified at Trump and his followers. Tom Payne would be writing pamphlets against fascism .
Agree and love the Tom Payne reference there! So true!! We should comprise an SNL (Saturday Night Live) skit with a host of the forefathers, wrestling in the graves over this twisted malarkey. Each forefather with their beloved issue/petition in the Constitution vs how current twisters are attempting to rewrite history!* A tornado of bad ideas!
That would be a fun skit!
If you like history books, my favorite historian of the founding period, Joseph Ellis, wrote the book, AMERICAN DIALOGUE: THE FOUNDERS AND US, in 2015 because so many people asked him what the founders would think of the US today. He says when people asked him during the Iraq War what would Washington say about Iraq, he said Washington has two responses: 1. Where's Iraq? 2. How did we become the British?
He writes for the general reader, not other historians. I find his prose delightful.
Funny! ~~ thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to check it out at the Library. Humor is effective communication, and as you show -- it can linger with the reader! A great SNL idea with Washington / Iraq War scenario. Could be a weekly series like Weekend Update, but call it ... Forefathers' Forgivings?? or Forefathers Misgivings... starring... like a visit to the Hall of Presidents (Disney)-- where the 'presidents' speak/ startle the visitors!*
For consideration in our SNL skit, May I crowbar in a founder, much less known than George Washington, who invited the Amanda Gordon of the day, Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) to dine with him at Mt Vernon (such a bi-racial dining, a very rare occurrence) to regale him with her elegant, Olympian poetry ... worthy of a cinematic minute, Phillis singing to George these words: In every human breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call love of Freedom. It is impatient in Oppression, and pants for Deliverance!!
The wax museum cometh !
Thinking about July 4th....Another off-putting by-product of the Trump era was Trump’s almost “intimate” behavior with the American flag, - hugging, kissing it, etc. When I see flags waving around my neighborhood, I’m conflicted with: “are they Trumpers?” - or people just being patriotic? I’ve been dismayed that the GOP zealots have ‘taken THE flag’ and made it their own symbol. I wish that Trump would just embrace and fondle his “own” Trump flag and leave the U.S. flag alone! God knows his merchandising has made him a fortune.
Agree, that flag fondling, kissing video of Trump was so destructive. It was so extremely offensive and I want to say childish, but wouldn't want to insult children so harshly.
A lifelong friend, who came here when she was three yrs old to escape Germany, sent me a note yesterday about her community and how obnoxious people seemed to be about putting up numerous American flags. She believe they're thinking more than one flag makes them more patriotic? It made her upset and angry. Her community also put two Am. flags that fly in opposite directions. She said it's 1 country/1 flag to represent all of us and NOT 1 country with two flags that to her, represented a divided country. She sent management a letter asking to change it.
I got Steve Schmidt's fabulous substack letter and forwarded it to my friend. this morning He's a bit biting but he has been tamer lately :) . It had her in tears as I thought it might.
I'm doing much much less these days simply due to age and do what I can. When I lived in NC, I put two upside-down American fraying flags on my window and when we moved, I put them up immediately.
Patriotism in 2018 for me meant when I went to a Triple A minor league baseball game, when the national anthem was played, I took a knee. I read the anthem and Kapernick was right (and at the time, it was sort of understandable). I have Colin Kapernick t-shirts that I wear (one with Rosa Parks) and got nicely honked at by a couple of black guys in a truck yesterday (I was thankful). Patriotism means talking to different people/strangers and making them feel welcome in these crazy times. But again ... it's difficult to do that now but it was great while it lasted. We left NC (Asheville) to come back to a state where there's color everywhere and we prefer this. So, all I can do now is wear t-shirts and tell people on social media what's happening based on Ruth Ben-Ghiat and others. Defending this country is patriotic.
'Patriotism means talking to different people/ strangers and making them feel welcome in these crazy times.' --- so adequate said in nutshell. The American way.
Also allowing people to either take a knee or stand and sing. That's pluralism.
Happy fourth of July to all of my fellow Lucidite friends.
Call it democratic backsliding, the GOP now a minority party, does not recognize the legitimacy of nonwhite groups as equal members of society. They want hierarchy and one party control over the levers of power in government and society. They seek to impose a white Christian theocracy on the rest of us.
Today's GOP are not only fundamentally wrong and must be rejected, they are hardly patriotic despite their flag pins on their lapels. Democracy is core to the American ideal of self government. That means everyone has a say in their government not just some people, who think they're better than everyone else. Freedom from the tyrannical rule of a king is what started all this. Its what I think of on the 4th of July. This is patriotism to me!
'They seek to impose a white Christian theocracy on the rest of us' -- where do they get that thinking from?? Logically GOP leaders know it is wrong against why our country was formed. The country was founded seeking religious freedom, in the shadow of the religious costly warring that had gone on in Europe in previous centuries.
Where do they get that thinking from you ask? With religious fundamentalists be it Christian/evangelical, or Islamic fundamentalists for example. They all have one thing in common ; extreme adherence of belief. When you have that then you have hate, intolerance, division and ultimately war.
Agree and thanks for the concise clear messaging. ... it's like their thinking is done in an air-tight tupperware container of the past. No air. Happy in the 'frig, off on its own. Forgotten. Eventually molds. and destroys itself.
Chris Hedge wrote about Christo-fascists and their longing for a Christian theocracy in his book, "American Fascists". Hedges is a Harvard Seminary graduate.
Yeah I've seen him. Watched some of his talks a few years ago on Youtube.
They get it from right-wing talk radio hosts like Dennis Prager who preaches the Left is destroying America and our Judeo-Christian values enshrined by the Founders to make us a white Christian nation. This, of course, is false and a corruption of the founding.
A core theme of fascism is victimology. The right wing ecosphere and it's demigoges push this message relentlessly.
Author Anne Applebaum ("The Twilight of Democracy: THE SEDUCTIVE LURE OF AUTHORITARIANISM) calls them political entrepreneurs. There is so much $$ to be made pushing victimology.
Nothing they do is ever without the grift $$$!
I've got a history book for you, if you like to read: We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy" by Robert Tracy McKenzie (https://www.ivpress.com/we-the-fallen-people). He's a professor of U. S. history at Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts institution.
I heard him on a recent podcast where he said students' parents ask him for books on the founders. He says that all of that "founded as a Christian nation" is false. They're just looking for leverage in the culture war.
Or check out his blog on Christian faith and American History at bfaithandamericanhistory.wordpress.com.
Or this article, "Populism Poses Dangers to Democracy. It Does the Same to Christian Witness" where he says "(T)he populist story (MAGAs who are all Christians) undercuts two pillars of historic Christian orthodoxy. The first is the doctrine of original sin, the understanding that we all enter the world as natural rebels against our rightful ruler. The second is the concept of imago Dei, the doctrine that each of us bears the image of God, a status that confers equal dignity on us all" (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/september/mckenzie-populism-poses-dangers-democracy-christian-witness.html).
Thank you for these resources. It's great to start to hear the true believers of Gospel, pastors and ministers start to speak out. More voices need to out there on this. America was founded on religious freedom, escaping Europe after centuries of religious based warring. Separation of church and state. After all, Jesus said "follow me' -- i.e. Jesus never did shake-downs!
The vast number of threats to democracy today have made me far more “patriotic” than I have ever been before. I am grateful for being born into this privileged state and welcome the migrants who wish for the freedom this country uses for a motto if not a reality. We can and will continue to fight for the freedom loving people of the world.
thank you Peggy!
Perfect... and, alas, necessary today. My American flag is up this weekend. (Last month it was the Pride Flag, and in a week, I'll fly the Ukrainian flag again... in solidarity.)
Same 🏳️🌈🇺🇸🇺🇦
For close to 80 years now I have sustained what my mother and step father lived and taught by their example , I trust and honor it still today. Raised in the theatre I rubbed shoulders with many famous and mostly down-right-to-earth but eccentric variety. Some were different color, different nationality , different gifts , but different was common. My stepfather loved all the arts, gardening included , was a talented actor, pianist , director and my mother a good dancer and actress too.I felt a privileged child later on in life for what they taught me. That was to appreciate my surround, my home, my friends, and others with all their gifts . I traveled out of the country enough to note vast differences ...appreciated those people too for their often respect, different languages, culture, and their many gifts. I learned about poverty, abuse, unfortunate circumstances and most what the inflicted suffered through ...many who still smiled.
My career was molded from this and I served lovingly though sometimes horrified what depths people go to or through. I became a mother and know the love most any other mother feels, seeing many suffer quietly as their child died serving their country or came home hollow inside.
I don’t think it’s much different for any other nationality or walk of life , but I know many are duped by bad leaders and leadership ...but even then -amongst them - lies many great minds, love of their country , and some can (or are inspired to ) move to a better life , hopeful in that chance. Some of those made this America what it is today, fought ( and even died) for this thing called freedom, some even went back to their countries to work for change there.
There’s always a few in every sector, led often by the cunning and deceitful, who disrupt. Who in confused alliance follow, join, and herald ways of discord. The history books attest the many and many more will be written of those now who are in the process of that same discord.
But I truly see/believe as even with mankind’s tendency the world is better. Yes, WE face new threats ...but we have overcome them. We can still.
I won’t make much more dent in progress , I know my children will, I hope yours do too.
But I will ...
💙VOTE💙
Beautifully written personal history. I am struck how diversity molded and refined you. Many in the straight and narrow paths would benefit, perhaps live a more joyful life by inviting diversity into theirs.
Right on, Ruth! Thank you for your truthful voice, and Happy 4th to you, and all Lucid Community members and guest readers!
I hear you and believe your voice is one of the most important voices we have today. Thank you.
All things considered, I see the importance of your arguments. However, the entire concept of ‘nationalism’ is ultimately dangerous. As a species we need to evolve. There is a strong movement among younger people to establish this broader concept and I’m just putting in a plug for that at well. Check out WeALL.org.
Thank you Pam for the commentary on the younger people. I appreciate that you include that, please keep updating / remind us. They are the string-on-the-violin we must reach.
Check out this book by historian Jill LePore, "This America: The Case for the Nation" where she "repudiates nationalism here by explaining its long history—and the history of the idea of the nation itself—while calling for a 'new Americanism': a generous patriotism that requires an honest reckoning with America’s past" (https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631496417).
I hear you and believe your voice is one of the most important voices we have today. Thank you.
All things considered, I see the importance of your arguments. However, the entire concept of ‘nationalism’ is ultimately dangerous. As a species we need to evolve. There is a strong movement among younger people to establish this broader concept and I’m just putting in a plug for that at well. Check out WeALL.org.