Knowing

"Know your enemy."

Almost everyone has heard that maxim from Sun-Tzū's The Art Of War. But it's only half the equation. Here's the rest:"“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

For Sun-Tzū self-knowledge was as important as knowing the enemy. You may know down to the last bullet the magnitude of the enemy's arms and the number of his soldiers; but unless you know your own strengths, weaknesses and abilities you will always be at risk of defeat.

So who do we think we are, and who do we think the enemy is? The following unscientific profiles are based on information drawn from several sources and opinions, and refer to "foot soldier" types--not party or government workers or high-level professionals. 

That said, let's consider how both sides might react to certain words and phrases:

(First paragraph is "us," second is "them")

Liberal:

How we define ourselves politically, holding to the classic Liberal tenets: liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law. We champion democracy, universal human and civil rights, and equality. We defend the Constitution, believing it has helped America accomplish the Founders' intent "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."

Usually prefaced with "ultra," as if there's no such thing as just a plain liberal, and almost always coupled with "agenda," providing a sinister aspect. Liberals are suspect because they want to change the established order and make everyone serve them. They believe they are better than everyone else. They belong to secret elite societies that shut out common people. Their worldwide conspiracy would do away with religion and gun rights. They believe in birth control, abortion, and human engineering.

Conservative:

People of limited imagination who are stuck in the past. They resist change of any kind, preferring the status quo. Many are hostile to people who are different from them; racism and xenophobia are not uncommon in their ranks. They resist universal rights and equality. They believe the Second Amendment allows universal and untrammeled gun ownership. Their social philosophy tends to be patriarchal with Old Testament overtones. They believe that women should be subordinate to men.

Conservatives believe that change should be evolutionary, developing naturally over a period of time according to what they think of as "the natural order of things." They believe in personal freedom and strict property rights. They would support a confederacy with primary authority resting with individual states. They favor immigration quotas and trade tariffs.

The Constitution:

The founding document and framework of the American system of government.

A set of rules that doesn't allow the president to rule like he should be able to. It says we can speak our minds, attend the church of our choice, and own guns. The rest is just so many words.

Law and Order:

The normal condition of a civil and well governed society. Order occurs naturally when all are equal. A police force should be maintained for community defense and to control those who break the law.

Using all available force to keep troublemakers, i.e. anyone who disagrees with us, in line.

Education:

Most of us have graduated from high school and have one or two years of college. A significant number have graduate degrees. We tend to pursue professional careers.

Trump followers typically have only a high school education and tend to work in "blue collar" jobs. A high percentage are active or ex-military. They believe foreigners have taken all the good jobs.

Science: 

Because we are educated and curious we accept the work of our scientist peers. We acknowledge that scientific research and exploration reveal the truth about our world and the universe. 

Disinformation meant to frighten the population about things like "climate change."

Protest:

Speaking out and demonstrating against the government, exercising our rights to speak openly, assemble peacefully, and seek redress of wrongs.

Using outside groups to incite crowds to demonstrate violently against the government. A criminal act that has to be beaten down by any means necessary.

The president:

A person elected by the people to lead the country for a maximum of two four-year terms.

Donald Trump.

 

--- Diogenes, 10/4/2020

  

Emphasis on Waiting but Not Recanting Yet

I may have to recant a post I published earlier today titled "Watching and Waiting." Now that I've calmed down from the exciting news of Trump having COVID-19 I'm going to say let's watch very closely and wait for proof--preferably a second or third medical opinion.

I would not put it past the Liar-in-Chief to fabricate this story to get out of the second debate and/or to play for sympathy. Or to claim the disease had no effect on him.

Independent opinions are definitely called for. And who and where is Hope Hicks?

--- Diogenes

Watching And Waiting

I'm back, and God forgive me, I'm basking in schadenfreude. 

The news that the unpresident has COVID-19 raised my spirits exponentially. I had hoped for a thunderbolt, but there's no way I'm going to criticize God for the way She decided to smite the unbelieving idiot.

Nor will I apologize for wishing for and reveling in another's misfortune. As a result of his arrogance, ignorance and self importance, 200,000 Americans have died, and 7 million have been sickened. He deserves neither concern nor sympathy.

It is possible that his will be a mild case and that he will recover quickly. If that is the case he will no doubt try to spin it somehow to his advantage, either downplaying the seriousness of the infection or boasting of his "great, terrific, beautiful" vitality, or both.

Whatever he says, he can no longer deny the reality of the pandemic. A lot of the Liar-in-Chief's misdeeds are coming home to roost right now: A slew of books detailing his bad behavior as a person, businessman and president; the release of his tax returns, proving what we all knew, that he is a cheat and a fraud extraordinaire; the exposure of his lack of self control and inability to focus in the first presidential debate; and his recklessness and disdain for others demonstrated by his attendance at campaign events even after he was aware of being infected.

We all can only watch and wait, and hope for him to be laid very low.

--- Diogenes, 10/2/2020

Temporarily Closed

Vox Populi is going dark for a bit to mourn the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the 200,000th American victim of COVID-19, Mitt Romney's ethical compass, and the soul of the Supreme Court.

--- Diogenes, 9/23/2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1933-2020; RIP

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG as she was known to her fans, may well precipitate the nastiest judicial battle in living memory. 

It shouldn't, if anyone in government had the common decency to honor her final wish that her seat not be filled by a Trump nominee.

Republicans and Conservatives of all stripes can barely hide their glee at her passing. Those are some sick people. The always-disgusting Asshole-in-Chief, rather than posting anything even resembling a eulogy, put out an absurd tweet about Republican power and prestige, saying that the vacancy must be filled "without delay." 

Right. Tell that to Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's proposed replacement for Antonin Scalia, whom Archdemon Mitch McConnell totally ignored for 293 days, and, flaming racist that he is, shamefully disrespected Obama in the process.

The Senate Democrats, in honor of the memory of RBG, and to provide some comeuppance to McConnell on Obama's behalf, must block any and all moves the unpresident makes to fill the vacancy. 

The election is forty-five days away--a reasonable time for officially mourning a person of RBG's stature. Trump and the Republicans can damn well wait that long. They blocked Garland for the better part of a year. The Idiot Child-in-Chief will then lapse into lame duck status, and no one will pay attention to him and his ridiculous tweets.

I urge you all, if you haven't already, to contact your senators and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic Leader, to express your support for blocking any attempt by Trump to fill RBG's seat. That honor is rightfully the next president's.

It's the Democrats' time to hoist the battle standard of justice and democracy.

 

--- Diogenes, 9/19/2020

 

Is This The End, My Friends?

I've not been writing because I've spent the past couple of days keeping my ear to the ground listening for end-days chatter, and it's not easy to use a keyboard in that position.

But seriously, I'm just waiting for the Armageddon folks to start making noise; they might as well--crazies of every other type are out there.

The Western states continue to burn--the smoke has reached us here in the upper Southeast, making the sky hazy, and there's a slew of hurricanes and storms taking aim at us. Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica are melting away, and COVID-19 is raging in the Plains and popping up again around Europe. And, oh, yeah, the government and Congress are full of demons and imps.

Can you say apocalyptic?

So what say you? Should we be looking for signs in the heavens?

I don't think so. DJTrump is far too incompetent at everything to be the Antichrist. If I had to name a good candidate for that office it would be Archdemon Mitch "Moscow" McConnell. But getting right down to it, my personal opinion is that the concurrence of natural disasters, the man-made variety, and the impending collapse of the U. S. government is coincidence.

I'll be listening for sounds of The End a while longer, but will be back with the usual fare shortly.

--- Diogenes, 9/18/2020

Who Should We Fear? Part 2

I put the question: Should we fear those who follow Trump?

Yes and no, I think. We should fear every person who intends to cast a vote for the unpresident and strive to change their minds if possible. Every vote that goes to Trump is one that doesn't go to Biden, and we need to work hard to keep those votes to a minimum.

Apart from their ability to cast dangerous votes, is this entire group fearsome? No. It contains friends and family members, whose choices I respect even though I haven't a clue why they've gone to the dark side. They're intelligent, usually reasonable people, but they've become misguided

Fear is one of Trump's primary weapons. He tries to conjure it out of the air with rumors of war and disease, with pronouncements on the impossibility of casting a secure vote, with predictions that our neighborhoods will soon be overrun with "undesirables" i.e. people who are not like us.

If we begin to believe the baseless and ridiculous threats Trump broadcasts, we will have lost. His strength is in the credulity of his followers. Somehow he finds a way to make the impossible and implausible seem real to them.

To give an example, a colleague was recently informed by a college student that COVID-19 is a hoax. He said this in all seriousness. Imagine a hoax that would involve the public health agencies of virtually every country in the world, millions of healthcare workers, the heads of state of all the major nations, NGOs, international aid agencies, and some 930,000 people worldwide willing to die for the cause. I think I might be frightened that someone could actually believe such a thing.

Some of Trump's followers are loud and boisterous and very visible in the news when there is a rally or a trouble spot somewhere. The crowd wearing the red MAGA shirt has become a "big they." Because they were in Portland doesn't mean they will be in Louisville; the fact that they were in Kenosha doesn't mean they'll be in Topeka. They are mot ubiquitous. Still, a friend of mine said recently that she wouldn't put a Biden sign out because "they" would vandalize it. Fear won that day.

Trump is a terrorist. He rules by spreading fear, rumors and uncertainty. His followers mindlessly spread it further, retweeting or sharing his words and ideas without thinking about them. 

It is the disease of false rumors and lies we must fear, not those who spread them. We must work to keep the truth alive, the lies tamped down, and the rumormongers muzzled.

FDR said it: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

 

--- Diogenes, 9/15/2020 

 

 

Life = Art = Life?

Today I'm wearing my media commentator hat. Don't let that stop you. The post is germane to our topic, I promise.

I'm not a great fan of television, but I do enjoy good acting and effective drama. In those categories the medium has come a long way from the "vast wasteland" that Newton Minow called it.

The debate whether art imitates life or the other way around has entertained philosophers for more than a century. I've been asking the question a lot lately while watching a couple of Netflix political dramas. 

"House of Cards" (2013-2018) stars Kevin Spacey in a brilliant portrayal of Frank Underwood, a narcissistic politician who, when denied a Cabinet post, vows revenge on everyone. With lies, double crosses, and various crimes, he selects and removes his victims one by one, clawing his way to the presidency over their broken careers.

Underwood is aided and abetted by his wife Claire (Robin Wright), who is no less ruthless than he. She uses guile when she can and sex when she must. Her only allegiance is to Frank and their partnership, and even that is tenuous. Claire is hard as granite.

The series is based on a BBC miniseries that debuted shortly after the Thatcher era. It was always intended as a close look at political intrigue and dirty tricks. The advent of the Trump presidency struck the cast and producers as an eerie déjà vu. Several episodes have Trumpesque story lines, and Robin Wright has complained that Trump pre-empted much of their sixth season material. Who's imitating whom?

It's impossible to watch the last two seasons and not be struck by the similarity to reality. It's not that any character resembles a specific person, but the spirit of corruption, vindictiveness, betrayal and disdain for the public that pervades every episode, that brings the series into accord with the World of Trump. 

The final seasons, which include a sabotaged election, should be required viewing material for the Biden-Warren campaign and the Democratic National Committee as a cautionary tale.

I've mentioned "Madam Secretary" (2014-2018) a few times here. Basically a family drama in a political setting, the series follows the life of the Secretary of State, with Téa Leoni in the title role. 

The series wouldn't have held my interest past the second season if not for the election of DJTrump. Starting with season 3 the series began presenting stories that indirectly criticized White House policies, e.g. the plight of immigrant children, climate change denial, and Russian mischief. The series usually pulls its punches, but Season 5 Episode 1 featured Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, and Colin Powell in cameo roles discussing the threat of white nationalists in a clear reference to a part of Trump's base.

There are other similar series. These just happen to be the two I've followed. "House of Cards" is a distinctly noir view of what goes on at the top, but we've seen so many examples of the same kind of behavior actually taking place in the White House that it might provide some insights into the underlying psychology of the Trump administration.

"Madam Secretary" is light by comparison, but it is important for the instructive way it presents and explains legal, constitutional and statecraft processes, including a forced invocation of the 15th Amendment. These are things the public should know.

Newton Minow would be pleased to see the wasteland blooming.

 

--- Diogenes, 9/12/2020

 

 

   

         

Who Should We Fear? Part 1

"It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it."* 

There are times when I'm not sure who frightens me more, DJTrump or those who follow him slavishly.

The above quote is one of the most infamous sound bites from the Vietnam War, and is frequently held up as an ideal example of the absurdity of war and a censure of the "military mind." Laying waste the town of Ben Tre cost the lives of as many as 1,000 civilians and had virtually no effect on the ultimate outcome of the conflict.

I can easily imagine the Destroyer-in-Chief saying something similar about Chicago, or California, or the entire country for that matter. There is only one image in DJTrump's excuse for a mind right now, and it is of him as absolute ruler of this nation, with neither laws nor term limits to restrain him.

I genuinely believe he would start a war if he thought it would be to his advantage, destroying the country even if it would mean presiding over a lawless wasteland. He is that ruthless. It is not hyperbole when I say I have an existential fear of his lust for power, which is driven by his extreme narcissism.

As I and many others have pointed out, the unpresident can't abide the thought of someone being greater than he. When he began hobnobbing with tyrants who rule absolutely he knew he had to join their club. On their part, the tyrants of the world saw him coming a mile away and set their sights on his vanity. He is so delusional he thinks Kim Jong-un, perhaps his equal in megalomania, likes him, when in fact the North Korean leader mocks him, calling him "Excellency."

He makes no secret that he believes he can be elected to more than the two allowed terms. When he first mentioned the idea most commentators agree he was joking; but in 2020 he's turned serious. He believes he is entitled to more than two terms because--are you ready? This is out-of-the-ballpark bonkers--Barack Obama and Joe Biden "spied" on his first term, thereby "robbing" him of quality time he could have spent doing his usual presidential activity, which is to say, nothing.

As ludicrous as the idea is, he seems to have begun to believe it, and given his penchant for magical thinking that means it must be so. The 22nd Amendment sets a strict limit of two terms on the presidency, but the Traitor-in-Chief has repeatedly demonstrated that he holds the Constitution in contempt. Its only use to him is to fire up his trigger happy supporters by mentioning the Second Amendment from time to time.

He has used the courts to make several unsuccessful attempts to override parts of the Constitution, including a multi-pronged attack on Congressional oversight of the executive branch. He has completely disregarded the First Amendment a number of times, most egregiously by unilaterally sending federal troops to confront protesters in Portland, Oregon and other cities. 

Most dastardly, he has blatantly caused the degradation of the Postal Service's capacity to carry and deliver mail in an open attempt to suppress mail-in voting. As a favor to his buddy Vlad he has further quashed reports about Russia's attempts to disrupt our electoral process and begun highlighting the same kinds of attempts by Iran.

Finally, it has recently been disclosed that the Liar-in-Chief knew a great deal about COVID-19 from very early in the pandemic. He claims he downplayed the virus because he didn't want to create a panic. That is precisely the thinking that caused the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 to be so deadly: governments kept the public in the dark rather than informing them about safety procedures, which might have saved thousands of lives. It is more likely Trump held the information close with the thought of somehow turning it to his advantage, perhaps as a bargaining chip.

I don't fear Trump as a man. He is rather a pathetic specimen, after all. I do fear his madness and the power he wields, because the former could cause him to use the latter recklessly. He could blithely unleash nuclear Armageddon without a second thought if he believed it could keep him in power. 

As long as one person follows the Lunatic-in-Chief's orders we are all in danger.

 
--- Diogenes, 9/10/2020


*The statement from an anonymous U.S. Army officer has been misquoted so many times it's unlikely anyone remembers the actual text. It appears here in the most common version. 

We're silent today in respect of 9/11 victims