Stuart's Thoughts 6/30/2022 

POLITICAL COMMENTARY - JUNE 2022

I was interested in hearing my son Jim’s comments on the current political situation in our country recently following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe Vs Wade matter on abortion.  Throughout his adult life, Jim has had a number of insightful thoughts on a wide variety of matters ranging from diet and health to politics.  I recall that during his student years at Northwestern he expressed the belief that the most important thing in many decisions we make, including diet, is to practice moderation in all things.  While he may have moderated that position recently, it is one thought that I continue to believe in when it come to eating.  He also expressed to me the thought that the political pendulum swings back and forth between the Republicans and Democrats because whatever Party that is currently in power will ultimately make enough mistakes to cause the pendulum of voter preference to swing to the other side.  I’m not sure if Jim still holds that view but I certainly do, even during this time of unprecedented political turmoil.  The extremely super ego realm of the Trump Presidency, some will label him a narcissist, to the puppet-like Presidency of Joe Biden, has turned the usual back and forth pendulum political process on its’ ear.  Jim has expressed the thought that we may be experiencing the ultimate demise of the long-standing “king of the hill” status of the U.S.  Frankly, it’s hard for me to disagree.  I hope I’m wrong but I see no silver lining in the future of either major Party.

Throughout history human societies and nations have risen and fallen with the times.  Historically, humans, as have other animals, come together in groups for protection and mutual support, all in an ongoing effort to meet the challenges of life.  This has all been in support of that basic biological drive, survival.  Empires, nations, communities and individuals have risen and fallen with the times.  many see our country at such an inflection point.  Is the U.S. about to topple from its lofty position of world leader?

Interestingly, the population of the U.S. is reported to be essentially evenly split.  If I remember correctly, about 28% of the population is Democrat, 28% Republican and the rest, 42% or so Independent.  Given recent polls that suggest that upwards of 70% of the public is dissatisfied with President Biden’s performance, substantial Republican victories appeared to be in the cards for upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024.  The question now is “will the current Republican positions on abortion and gun control torpedo these prospects.  Those upcoming elections would seem to be in the hands of the Independents.

While I personally have shifted my own current interest from politics to other less contentious subjects such as physics and cosmology,  I’ve made a few observations that may be helpful to those still trying to make sense of this current morass of political matters.  While these are, for the most part, long range thoughts and observations which have not been critically explored in depth, I mention them so they can be considered as desired by anyone trying to make sense out of mid-2022 politics. 

1. Biological Drives - Human respond reflexly to built-in biologic drives, the most important being survival.  Essentially, the desire to accumulate wealth and power goes back to resilience and survival of the fittest.

2. Dishonesty - When discussing the unfortunate situation on the southern border, many have pointed out the troubling fact that upon entering the U.S. illegally, breaking the law is one’s first act as a new resident of the country.  Given the idea that the “Rule of Law” is one of the key pillars of our democracy, that fact is certainly troubling. It’s been countered by the claim that many break laws in one way or another.  True.  I’ve frequently pointed out that all you need to do confirm this is to go in your car on an interstate highway. If you obey the law and travel the speed limit, you’ll soon observe that nearly everyone else flies by you at an excessive, illegal speed. Each is striving to gain an edge and win in the game of life.  The person who sold us The King James Apartment Building in East Syracuse summed up his philosophy by saying.  “Life is a game and the one who ends up with the most chips wins the game”.

3. The Game - We learn early in life that winning is often viewed as everything.  Competition becomes a way of life from the time we are infants.  We compete with siblings for our parent’s attention.  If we win that competition we get the treat.  We’re taught from early childhood that we need to win, from Little League games to school.  Our goal should be to out perform our peers, e.g., get better grades than others in our class.  When we get a job, we’re rewarded with a comparatively big raise if we outdo our fellow workers.  In the final analysis we come to believe that winning enhances survival.  Maybe it does but it also puts our individual interests ahead of the collective interests of others.  Maybe this is how the “General BullMoose” syndrome originated.  As declared by Al Capps General BullMoose in the movie “Li’l Abner” “Whatever is good for General BullMoose is good for the USA.”  Can’t you imagine Donald Trump as a perfect example of someone inflicted with the “General BullMoose syndrome?

4. Tribalism - We love coming together with others of like mind.  It reassures us that we are on the right track and gives us confidence in accepting the challenge and, ultimately winning the game.  I’m amused hearing sports fans talking about last nights game.  They, even as mere spectators, have become, in their minds, part of the team. “Our pitching was great but we didn’t produce enough offense.  I hope we do better tonight. You’ll often see these fan-team members wearing official uniforms.  In their own minds they are key members of the team.  The political arena is no different. Republicans vs Democrats is just another team sport and the Press has joined right in, obviously with monetary profit in mind. Fox News is a full-fledged member of the Republican team and CNN a full-fledged member of the Democrat team.  Their stakes are a bit higher because their success or failure rests with ratings.  That may be why they are often so over the top in drumming up support for their team.

5. Relativism -  I’ll also mention this concept that we all have heard about pertaining to cultures.  The reputation of U.S. has suffered on a number of occasions when it has attempted to judge other cultures by the norms of our own culture.  That practice is a no no.  Each culture must be judged by its own standards.  Likewise, we need to consider the inappropriateness of generational relativism, temporal relativism and philosophical relativism. There are many examples of inappropriate relativism where we tend to judge another by our own standards but I’ll save that for a more in depth discussion later on.

6. Reality - Is there a single universal reality or is each of us entitled to our own subjective reality?  I think we would be much more at ease with the world if we accepted the findings of quantum mechanics that subjective reality actually exists.  Thus, we need to be careful in judging the thoughts of others, religious, philosophical, etc. Religious beliefs may not be components of my reality but I need to allow you the freedom to include them in your spectrum of reality. Each one of us is entitled to our own set of reality facts.  Now, that does not mean that we have the right to mistreat or inflict evil on someone else just beacause of the nature of our subjective reality.  All realities must yield to the overriding reality of the “Golden Rule”.  We must, in every way, treat all other as we wish to be treated.  That is the great equalizer that allows the concept of multiple subjective realities to exist.

I’ll conclude this brief entry by bemoaning the fact that I see our species becoming more and more negative.  When we encounter something new a new idea, a new society, a new person or whatever, we first, almost reflexly, envision how this might negatively impact us, what’s wrong with it or what is bad about it, rather than envisioning how it might be good.  My belief is that in order for us to avoid seeing our country slip into the doldrums or worse, fall into the cesspool of failed societies and nations, we need to reverse course and focus on becoming more positive.  Imagine the good coming over the horizon not the bad or evil.