1eclecticwriter

Responding to a comment from a 48 year old person that “my generation is at fault” for a failure to bring African countries further ahead in their economic development, I found myself responding that too few people, worldwide, seem to have integrity and an ethic of community well-being. Instead the dominant motivator seems to be “I will get mine by whatever means necessary” and to hell with my neighbors, let alone those living in other countries.

Yes there are exceptions everywhere, but they are sadly few and far between.

Why has it taken us here in the USA so long to begin to push back against the epitome of greed, corruption and narcissism that is the cabal currently running our government? Yes, the latest demonstrations and elections show there is a new sense of unity (except perhaps in the Senate) intent on reversing the degradation of our democracy.

 Why has it taken so long, and conditions devolved so badly, for that push back to be necessary? Why are dictatorial leaders taking control in more and more countries, while long time ones continue to blatantly steal elections to retain their power?

What is it in human nature that so easily cedes independence of thought to enable a dictator, or cult leader, or other “strongman” to take control without any limits on their ability to then ignore the interests of their followers? Have we learned nothing, over time, from those individuals who wrest their freedom from cult leaders, or overturn a repressive government?

Whom can we hold responsible for our collective willingness to forget history, and therefore be condemned to repeat it, over and over, country after country, worldwide?

I honor the voices, like heather Cox Richardson’s, that daily remind us of how the present debacle in the U.S. mimics earlier periods in our history (the ugly history that MAGA is attempting to erase in order to reinstall its updated ugly version). Paul Krugman does something similar in the economics domain, as does Joyce Vance with the history of law. There are others in different specialties, as well as voices (like Aaron Parnass) that provide factual, truthful updates, often several times daily, of both the brutal and the positive actions occurring which affect us all.

My question is why has it come to this, yet again? What is it in our human makeup that forces a seemingly perpetual swing from compassion, cooperation, and democratic progress back to greed, selfishness, corruption and authoritarian or fascist rule?

One simplistic answer I have read is that the downfall began when we banned religious worship from our public schools. The big problem with that response is that the religion the answer-providers refer to is strictly and only Christianity. They do not espouse respecting and including Judaism, Islam Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, or any of the literally hundreds of other religions, nor the non-sectarian pursuit of pure Spirit, all of which are present both here in the U.S. and all around the world. Indeed, now, classes that might reintroduce a religion-based ethics into classrooms are themselves being banned as “woke”, meaning they deviate from a Christian nationalist world view.

And, by the way, Christian nationalism deviates sharply from Christian values, as firmly pointed out in, among other voices, the recent statement by Catholic bishops regarding Jesus’ teaching on welcoming immigrants. Elsewhere it has been commented that all religions and ethical systems seem to incorporate a version of the Golden Rule. Why is it so hard for so much of humanity to “Do unto others as you would have the do unto you” when the precept is so easily understood?

So many questions, so few answers.