An Essay on America’s Future

Americans tend to be optimists. We expect technology to eventually solve some of our most pressing problems. We trust research and science to lessen or eliminate disease. We subscribe to the idea that hard work and discipline can improve our lot. We underwrite a huge self-help and personal improvement industry. If ill, we count on doctors to fix us. We invest in the stock market knowing that it has risen over time and expecting it will continue. If we’re unhappy with a political cycle, we can just wait for a new regime and for the pendulum to swing the other way.

Aging may shake our confidence. Our trajectories and perspectives change. Hard-earned wisdom overshadows youthful idealism. We witness our creeping decrepitude and realize that doctors won’t always be able to fix us. We come to [begrudgingly] acknowledge our mortality after all.

There is a bit of an analogy in our nation’s history. Our conception and birth sprang from idealism, followed was a period of rapid growth and expansion. The Civil War represents a bitter “teenage rebellion.” We reached adulthood in the 20th century.

The pinnacle of our “adult” achievement was the transformation of our society into an incredible war machine that led to victory in WWII and the establishment of a Pax Americana, and the vibrant growth of a productive society at home, which eventually put a man on the moon.

America’s footing became less sure during the second half of the 20th century. We could not achieve lasting victories in Korea, Vietnam, or Afghanistan. The 60’s represented a “mid-life crisis” with collective soul-searching; protests; assassinations; and cities set aflame.

The country shows sure signs of deterioration as we age into the 21st century. Like old grandpa, we’ve become increasingly strident and inflexible; sometimes irascible, while our cognitive (and moral) faculties decline. We talk about the good old days — which never were quite as good as we remember. And we’re becoming less competent and more incontinent.

Today Uncle Sam is acutely, severely ill. It is unclear if America can overcome this “national sepsis” where the body is beset by toxins and the organs of state are failing. Survival will require an extended state in a political and ethical ICU, along with dedicated resources, care and expertise — and prayer. The will to live is critical. The outcomes range from mere survival to managed care or hospice.

As with many extended ICU stays, the patient usually emerges in a diminished state. It’s fantasy to think that Uncle Sam can fully regain his former function and vigor because much of the body politic has broken down and can’t be fully healed or regenerated. Here’s an example:

During the 1980s, I visited the Philippines three times. The first time was during the heyday of President Ferdinand Marco’s dictatorial and kleptocratic regime. Corruption, graft and cronyism were rampant and normalized. I achieved a bit of a miracle by closing a large military contract without paying anyone off.

The second time I arrived at the Manila Airport was a few days after Senator Ninoy Aquino had been assassinated on the tarmac. He was Marcos’ rival and the most prominent voice of opposition to the corrupt regime.

The assassination engendered a reformist political movement, the peaceful People Power Revolution in 1986, which led to the ouster of the Marcos and his notorious wife Imelda (it should be noted that the USA propped up the Marcos regime as a bulwark against the spread of communism). The Marcos family plundered an estimated $5B and $10B during their reign.

Corazon Aquino, Nonoy’s wife, was elected president. She initiated major democratic reforms and anti-corruption measures, including the formation of a Presidential Commission on Good Government. Despite the noble intentions, corruption and public dissatisfaction persisted.

The current president of the Philippines is Marcos’ son, Ferdinand Jr. His administration faces backlash over a massive $2 billion scandal involving corrupt flood control projects, although Marcos denies personal corruption. According to Proverbs, “as a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”

And that’s the problem.

We see in other nations and cultures (e.g. Soviet Union / modern Russia) that corruption, like a herpes virus, once caught becomes a permanent resident in the body, apt to manifest during stressful times in fresh, debilitating outbreaks.

Bad government and corruption also may be compared to a cockroach infestation. Despite protective and preventative measures, when the lights go out, the critters are apt to scurry about again. Apparently, these vermin are hardly enough to survive the gamma radiation of a nuclear blast.

The point is — like herpes and cockroaches — once an infection or infestation takes hold, it becomes endemic and cannot be completely controlled or eradicated. A Pandora’s box is opened.

Graft, corruption, ignoring the rule of law, crony capitalism, and market manipulation were not invented by or unique to the Trump regime, but their magnitude and confluence are unprecedented.

The regime actualized Steve Bannon’s advice to “flood the zone with shit,” to a point where corruption and misgovernance are so prevalent that they overload capacity for outrage, generating exhaustion, apathy, and nihilism. Surrender is the goal. We may never be fully rid of the stench.

Attempts to normalize or rationalize malfeasance become shameless and absurd. Don Jr.’s wife Bettina hoped to downplay the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on their wedding by Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch in Putin’s inner circle:

“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from,” she continued. “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”

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More likely it is a down payment on a future quid pro quo arrangement.

This woman married the son of the most transactional president. A kind “explanation” might be that Mrs. Trump suffers from cognitive dissonance, but my bet is that we’re seeing basic arrogance and disdain from privilege, combined with greed and lust for power.

The toolbox of the apologists and defenders of the indefensible rely upon a few dulled (from overuse) implements, namely gaslighting, whataboutisms, and ad hominem attacks. Although tiresome and fallacious, these logical devices are still effective.

Every milieu has its own values and norms, but how have we managed to jettison so many of the ideals and precepts that our ancestors fought to maintain? Not long ago it would be inconceivable to defy Congress with the spin and arrogance demonstrated by this present administration’s nominees. The days when presidents got flak for comparatively minor peccadillos seem quaint. None would have trashed the White House, the Kennedy Center, or other common areas without permission; nor would Congress (or perhaps the people) have tolerated the nonstop, perfunctory prevarications, misogyny, and extensive damage to our healthcare, national defense, diplomacy and international relations. Or that our international friends could become enemies while our enemies are cultivated as friends.

Yet here we are.

There widespread speculation and thoughtful analysis about the evolution of our present predicament including Covid, the Robert’s Court, digital echo chambers, moral and ethical decay, lassitude an apathy, etc. Although we may have a good understanding of the rise of Naziism in Germany, it hasn’t inoculated us from the burgeoning autocratic and fascist elements of the Trump regime. Congress is frozen in its cowardice and complicity, and the hoi polloi are exhausted from the continual barrage of division and outrage.

We may not be powerless to stop it, but it sure feels that way.

Even if Democrats sweep both houses of Congress, they will likely not achieve a Senate majority necessary to secure impeachments.

The House will hold hearings and investigations, but there are too many perpetrators; things to fix; and countless wrongs to right. I doubt we will be able to sustain the needed focus, bandwidth, and resources the job requires. Exhausted by it all, Americans will soon tire of the pursuit of justice. Some repairs will take a generation or more to effect — if they are even possible.

The net result is that corruption and government dysfunction with be the legacy norm. Politics will attract even more who seek self-enrichment and power gains over public service. Rancor will be a constant. We’ll never be rid of the roaches.

During my youth many politicians were motivated to service by noblesse oblige. Although there may be some compelled to give back to society via public office, politics is still a tawdry business: the obscene expense and risk of exposure discourage all but the most committed. Opportunism replaces altruism.

Politics aside, what example are we setting for our youth and successive generations? That racism, cruelty and boorishness are OK? Or that the “real” goal of American life is to accumulate fantastic wealth without responsibility, ethics or conscience?

A recent editorial in the New York Times bemoaned students passing off A.I. generated content as their own and suggested that they be exposed to an ethical framework. Who are the role models for this generation? Are there trusted institutions? Can ethical values be inculcated on an ad hoc basis relatively late in life? In other words, “good luck with that.”

For these students, the current milieu is full of stressors. There are looming uncertainties about career choices, housing affordability, climate change and the environment, and the future at large. Given the legacy we leave, will they trust “the system” or take an active, remedial role in politics?

Time will tell — but not in my time.

Meanwhile, depending heavily on digital devices and technology is weakening our ability to write, think critically, and sustain attention. These skills are essential for addressing both today’s challenges and those we will face in the future, making their decline a potential “hidden cost” for the next generation or more.

Computers and smart phones were hyped as time and labor-saving devices, but we take them for granted and in many ways, we have become addicted — even enslaved — to their dopamine-stimulating effects. If the internet shut down tomorrow, we would be in deep peril — just one of the many conceivable existential threats we now face.

During a trip to Greece in 1973 as a high school student, we visited the archeological site at Delphi. Among the ruins was the remains of a temple to Apollo. Our guide pointed out an Attic Greek inscription in the pronaos, which translates to “Nothing to excess.” The ancient Greeks — who valued wisdom — were onto something.

We seem to inhabit an age of excess: the wealthy grow richer, but seem insatiable. The population continues to expand, and scientific and technological progress brings both benefits and drawbacks. We spend much of our time on digital screens. Social media constructs custom echo chambers and amplifies divisions despite once promising to unite us. (I joined Facebook to stay connected with high school classmates, but it morphed into something very different).

Stopping destructive behaviors requires an acknowledgement of the problem. Improvement will require a collective conscious effort to reign in the excesses and achieve more balance and homeostasis. To resume good-faith deliberations in our politics. To address the K economy and the growing divide between the haves and have nots. To demand integrity vs. teleological (ends justifies the means) ethics. Etc. To take breaks from our phones and computers and reassess what really needs our attentions. The road to there is anything but clear: we have no maps or guidebooks.

Whatever happens in the short term, our union has lost the glory, reputation, or trust that it once had — perhaps irretreivably. This will be the true and enduring legacy of Trump’s kleptocratic kakistocracy.

Can a competent, visionary and positive leader emerge in time to lead us out of this battered kingdom to the promised land, and spare us from the current plague of roaches?

Let us pray.