Bob Schwartz

Eight years ago, in the first weeks of the first Trump term, I posted this:

Dystopian Novels? Forget 1984. Read The Plot Against America: A Novel.

Here in the first year of the second term, I repeat the suggestion to read Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, and add that the HBO series based on the book is also worthy.

The story imagines the election of Charles Lindbergh, aviator hero, as President of the United States in 1940. Lindbergh and his followers are isolationists, and so keep America out of World War II. Lindbergh and his followers are friends of Nazi Germany and are themselves nationalists and fascists. The isolationism, the nationalism, and the fascism hold an appeal to many Americans who have tired of New Deal liberalism and of our helping the rest of the world. Some Jews support Lindbergh, ambitiously overlooking the worst, while other Jews are concerned, because his fiercest followers seem to be antisemitic, while Jews in Europe are being slaughtered without American intervention.

Orwell’s 1984 is a vision of what England could become. The Plot Against America is a vision of what America could become, or is becoming.

“By putting the gods at peace, making the serpentine nāgas* tranquil, and keeping everyone happy as best as possible, when your last breath approaches, you will experience the beginning of true happiness, and you will turn your back on misery and travel from light to light, from joy to joy.”

*nāga. A class of serpent-like beings in Buddhist mythology. They are said to live in the underworld and inhabit a watery environment. Frequently considered to be benevolent, they are also believed to act as guardians of hidden texts.

Essential Mind Training – Thupten Jinpa

“Keeping everyone happy as best as possible” seems a perfect and perfectly open expression. Who is everyone? What is possible, under all the circumstances? Why try?

“From light to light, from joy to joy.”