Bob Schwartz

It is historically and philosophically strange that Republicans and their supporters make such a big deal about law and order as a patriotic imperative. Of course many of the extreme law and order types don’t seem much like historians or philosophers.

The British worried that the American colonists were getting much too independent and too insistent on their rights. At the last British National Convention (BNC) held in the colonies, speaker after speaker demanded law and order, lest the colonists start getting ideas and moving into the British neighborhoods.

Okay, there wasn’t actually a BNC. But the British did fear change and a loss of control, did look down on the inferior colonists, and did use law and order as a chief weapon to maintain the status quo.

So the next time you hear the law and order pitch, know that these Republicans would have been on the side of the British rather than on the side of our fighting founders. Kind of un-American, don’t you think?

Much of the world has had personal experience, historic or current, with authoritarian leaders: more benign in the form of enlightened monarchies or more dangerous in the form of pure dictatorships.

Not America. That’s why observers who saw the first signs of authoritarianism from the start of the Trump administration were mostly dismissed as alarmist or paranoid. Even at this late date, two months before the election, almost four years into the presidency, some of that dismissal continues, even though the evidence has gone from suggestive to definitive.

We could listen. We could pay closer attention to history and political science. We could read the stories of our authoritarian enemies (or those who used to be our enemies) and learn from the experience of our now-democratic friends (or those who used to be our friends).

Authoritarianism happens to the greatest nations—precisely because people think their brand of democracy is too good to fail. Tragically, that isn’t how it works.

Sliver

Between shade and sill
a sliver of not yet sunrise
nudges black to gray
hints at objects in the room
unsleeping in the dark.

© Bob Schwartz

It is natural in America to look at an economic recovery in American terms. The impact of the economic crisis is here and any solutions will be applied here.

But failing to notice how catastrophic the pandemic has been for economies around the world is shortsighted. Just as shortsighted as some high-level leader thinking that the pandemic would never reach our shores and that whatever the rest of the world was doing about it meant nothing for our (disastrous) strategy—or non-strategy.

No matter what you hear from a high-level leader (the same one who gave us the America-only non-strategy for the pandemic) this is more than ever a global economy. So as we follow the important details of the American economic situation, we should occasionally look in on the economic situations in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Some countries are doing a little better than others, while some countries are in a deep hole that is even worse than ours, and unlikely to recover for years. Does it matter for America? What do you think?

CBS/YouGov Poll – August 21-23, 2020:

In evaluating the U.S. efforts against the coronavirus pandemic, do you consider the number of U.S. fatalities from coronavirus so far to be Acceptable or Unacceptable

Total: 31% Acceptable/69% Unacceptable

Democrat: 10% Acceptable/90% Unacceptable

Republican: 57% Acceptable/43% Unacceptable

The number of U.S. coronavirus fatalities so far is 175,000, with predictions that by the end of the year it will be 300,000 or more.

As striking as that Acceptable number is, it may not be the most significant number.

From the start of the Trump presidency, we have been trying to measure the “Trump base.” There have been many estimates, and like others, I have said that it was somewhere around 30%.

Now we have solid proof that this number is just about right. Separate from any judgments, merely acknowledging that some number of the deaths were preventable, if you believe that 175,000 Americans dead is “acceptable”, you are under the influence of some powerful force. And in this case, for that 31%, that force is Trump. They are the do-or-die base.

Knowing that the Trump base is 31% of Americans is valuable information. While it still doesn’t tell us anything definitive electorally, it does tell us, whoever wins, what we will be facing. One-third of America, however they were disposed before all this, now has a diametrically different vision of everything. This goes beyond the minority vision that Trump is somehow a good and effective president. It is an entirely different country than the other two-thirds lives in.

It’s going to be a bumpy–and for too many deadly–ride.

Lost

If everyone is lost
(they won’t admit it but they are)
why not get lost yourself
instead of following them?

When Rick Wilson published his book Everything Trump Touches Dies, it seemed like the title was a metaphor, or maybe a polite way of saying that everything Trump touches turns to s***.

Anyway, the pandemic in America has proven that the title is literal, not figurative. Which leads to a question for college football. If Trump says that playing this fall is a good idea–that it is necessary–should you follow his lead? Or should you run as fast as possible in the opposite direction, given that his track record on the pandemic is so perfect–perfectly wrong?

I’ve scoured the streaming services and my own collection for a movie that would serve as medicine for the pandemic.

I don’t just want to be distracted, though that is helpful. I want to be lightened and leavened, as if lifted in a hot air balloon on a sunny day, floating over pleasing and fascinating lands and seas.

That’s why I am watching The Princess Bride (1987), as I have dozens of times before. It is a fairy tale for children and adults, written by William Goldman from his novel and directed by Rob Reiner.

Maybe no movie has every contained such a right measure of engaging plot, wit and charm that so appeals to viewers of all ages. Need pandemic medicine? Watch The Princess Bride.

Raise your hands if you’ve ever used Wikipedia. Okay, put them down.

Raise your hands if you use Wikipedia regularly. Okay.

Raise your hands if you’ve ever donated to keep Wikipedia, a non-profit service, up and running. Uh-huh.

A few times a year, Wikipedia pops up a request for donations. This time around, they suggest $2.75, or more if you can. Only 2% of Wikipedia users donate. 2%.

The nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation provides the essential infrastructure for free knowledge. We host Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, created, edited, and verified by volunteers around the world, as well as many other vital community projects. All of which is made possible thanks to donations from individuals like you. We welcome anyone who shares our vision to join us in collecting and sharing knowledge that fully represents human diversity.

Those of us who consider ourselves serious researchers acknowledge that Wikipedia should only be a starting point for research (though many people don’t recognize that). Those of us who consider ourselves serious researchers also acknowledge that lots of times, it is precisely where we do start. We can imagine a world without Wikipedia, but we agree it would be a less informative and entertaining one.

Please donate to Wikipedia today.

One thing now obvious is that brave and aggressive plans to resume conventional life—in business, schools, sports and other institutions—are going to be waiting a while longer. The profound impact of these delays can’t be minimized.

Like it or not, new and often unfamiliar ways are being forced upon us. The good news is that there are plenty of creative and adaptable people to help fashion these new ways. Lots of the options may not be comfortable or familiar, but we’ve got what we’ve got.

As these ways are being fitted to our lives (or our lives fitted to them), we should keep up our spirit of optimism. But we should place that precious optimism carefully. For the moment, some loud or fanatical hopes for immediate institutional normality are just wasted whistling in the dark. Instead, that optimism should be transferred to whatever we do now and to the ways things will be when we emerge from this moment.

We can make this work. We can make this work.