Years ago, Henry Kissinger is quoted as saying, “As a historian, you have to be conscious of the fact that every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed.”
It is a disturbing fact that flies in the face of America’s optimism. Kissinger reassured us “as a historian, one has to live with a sense of the inevitability of tragedy. As a statesman, one has to act on the assumption that problems must be solved.”
The Symptoms
I want to ruminate for a minute on what are the symptom of our Empire’s potential demise. I offer them in the hopes that they are problems that can be solved.
First, when a population romanticizes its past at the expense of its future that is a bad sign. America has always looked to the promise of a better tomorrow. Political parties and social policy advocates counted on that promise to carry them into positions of power where they could enact these policies.
Lady Liberties Poem
Today we demonize those who wish to join us and participate in the dynamism of the American Dream. The Statue of Liberty (a woman) has inscribed on its base a poem by Emma Lazurus (also a woman). It sets a remarkable standard that has served this country well,
“Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Today we see that “wretched refuse” as a threat. All of us are sprung at some point from those huddled masses. We have redeemed the promise that the lady with the lamp extended to us. It appears the lamp has gone out and we horde the golden door for fear it might be stolen.
Glowing Promises
Third, will the glowing promises of a powerful elite persuade us that it is better to accept their accumulation of power at the expense of our own? Democracy according to Churchill is the second worst form of governance ever devised. Second only to every other form of governance. Do we abandon that difficulty for the false assurance of every other form of governance.
The Common Good
Finally, we have lost our sense of the common good. We have devolved into a what’s mine is mine and do not tread on me morality. This flies in the face of how we benefit from the common good everyday. Instead it is “Why should I have to . . . You can’t force me. . . What has governance ever done for me”.
Well to be honest it is a long list and most of it relies on the basic assumption that when we all contribute. When we all participate. We all benefit. This simple notion has been branded as “SOCIALISM” and is now a one-word epithet that can be hurled at damn near every social policy that has provided incredible benefit to the public. My mother-in-law uses this epithet as an excuse to vote for those who do not represent her interests. In a moment of weakness she confessed to me “I like Medicare. It works really well.” Yes it does.
Problems To Be Solved or Histories Ultimate Fate
These are the signs. Today, we begin the presidency of a man who declared boldly that he will return America to its former glory. I hope that this is a momentary lapse in judgement. I am old enough to remember it wasn’t as glorious as he would have us believe. I hope that we can, as Dr. Kissinger suggests, approach these signs as problems that must be solved. The alternative is to suffer histories ultimate fate and be relegated to the dustbin of great civilizations.