England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy-red cheeks of the little children.
Roger Miller, England Swings
I am an unabashed liberal. I am liberal by nature, but not by upbringing. Where and when I grew up the word “Democrat” was a swear word, and probably still is today for many who live there. That word doesn’t really suit me much anyway, since I prefer my independence to being pinned under a glass dome by labels.
In the heat of this moment, I find myself being alienated by many of those who self-identify as liberals. They are caught in a vortex of post-election despair, loudly lamenting the loss, complaining of the unfairness of the Electoral College vs the popular vote, searching not for answers but for whom to blame. While grieving is inevitable after a significant loss, when it begins its mutation into blame it is time to give it up and start anew.
I have lived a long time, long enough for my demise, whenever it happens, not to come as a profound surprise to anyone. And during that long life I’ve often been struck by the fact that societal matters are the subjects of frequent pendulum swings: that which is popular, conventional wisdom today will surely be tomorrow’s discarded newspaper lining the floor of someone’s birdcage. Pendulum swings are how human society operates; a swing to one extreme is inevitably followed by a swing to the other in correction of the excesses of the first.
In the case of certain cultural pendulum swings, there seems to be yet another goal. Whenever cultural swings are strong enough for their momentum to physically move the pendulum’s midpoint either to the left or to the right, the counter swing will no longer travel in the other direction as far as it once did. But swing it will, nonetheless – to allow enough time for the cultural laggards on the other end of the spectrum to rest, adjust, and catch up just far enough that they aren’t left too far behind. This is one of those times.
I would go so far as to argue that pendulum swings are necessary in an integrated society. The human condition exists across a wide, three-dimensional spectrum. While we are all members of the same species, we are not all hard-wired identically nor were we all taught the same things by our parents or by the local culture in which we were raised. In short, each of us exists as a point located somewhere along the lengths of a great variety of sliding scales: from the brave to the coward; from the genius to the dolt; from the strong to the weak; from the moral to the immoral; from the religious to the atheist; from the liberal to the conservative; from there to here and back again. We occupy a place upon so many different sliding scales that their prolixity renders the results of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test nothing more than an educated guess.
If I am right in this belief, it is time for liberals to accept the inevitability of what we consider an ugly reality and get on with it. The Age of Trumpery will happen whether we like it or not, and how nasty it will turn out to be from our point of view depends, in part, upon our future behavior as well as the dignity and integrity of those conservatives we deem honorable. While the latter may seem tepid reassurance to most of us when things as vital as Medicare and Social Security are at stake, we ought to be able to rely upon the first – upon ourselves – to do what we can to mitigate the coming excess.
But can we rely upon ourselves? We can certainly rely upon many to weep and wail on our behalf; they already are. But the rest of us need to quit it and get back to work. No matter who is President, there will always more chores to be done after we’ve attacked the wood pile with the best intentions and the strongest will.
So it will be harder for us liberals in the Age of Trumpery, so what? Evil always seeks center stage; every age has to be diligent and work hard to keep it at bay. Some ages bear a greater burden in that regard than others. While many liberals see a real possibility of evil in the coming Age of Trumpery, it may well prove to be nothing more than an era of widespread pillage of the national treasury. As bad as that will be, pillage on such a scale is nothing new when it comes to American politics. We’ve seen it before at regular intervals, and we’ll surely see it again when the Age of Trumpery has passed.
This is not to say that vigilance will be unnecessary in the Age of Trumpery. To crib John Donne: “They also serve who watch and speak.” But if that is to be your role, speak with linguistic clarity and focus; speak with pride; tell the truths you see. Don’t find conspiracies when all you see is collective selfish behavior writ large, but do decry the behavior and clearly explain why it’s wrong in your opinion; don’t gnash your teeth over possibilities, but do identify and focus your spotlight on incipient evil whenever you see it actually at work. The Age of Trumpery will certainly be a time for Strider, for the ethical warrior-watcher.
So what is a socially conscious person, whether liberal or conservative, supposed to do in times like these other than watch and speak? The answer is simple: fight. Fight for what you believe in. Fight by words, deed, and the use of your treasury. If words are all you have, fight with intellectual analysis and protest rather than by name calling and innuendo. The time for complaining is over; it’s time to go back to work. Find an issue you believe in and have a passion for and get your hands dirty.
The need for assistance in all areas of society is enormous. I have worked with others to raise money needed to fund programs dedicated to increasing access to justice for all people for well over two decades, and no matter how much money we raise it’s never enough to fulfill the entire need. Food banks need money and help delivering goods; the homeless still live on our streets. I could go on and on and on, but if I do I will surely be castigated by someone for leaving out some worthy cause near to their heart.
So pick your battle. Pick something, anything for which you feel a passion and help however you can. We don’t need to develop a consensus as to where to spend our money and expend our effort when there is so much to be done. While it is true that a societal-wide campaign focused upon one major issue would be more worthwhile than a flurry of individual effort on all sorts of things, it is also true that the debate necessary to identify that issue and the agreed-upon means of its resolution would be extremely time consuming, unlikely of success, and assuredly useless for the target population during its pendency. Only the likes of Bill Gates can mount and sustain that kind of effort.
Me? I’m just little guy, and nothing if not impatient. I’ve never known crying over spilled milk to accomplish much. I find it better to vote with my heart and my hands to get something – anything – done. The only weeping and wailing I want to do is over the need for others to quit their weeping and wailing and get on with it, whatever it is.
