Imbolc and the Birthday Moon
Monday gratefuls: Marilyn and Irv. Shadow. Not quite potty trained. Protein. 24″ of Snow on Saturday. CT Scan today. Ancient Brothers. Dog toys. Dog bed. Settling in with Shadow. Ratzon. Will. Desire. Zerizut. Enthusiasm. Simcha. Joy. Feeling rested. Safeway pickup. Living in the Mountains. Yesterday’s world brought to you by Don and the MAGAs.
Sparks of Joy and Awe: Shadow
Week kavannah: Netzach with a dash of zerizut and simcha
One brief shining: As the policy of he who shall remain shameless becomes clearer, a strong whiff of steam engines and ocean liners, La Belle Epoque when might still meant right for the Tsars, for the Prussians, for colonial militaries dividing up Africa, as an isolated America sat it out save for brief adventures to Cuba, later to the Philippines while satisfying its Manifest Destiny by pushing slowly westward and killing nations indigenous to this continent. Ah, the days of yesteryear.
Never thought I’d have a chance to relive the days of robber barons. We’ve moved into the world of Theodor Drieser’s The Financier, the Titan, the Stoic, His trilogy about Frank Cowperwood. Of Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street, Babbit. Back when the U.S. made its bones on the backs of Native Americans and Chinese coolies, rather than foreign adventures like the Europeans.
Sure, the moves of a strongman are redolent of many eras, but none so much in the U.S. as when men like Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, James J. Hill, J.D. Rockefeller had their way with our young country. Did you watch the coronation? In the most prominent rows, behind the King’s family were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai.
What’s next? Bring back vaudeville, silent movies, Ziegfeld’s Follies.
All I’m saying here is that Trump is less of an anomaly than he seems. Pushed up against the recent past, yes, but as a historical type? No. What is different is that he’s combining robber baron domestic policies and the expansionist, naked self interest foreign policies of that same era, too.
We’ve allowed him to shuck off the progressive policies that began to take hold after Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting and drag us back to a time not long after we had to fight a war to end slavery. This is the reactionary way, a turning back to old ways of oppression and wealth concentrating.
Where or how can this end? I’m not sure. By the time 2028 rolls around, we’ll be firmly lodged in 1928. You know what happened in ’29.
Just a moment: CT scan today. Aortic artery aneurysm. Someday soon an MRI for my hip and lower spine. Perhaps a PET scan later in the year to check on my metastases. I’m taking a tour of imaging devices. Isn’t medicine fun? Oh, and I had full dental x-rays last week. See inside of me. Now.
Yes, life at the most personal continues even while our nation twists and turns on its allegiance to a sad man, a bad man, behind blue eyes.