May 15, 2021
The Grand Old Circus, the coming senior explosion, Stoicism
The GOP continued its slide into the abyss this week with the ousting of Liz Cheney as the House Leader. Cheney’s crimes? Voting for the second impeachment of Trump but mostly refusing to play along with the “stolen election” fantasy. The GOP has, in effect, decided that any semblance of sanity or truth is not tolerable. There have always been two kinds of people in America. One which believes that the other kind is wrong, and the other kind which believes the same thing. America, as imperfect as it is, has always provided ample room for differences in opinion. But, the battle that looms is not about how we handle the differences in opinion. It is about the future of democracy itself. In the GOP, we now have folks at the highest level who have made it clear they have no regard for the principles of democracy such as peaceful transfer of power, equal voting rights and regard for the truth. They see them as impediments to power. The sooner the GOP hits nadir, implodes and reinvents itself, the better off America will be. I don’t see that happening any time soon. Trump may fade in a few years but Trumpism is here to stay for a while. I would like nothing better than to be wrong about this.
Speaking of the devil, Donald Trump gained immortality of sorts on Friday when he made his debut at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. The Smithsonian institution has a tradition of maintaining Presidential portraits. Trump’s picture is accompanied by a caption which notes that Trump was elected “after tapping into populist American sentiment” and that he “put forth an America First agenda.” It records his two impeachments and says the coronavirus pandemic “became a key issue during his re-election campaign.” Canny curators have placed the 45th POTUS face-to-face with a painting of John Lewis, the late congressman and civil rights hero whose habit of making what he called “good trouble” included boycotting Trump’s inauguration. Reactions to the portrait have ranged from, “Boy, it’s really hard to look at,” to “Can we please hang a cloth over it?”
2020 will, of course, go into the history textbooks as the year of the pandemic. It also recorded another major milestone. For the first time in America’s history, the number of citizens above 65 years of age outnumbered those below the age of 5. This is just the beginning. Over the next two decades, the number of 65 and older citizens will grow to 72 million, or 1 in 5 Americans. Most of them will live into their 90s. Picture a 10 year old child. The odds of that child living past 100 is well over 50 percent today. These odds will improve significantly over the years to come. The person who will live to be 150 years old has likely been born already. The question that comes to my mind is: Will we be able to afford to live longer? It is expensive to keep oneself alive in America. Traditional retirement savings plans will prove grossly inadequate. New approaches and solutions will be needed. Getting our healthcare infrastructure and costs right will be a big piece of this puzzle.
Bill and Melinda Gates parted ways. I didn’t see this one coming. My first reaction was, “Oh, no.” I’m not a huge fan of Bill Gates and I know next to nothing about Melinda Gates. I warmed up to Bill only several years after he left Microsoft. But, their marriage, to me, was a symbol of what we consider good about America - teamwork, enterprise, and world changing philanthropy. As it turns out, Bill has a lot to answer for. Apparently, he had a written agreement with his wife that allowed him to spend a weekend every year with his ex-girlfriend. He spent a conspicuous amount of time on Jeff Epstein’s mansions, jets and yachts, against her advice. He was not open to sharing even little things like letting his wife co-author an annual newsletter. Hearing this, it’s amazing that Bill managed to pull off 27 years of marriage. Who knows, maybe Melinda Gates French and Mackenzie Scott (Bezos) will end up doing more good for the world than their ex-husbands.
Last Sunday saw an interesting contest between an NFL wide receiver and Olympian sprinters. Olympian Mike Rodgers declared, “Football players don’t have a clue,” as the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver, DK Metcalf, prepared to compete in the USAA 100 meters sprint trials, from which the US Olympic sprinters qualify to represent the nation. Metcalf, on the other hand, has regularly clocked an astounding 4.33 second 40-yard dash in Seahawks training. Still, there was skepticism. Last Sunday, Metcalf clocked a respectable 10.37s and finished ninth out of a field of nine in the USAA trials. The qualifying time for US Olympian sprinters is 10.05 seconds. Metcalf left with new respect. “These are world-class athletes. It’s very different from football speed, from what I just realized.”
Not a day goes by without my seeing a Stoicism poster on social media. It’s usually a quote by Marcus Aurelius. At times, it’s by Epictetus. Rarely by Seneca. What’s interesting about the social media pop-Stoicism is that they depict Stoicism as self-help. Pop-Stoicism is not so much a philosophy. It’s a collection of life hacks for overcoming anxiety, meditations for anger control, and exercises for finding stillness and peace. “The pain isn’t due to the thing itself,” says a Marcus Aurelius poster, “but to your estimate of it.” In this mindset, the impact of the outerworld fades and is replaced by the idea of an inner self that becomes a sanctuary. This me-focused view is just one strand of Stoicism. While a “self-focused Stoicism” appears to be thriving in the marketplace, the greater promise of Stoicism is one of connectedness and the potential to contribute goodness to society. The very tools that help us place a buffer between ourselves and the external world are the same ones that will and must help us change the world for the better. We see through personal biases that we didn’t even know we possessed. The goal of daily meditation is not just my equanimity. It is equanimity rooted in virtue. And, virtue, for the ancient Greeks and Romans, was always about living well as a cooperative member of a society. Seneca, in “On Anger,” calls on us, “Let us cultivate our humanity.” If the Stoics are worth reading, it is precisely for this reason that they exhort us to rise to our potential. Through reason, dialogue and selflessness.
Have a great week ahead. Stay safe. My dear India, you’re always in my prayers. God bless you.
Makes excellent reading . As you rightly said, GOP is perhaps a rudderless party, without an aggressive man like TRUMP, who, unmindful of the consequences, followed what he believed in. The whole world, especially the DEMOCRACIIES are in great turmoil. I personally feel, that DEMOCRACY has outlived its utility after two centuries of experimentation. We are presently in need of a much more potent anti-dote to contain the ever increasing decibels on FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, SPEECH etc, bordering on the ludicrous. An example is that of the FARMER’S AGITATION, prolonging in perpetuity, with even the SUPREME COURT maintaining a stoic silence, despite its adverse reactions on the fast spreading epidemic. No doubt, they have an INHERENT RIGHT TO PROTEST. But does it not militate against a legislation, passed by a majority in Parliament. The so-called AGITATION is confined only to two states, mainly Punjab, and has no takers in the rest of the countries. IS THIS NOT A DEMOCRATICALLY PASSED LEGISLATION, IN THE INTERESTS OF THE FARMERS, but opposed by powerful AGRICULTURAL MONEY BAGS like Tikait and a few others, Where then, is the need for an election or a PARLIAMENT.
As regards Stoicism, I firmly believe in SANATANA DHARMA, so highly acclaimed in our VEDAS and Hindu Philosophy. The Hindu way of life, has the potential to appreciate the view points of both the DEVOUT DEVOTEES, lesser mortals like us, who accept the concepts it contains, without, most of us , even fully understanding it, in its enormity, as also not brushing aside peremptorily ATHIPEISM OF THE WORST KIND. All have to ci-exust, as the famous SANSKRIT PROVERB, in its brevity, brings out the essential diversity, namely, LOKO BINNA RUCHIHI. The whole world is a CONTRDUCTION OF DIVERGENT VIEWS AND OPINIONS, EACH OF WHICH, may have seeds of some useful hints to be picked up and analysed by the RESEARCHERS .