The Oppenheimer Report 1/30/17

I wonder how the Jews in pre-WW11 Germany felt as they watched Hitler emerge and pour his acid-filled rhetoric on the fabric of civilized society. Maybe they felt a little like American Muslims do today. I have never been more apprehensive about the future of mankind than I am at present. The newly elected leader of the free world is playing fast and loose with the rules, and I think a lot of other people also fear the chaos and anarchy which could ensue from his ill-considered recklessness. One of my fellow songwriters wrote a long and eloquent message on Facebook venting about Rump, and in it she predicts he will not be around for long, because he is an ignorant, hateful, childish, bigoted egotist who will inevitably self-destruct, be run out of office for incompetence, or be assassinated. I’m not sure any of those things will happen, but more and more I am beginning to believe the sky is falling. As an ex-patriot, living as a landed “ignorant” in Canada for the past twenty-three years, I am astounded by how quickly things can change. Over the past week, I have read more than a few well-written articles on the subject. Whenever I see a bad or undisciplined child, I look at the parents. Who is to blame for this? Ask Pogo. The possum knows.  

Every time I turn on the news, Canadian or American, I hear fear, anger, and indignation. I was a middle-of-the-road Republican who lost faith in my party around the time George W. Bush was elected. For me, that’s when the party really began to fall off the rails, and the religious right began to poison American politics. While I lost my faith in a political system paralysed by partisan politics, I always voted. As a voter in New York State, my vote didn’t really count, because the New York State always went to the donkeys in the electoral college, but I kept thinking that, over time, somehow the ship of state would right itself. It would drift too far to the right then too far to the left, but eventually it would come to center. Denial, it’s not just a river in Egypt. Every time I think this guy is just posturing, he does or says yet another preposterous, hateful thing, and I am baffled that he is anybody’s leader, much less the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world. He has turned the executive branch of the United States Federal Government into a championship wrestling franchise. Let me just vent ... I’m almost done, and I will try not to bring it up again.

In my anxiousness I was surfing around on Facebook, sailing through the sea of toxic tweets and postings complaining about Emperor Rump, and I came upon an article entitled Dalai Lama: Five Things To Keep In Mind For The Next Four Years. Not surprisingly, the message was common sense and quite simple. Lose the anger, help others (because that in turn creates inner peace), be more childlike (not childish, there’s a difference), and remember that no one person runs a democracy (it's actually 5 really rich white guys). I wonder how many conversations this week in Washington D.C. began: “How can we make it look like a massive heart attack.” It’s a sad fact when so many of my countrymen are discussing a violent solution to this mistake. Just remember, the second-in-command believes that homosexuals can be converted. WTF! I never thought I’d see the day when I hoped that the political paralysis, the affliction of our democracy today, would thwart this sociopath. I leave you with a quote from the Jon Stewart of the early 20^th Century:

“When the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre -- the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

                                                                                             
   - H.L. Mencken

Wow.

     -  Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED