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QuestionAugust 10, 2007 (See what happens when I spend too long on the endnotes?) Why do so many of us, right, left, and center, persist in "framing" the problem in ways that have no solution -- short of divine or other extraterrestrial intervention? Seriously. If it's not some god, it's some damn conspiracy. Or it's genes, or human nature, or "psychopath perps" (that's a quote from something I was reading this morning). Can't do anything about that -- guess I'll go back to doing sudoku puzzles. "Psychopath perps" we may always have with us. But who would remember the name of Herr Schickelgruber if he'd become a mediocre artist, or even an elementary school teacher? As a teacher he might have done serious damage but on a relatively small scale; he wouldn't have been responsible for the deaths of millions upon millions of people. If the only way to prevent a Hitler and a Nazi Germany is to prevent the procreation of psychopathic perps, we might as well give up now. Identifying and fixing the social conditions that tend to foster psychopathic perps -- OK, that has more potential. Even better -- much, much better -- is establishing and sustaining the institutions that keep psychopathic perps out of power, or that limit the damage they can cause if they get into power. That's what the founders of the U.S. of A. did, and you know what? It doesn't matter that they were all white guys with unenlightened attitudes on a number of very important subjects. They were visionary and they understood that people are never going to be perfect and they "framed" a government structure that (so far) has kept Napoleons and Hitlers and Stalins out of power. Or maybe it hasn't entirely. Anyone else read Master of the Senate, the third volume in Robert Caro's awesome biography of Lyndon Johnson? From very early in his career, Johnson was the consummate manipulator. His goal was power, and it pretty much justified any means that worked. (Caro's account of Johnson's systematic persecution of Leland Olds took my breath away. Johnson was more ruthless, and much smarter, than Joe McCarthy. No contest.) Johnson did plenty of damage. What kept him from doing more damage was the structure of the U.S. government, its checks and balances. That's what the "rule of law" is about. Had LBJ been born in same place as Herr Schickelgruber -- well, suffice it to say that he wasn't, and for that I am grateful. I am also grateful to be living under the rule of law, imperfect as those laws often are. When I hear people who are so disgusted by the current situation say that we ought to blow it all up (figuratively) and start over, I think: "Be careful what you wish for. And if you get your wish, I want to be long dead by then." Another book I think about a lot is They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45, by Milton Mayer. I read it for the first time about 35 years ago and it's stayed resident in my head ever since. I recommend it highly, especially to anyone who's tempted to frame the current mess as something beyond our control. "They" thought they were free. They barely noticed the repressive laws because they weren't forbidden to do anything thing they wanted to do, or ordered to do anything they weren't going to do anyway. Sound familiar? Before you start pointing fingers, consider that thinking we're totally unfree -- totally at the mercy of gods, genes, human nature, the media, the corporations, etc. -- is just as dangerous. And for most of us in the U.S. of A. in 2007 it's a self-perpetuating delusion that gets us off the hook. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
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