As the nation slowly reopens and people look for life to return to some semblance of normalcy, we begin to realize that change is something we will have to deal with as part of that new normal. Cancellations will continue, sporting events may still be delayed, schools may not reopen, large crowds will still be suppressed and retailers will have new ordinances in place as shoppers return to their stores, and restaurants will have new ways of dealing with customers and crowds flocking back to eat.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus is quoted as saying, "Change is the only constant in life." I have read so many articles and editorials on the new changes we will face in post-Covid 19 America in 2020 and beyond that I realize we really are not ready for the change that lies ahead.
Flash back to an incident in 1995 in Oklahoma City, a Midwest city where one resident was quoted as saying "Nothing ever happens here." Remember the incident? Terry Nichols drove a truck full of explosives into a parking garage at the federal building, killing multiple children at a daycare center. It sent shock waves around the world and the country prepared itself for an act of domestic terrorism beyond anyone's imagination. This was pre-9/11 after all, when nothing like this was even believed possible in America.
I really love this country, but I worry about the direction we are heading as we approach November and an election that very few people are thrilled about at this point, just six months away. And I wonder sometimes if we have lost our vision as a nation and the very soul of our existence as a republic. Are we, perhaps, in danger of losing not only our freedoms but our status as a nation? We criticize our leaders and question our laws, especially in light of the recent quarantines during the Covid-19 pandemic. We put up with terrorists in our own country, sit silent while people revolt and march in the streets of our larger cities and watch in horror as children are being murdered almost daily while attending school or playing in a local playground.
We sit idle while our history fades from memory and historic structures collapse. We argue for educational standards while more and more students drop out of school. We mechanize our industry and put people out of work in the name of progress while unemployment soars, then complain when we start hiring workers from overseas because they refuse to work for the salaries paid by Americans. And we cringe when tourists describe New York City as Calcutta on the Hudson, (A reference, of course, to India's dirtiest city) ignoring the fact that we have done these things to ourselves. In 1935, novelist Sinclair Lewis published a book titled It Can't Happen Here, during the heyday of fascism in Europe, which was reported on by Dorothy Thompson, Lewis' wife. The novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. (Sounds a little bit like a certain Commander in Chief with which we are all familiar). After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of European fascists like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The novel's plot centers on journalist Doremus Jessup's opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it as part of a liberal rebellion.
Reviewers at the time - and historians and literary critics ever since - have emphasized the resemblance with Louisiana politician Huey Long, who used strong-arm political tactics and who was building a nationwide "Share Our Wealth" organization in preparing to run for president in 1936. He was assassinated in 1935 just prior to the novel's publication. Many critics and readers today see the resemblance to Donald Trump in the pages of the novel.
It is time for us to wake up and realize that the world is changing around us every day. We cannot be the ostrich with his head buried in the sand, hoping change will pass us by. Unfortunately, change becomes more apparent day by day. We have a severe problem in America. And it is not going to go away, unless we do something about it.
Prior to the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said, "Many free countries have lost their liberty; and ours may lose hers. But if she shall, may it be my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her." What we see happening around us may cause us to lose our liberty and freedoms, but it is up to each of us to remain strong in the midst of the turmoil.
During my lifetime I have witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, the split of Yugoslavia, the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union, the overthrow of governments in South Africa, hurricanes that have wiped entire cities off the map, 9/11 and, of course, the Coronavirus that shuttered our economy. I have also witnessed the birth of democracies in the teeming cities of Brazil. All these events are the growing pangs of nations wanting to become free and taste democracy in its simplest form, despite disasters. All of these are good things, but it makes me wonder if 244 years of freedom are bringing America to her knees. Do those without liberty possibly love it more that those who are used to having it? Rome is one example of an empire that collapsed from within because of many of the same problems currently facing America. Once the mightiest nation on the planet ruling half the world, it collapsed in a pile of rubble and anachronisms.
The billionaire wildcard in the 1992 presidential campaign, H. Ross Perot, was asked what is wrong with the American system. His answer was, in true soundbite form, "We are still geared up for the Cold War." We are perfectly prepared for a world that no longer exists. We are that way now, in the aftermath of the global pandemic. If 1972 ever happens to return we will be ready. Asia and Europe have accepted the new terms of globalization accelerated by the fall of Communism, but the United States has not yet. And, as a result, our pride, economy and dreams are sinking like the Titanic after striking her iceberg. We have sold ourselves to China, Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia at an alarming rate since the end of World War II.
Regardless of everything, we must live at this present moment in the nation's history. We must exist in the world of fiber-optics, cell phones, fax machines, FedEx, 5G networks, diversity, mobility and non-traditionalism. Moaning and groaning over some lost Camelot of the Kennedys will not serve us well.
This is a new world. The rules are different!
You do not face "de bulls" with a center who is six feet seven inches tall and guards who specialize in set shots. You do not get a job just for having a diploma or a college degree. You are likely to find that the local valedictorian's name is Natasha or Hung as it is Mary or Michael. You do not get your name in the local paper by running a sub four-minute mile. You do not compete with the mega-retailers just by keeping your aisles clean and having a family name known by everyone East of Los Angeles or West of New York. You cannot watch Johnny Carson after the evening news done by Walter Cronkite.
The Barna Research Group issued a report entitled "We Have Seen the Future: The Change of Culture in Los Angeles County." It assumes that Los Angeles is a sort of cultural bellwether for the rest of urban America. The City of Angels forewarns us of re-urbanization, the transition from rural values to urban values. We are changing from status quo, harmony and smallness to change, diversity and bigness. It also signals the incredible changes from immigration. Our country is feeling the effects of a multicultural tide. Seven to nine million people stream into the United States each year - at least until Trump put the Kibosh on immigration - mostly from Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America instead of the traditional places like Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and the Middle East.
We have to understand that we are no longer living in the 1950s. We must be prepared for change, because it is coming and is upon us. We have to accept the fact that we live in a world of mega-stores and shopping malls, crumbling down towns, rising unemployment, soaring crime, rising rents and failing governments.
The all-too-familiar warning is "Do not change for the sake of change." Good advice. But to whom does it apply? We could also say "Do not stay the same just for the sake of staying the same."
We seek change because this is a new time, a new place, a very new world. And we must live in it, so change becomes inevitable, or we will collapse in a pile of anachronisms similar to Greece and Rome.
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