Reversal of Fortune

Some work from last year turned up some fossils of Homo Sapiens in Morocco dated to 315,000 years. This pushes back the earliest know evidence of the species more than 100,000 years. During the process of considering this anthropological revelation I was led to consider what humans have been doing over the past thousands of centuries. History written in some form only dates back about 3000 years and we believe the oral tradition goes a bit further to about 6,000 years ago. Evidence is

that it was about 10,000 years ago that homo sapiens began living in communal groups and began to undertake agriculture. That step gave humans the time necessary to form social groups and thus the first crude systems of government came to be. They were no doubt tribal and not very complicated. Very likely they held no lofty ideals and were often based on who or what sub-group could force control over the others but it was a necessary primitive step.

But I began to wonder about the pitfalls the human race must have encountered on its journey to the present. This Moroccan fossil is the first evidence that humanity migrated into the furthest parts of Africa from the Great Rift Valley where it is thought the species originated. Previously we had thought the migration into the Middle East was the direction that the earliest pilgrims made their journey.

I have always found the study of anthropology to be fascinating ever since Dick Lewis taught a number of classes at Somerset Community College. In that earlier life I was even less disciplined than I now am and paid little heed to courses that were necessary to the furtherance of my major studies. I took every class he taught. Later I became a little more focused and became enamored with the study of political science. Neither of these aforementioned fields have been what one could call useful in my pursuit of financial remuneration but I am pretty good at crossword puzzles.

Democracies have only existed for a few hundreds of years. The Greek example and the Romans seem more to be oligarchies or aristocracies than democracies. Post WWII it seemed that democracies were taking root everywhere even if there were notable exceptions like the Soviet Union and Communist China but here, some 70 years later we see democracies struggling under the strain of inequalities of opportunity and gross disparities in wealth. To quote some of my favorite philosophers, Led Zeppelin, it makes me wonder.

How many times did homo sapiens rise to new heights only to fall back to some previous level of achievement. And if it were possible then can it still be possible to repeat that pattern? After rising this far (we have an extraordinarily high opinion of ourselves) is it possible to fall back into some previous form of government such as feudalism or monarchies? Could we still be unable to temper our desires and prejudices and thence fall prey to some model more fascist in nature? Did homo sapiens ever rise to communal life only to be faced with ecological disaster or other tribes more warlike and thus lose the gleam of society?

We are faced with some scenarios in this time that have the potential to exert just such an influence on the species. Climate change has the potential to disrupt the flow of commerce to the point of subsistence existence. People don't consider how tenuous the thread of civilized behavior is and how little it would take to sever it. What would happen if you were unable to go to the grocery for 2 weeks, a month. Would you resort to stealing food, would others steal yours. Climate change is already forcing mass migrations and will soon begin consuming resources as we attempt to hold back the seas from seaports and we find food scarce when the California farms begin to not produce.

What about nuclear holocaust that has the potential to kill hundreds of millions instantly and most certainly billions in a short while. How would that disrupt our threads of civilization? Would we revert to some previous time when it took strength and power to feed and clothe ourselves. What kind of government could survive that?

Or what if our talent for war consumes resources that could have been used for society, for building schools or providing health care? We are near that now. Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States and a Republican said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

Will we pay heed or will we revert? Again?

My Take? Time to choose.

Overlord

Mitch McConnell is a master of his craft. As a matter of fact he frequently gets away with stuff that seems outrageous through political cunning and an intimate knowledge of exactly how the Senate works. He is an expert at using some of the arcane rules of the Senate to guide his programs through a maze of procedure or how to use that maze to trap other bills in limbo forever. It has taken him some 30 years to reach the pinnacle of power from which he now exercises control over legislation that can and will affect our nation for a half century to come.

His uncanny sense of what the public will tolerate has allowed him to proceed through election after election without ever facing a serious chance of losing. He knows when to attack and he knows when to ignore and has defied all predictions of his political demise and, from all indications, may ride to his eternal reward directly from the steps of the Senate.

He reached the position of Minority Leader of his Republican Party in 2007 and in 2016 rose to Majority Leader. In his position of Minority Leader he led a program of devout opposition to anything that President Obama or the Democratic Party proposed regardless of the propriety or the well-being of the nation. He promised upon President Obama's election to do whatever it would take to make sure that he was an one term President. He did fail at that but he led the charge of obstructionism and the rise of the right wing fringe to a victory for Donald Trump in 2016. No doubt he would have preferred any other GOP candidate that could have won and who would have been instilled with Republican dogma but he has shown a flexibility to use what is given to outlast and then defeat his opponents that would unseat him.

His self-serving obstruction prevented any Republicans from crossing the aisle to strike a deal of compromise with the Affordable Care Act even after many concessions were made to increase the chances of a bipartisan effort. He understood that even defeat on this matter would lead to his personal agenda being afforded a chance to eventually win out. Consequently the Affordable Care Act was passed without any Republican votes and McConnell led the campaign that used it as the primary tool for attacking the Democrats running for office. A shameful tactic that prevented bipartisan legislation that could have gone a great distance to lessening the divide that plagues our country. He forced almost all legislation to require a 60 vote majority by threatening filibuster and by doing so prevented our country from beginning an infrastructure program that would have brought the nation out of recession years sooner. He realized, correctly, that the success of such a program would cement Democratic victories and prevent his rise to the apex of power. Now that the GOP holds the majority he wants to cut Social Services to fund an infrastructure bill but you can bet it will be one that funnels public funds into private corporations. The hypocrisy is not lost on many but he has calculated that the public's memory is far too short and that the voter is always amenable to promises of prosperity.

Perhaps the most ignominious act of all was his refusal to allow President Obama's nominee to replace Justice Scalia to even be allowed the dignity of a debate and vote on the Senate floor. In the past it has been considered a prerogative of the President to make nominations and, if there is no serious malfeasance found, to vote on the nominee. McConnell steadfastly stood against the welfare of the nation and promoted partisan behavior to a fever pitch in his refusal to even allow the nominee to be debated, much less voted on.

With the election of Donald Trump it seemed that McConnell had lost his mojo. The new gang in the White House led by former Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon seemed to have the bosses ear and the will to appeal to the most derogatory elements of our people to instigate a rebellion that would place in power a publicly elected government approaching the classic definitions of fascism.

Economic Nationalism he said. Use American power to drive bargains that would always place America in the winner's circle never mind that our beloved country has been, since World War II, the greatest force for shared prosperity and peace in the world. He lauded the destruction of that model and was unapologetic for it but then Bannon ran afoul of the patience and guile of McConnell. After a few blunders by the administration McConnell's stock rose as one who could calm the storm and bring results. Then Bannon and his patron, the President, supported a couple of candidates who lost while campaigning against not only the Democratic opponent but also McConnell himself. Guess who came out smelling like a rose and who was shown the door. N

Bannon was not only banished from the White House but also from his power base at Breitbart while McConnell shepherded the Great Tax Give Away of 2017 through not only the Senate but the House of Representatives and put it on the President's desk for his signature.

A day hadn't passed before the GOP was talking about entitlement reform. Entitlements, you know, that pittance that you are given, hopefully before you die, to live out your final years, nevermind that you paid taxes to support it, Social Security and Medicare. Well, the money has to come from somewhere and the big money is in Social Services and Military and everyone knows that we have to fight wars all over the world to keep our country safe from the heathen horde.

Make no mistake about it. It has always been the goal of the GOP to eliminate Social Security and

Medicare as we know it. The programs passed into law with minimal Republican support and have been under attack ever since. Republican dogma just does not allow for programs that may even hint of socialism.

With the tax giveaway and its concessions a large part of the American budget income was eliminated which means that the money to replace it has to come from somewhere. They wanted to get the money by repealing the Affordable Care Act but the people wouldn't allow it and now they want to begin the infrastructure plan but where is the money to come from? Well, what else is left?

McConnell is near to achieving the Holy Grail for Republicans. My Take is that he just might get there.