Ciceronianus; causidicus
A CICERONIAN LAWYER'S MUSINGS ON LAW, PHILOSOPHY, CURRENT AFFAIRS, LITERATURE, HISTORY AND LIVING LIFE SECUNDUM NATURAM
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Reflections on the Glass Ceiling
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Let's Kill all the Pundits
Sunday, July 28, 2024
The State of Gracelessness
Sunday, July 21, 2024
On A Carousel
I'm leery of efforts at constructing grand, all-encompassing explanations of complicated phenomena, but think there is an element of truth in the claim that our history is in some sense cyclical, which is to say that we repeat ourselves, swinging pendulum-like from one extreme of social consciousness to another. I'm inclined to attribute this to an inability to learn and to think, however. This isn't to our credit, but it generates optimism of a sort--we can at least imagine that the current fad for autocracy and sameness, and the repression of contrasting views and lifestyles, will dissipate in time, as we ride the carousel of our history.
Thus, the prospect of an aging, scatter-brained and astonishingly self-centered snake-oil salesman becoming president once more need not terrify us, and it may be hoped that no permanent harm will be done to the nation. The recent, relentlessly clownish, convention might merely be a tawdry circus rather than a horrifying glimpse of things to come.
But assuming we survive the upcoming election as something resembling a Republic, what kind of a nation will we be? We already are an oligarchy, or more properly a plutocracy. Our legislators are for sale; the justices of our high court look for handouts and appear more and more like panhandlers wearing black robes. What do we call a nation governed by gluttons and hoarders? I don't think Aristotle came up with a term for a land of Trimalchios.
We must emulate Montaigne, who wrote: "Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and if they will not adapt to me, I adapt to them." We must become nations in ourselves. Not like the silly so-called "sovereign citizens" who live in a fantasy world much like a roleplay game, but rather as individuals mindful of their own interests and seeking peaceful co-existence with others but taking intelligent steps and making intelligent decisions for their own protection.
Monday, July 15, 2024
It'll Never Stop Being '68
My apologies to the Anderson Council, but the year 1968 comes to mind easily now, given the circumstances in our Glorious Union. Another assassination attempt, a Democratic Party in chaos, lines drawn along with guns throughout the nation, a convention coming up in Chicago...surely it must be time again for whatever it may be called that we do when we stop thinking and start shouting about good and evil.