Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin

According to the Book of Daniel, Belshazzar, King of Babylon, was enjoying a feast with his friends and courtiers using implements taken from the Temple of Solomon when he was surprised to see a hand, attached to no visible body, scribbling the words of the title to this post on a nearby wall.  As these tales usually go, all else failing one of the captive Jews, the Prophet Daniel, was summoned to explain the writing and the words (I see "parsin" used for "upharsin" sometimes).  As one might expect, Daniel informed the King that the hand was that of God, and the writing informed those interested that Belshazzar and his kingdom had been weighed and assessed, and their days counted, and they would soon come to an end.  And so they did eventually, courtesy of Cyrus the Great and his Medes and Persians.

This is the famous "Writing on the Wall."  When you see that writing, you know it will soon all be over for yourself and other persons and things.

Did we see the "writing on the wall" last night, in a presidential debate which it may be said will live in infamy like Pearl Harbor Day?  For our Great Republic and for some if not all of us as its citizens?

No ghostly, or godly, hand or writing appeared, but much else did, none of it worthy, all of it unworthy.  In fairness, it may be noted that efforts were made by the moderator and one of the participants in the debate (or what passes as a debate here) to act with a certain dignity of the kind which should attend these proceedings.  But the other participant acted with no dignity whatsoever and with a clear intent sought to deprive the debate of any usefulness or merit, assuring it would be merely unseemly and chaotic.  Much as he is, it's sad to say.  His pandering to adherents of white supremacy was more than unseemly, of course, but that is part of his character, such as it is.

Recent political debates here have not been impressive as a rule.  We haven't seen and apparently will never again see the likes of such debates as those engaged in by Lincoln and Douglas, for example.  However, it has at least been possible for participants in a debate to state, if not explain, their positions on matters of import, and to appear as if they were adults worthy of a minimum amount of respect, credible if not especially intelligent or honorable representatives of their constituents.

In this case, though, it was as if the rules that govern responsible and intelligent public conduct among adults had been forsaken, and we were spectators, on a global scale, of a dispute taking place on a playground among elementary school level contestants.  This is our politics, now; these are our politicians; this is the picture we present to the world.  It's a picture than must delight some, given the American tendency to pontificate regarding morals and conduct.

We must expect that Republicans, who it seems have become the most craven and appeasing of our politicians, will at most say nothing at all about the conduct of the candidate of their party.  It must be expected as well that what the media delights in calling the president's "base" will tolerate and even applaud his latest caperings.  Unfortunately, we've come to expect and even hope that disagreements among us appear to be bar-fights or exhibitions of chest-pounding.  We're now convinced that life is what it's portrayed to be in TV, movies and video games, or at least should be that.  It's no surprise that professional wrestling is so popular in our Glorious Union.

What, if anything, has been written on our wall?  Not necessarily the end of our nation.  But it may be the end of pretensions to being a civilized, superior, nation.  If we're willing if not eager to have our leaders engage in spectacles of this kind, or to have leaders who are incapable of acting any other way than with a thoughtless and crude belligerence in public forums in which important issues are supposed to be addressed, than we've become brutal.  We have no basis on which we can claim to teach or lead the world.  The days of our preeminence in world affairs, of being a force for the good of humanity, have been counted, I'm afraid.  In that respect, at least, we are being found wanting.