Quotes of the week:
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.” –Thomas Paine, from The American Crisis and The Rights of Man
I was going to write this week about whether Donald Trump’s “count every U.S., Russian and Chinese warhead” proposal was a good idea, a scam, or both. But that can wait. There’s something more important to write about, something that speaks to this moment, and something that also speaks to our common commitment to prevent mushroom clouds.
Hope. Hope sustains, but doesn’t spring eternal. Without hope, loss has the closing argument. Loss and depression. We look for hope and find it in unexpected places and people. And then we can revive. Hope can carry us to a better place, if enough of us do the lifting.
Like you, I couldn’t find much hope of late. My beloved country was reeling. I questioned the resilience of our democracy. I couldn’t bear to watch the images of George Floyd’s death. Alessandra and I splurged after my retirement and went to Tanzania to see animals on their turf, uncaged. Darwin’s survival of the fittest played out before us, along with serenity and beauty beyond our powers of imagination. The knee on George Floyd’s neck brought back primal images from that safari, images of the hunter and the prey.
And then, street protests began. Fox’s Trumpophiles kept looping images of fires and vandalism. I refrained from allowing hope back into my heart. And then the protests began to build, and the strength of disciplined social protest rekindled my hope.
Thank you, Donald Trump for having no sense of guardrails and for publicly considering the use of active duty troops to quash social protests, finally prompting his first Secretary of Defense and other four stars to clear their throats. And thank you, Donald Trump, from the bottom of my now-mending heart, for using the Bible as a prop. Our law and order President treats the Bible as if hawking merchandise on the Home Shopping Network, breaks laws, stokes division and chaos, and doesn’t follow scripture. A majority of my fellow citizens know without a shadow of a doubt that this dog won’t hunt.
Will the clarity of this moment be sustained until November? Will the Electoral College reflect majority sentiment? There will be many glaring headlines between now and then. But I’ve got my hope back.
And since, after all, this is armscontrolwonk.com, I’ll answer the mail with this closing thought:
Hope is also a necessary ingredient for succeeding at arms control. Cynics don’t accomplish great things in our line of work. Pessimists deconstruct; optimists build. Those who hold out hope succeed at reducing nuclear dangers and weapons. We’re going through hard times, but don’t give up hope.