When A Mighty House Of Mirrored Glass Begins To Crack

This August of 2016 sees the Trump campaign begin to fall apart.  What's going on?  What happened?  Didn't this man go through the primaries like a hot knife through butter?  And, if there were inconsistencies in his message, why did they become apparent only now?

As I struggle to understand what happened to the Trump phenomenon, there comes to mind the image of a mighty house of mirrors that begin to crack.  I see riots of African Americans, not in cities ruled by whites, but rather in cities with African American mayors and councilmen and police departments in which are found goodly numbers of African American officers.  I see politicians, blind to the lack of economic opportunities for the less well educated, whether white or black, who tell us how great this country is.  I see this country's leaders pointing to our wonderful fighting men and women and glossing over the realities of a military falling behind in equipping these men and women with the tools to conduct war.  I see leaders who can't even identify our enemy or name those who would upend our way of life.  How did we come to this sorry state?

I trace our present problems to a self delusional way thinking that can be found in JFK's quote, borrowed from George Bernard Shaw; namely, "Some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were and say why not?"  When you avoid seeing reality as it is and go to things that are not, you begin to build a house of glass mirrors.  Consider issues faced by America in the past -- slavery and then Jim Crow.  America was not unique in facing these problems.  More slaves were shipped to Brazil and to Caribbean countries than were to America.  But whether slavery was unique or not, America asked why?  Why slavery?  And, there was no answer consistent with the country's true values.  It took a fearful war to end slavery, a war that saw enormous numbers killed and maimed.  But, ultimately America ended the practice of slavery.  Ending Jim Crow did not require near so many lives, but there was nevertheless a toll that had to be paid and required brave men and women, mostly black, but also many whites, to stand up to this dreadful way of treating our fellow man.

But despite our desire to see equality for all, we have long been aware that blacks have not faired as well as whites financially and educationally.  Then too, street crime seems to be a feature of the black inner city.   Why?  Sen. Moynihan, a man who was both a sociologist and a legislator, studied the problem and arrived at what many considered to be the answer; namely, the breakdown of the black family.  It was an answer many did not choose to hear.  Indeed, the senator has been reviled  for his findings ever since.

Liberal minded people see all people as being the same and that is true.  However, they fail to understand that not all cultures are the same.  Examine the cultures that prevail in countries throughout the world and this becomes immediately obvious.  There is the Russian culture, the Italian culture, the Jewish culture, the Chinese culture, and an Islamic culture found in countries like Egypt and Pakistan.  And, while the cultures of Pakistan and Egypt differ in a number of ways, they do share many beliefs and attitudes.  Liberals tend to dismiss these differences.  And, a man like Trump seems to exaggerate them, but they do exist and the failure to see this is just one more crack in the mirror.

We draw red lines which we disregard.  We empty Guantanamo of truly dangerous terrorists.  And, the question is why?  Why do we do so many things that end in easily predictable failures?  It seems to be because we don't want to accept reality.  We'd rather dream things that never were (and never will be) and  struggle with a pointless why not?  It's not that there's anything wrong with asking why not, but it's in solving the knotty problems immediately before us that deserve the greatest attention and energy that we can bring to bear.

I am reminded of the tourist who was taken through a zoo in Israel.  The the tourist was amazed to see a lion and a lamb share the same pen.  "How did you manage to do that.  How did you get a lion and a lamb to share the same space?

"Easy," chuckled the guard.  "Every morning we put in a new lamb."