The World Turned Upside Down

Americans today can sympathize with the British surrender at Yorktown whose exasperation and incredulity was expressed when the band played “The World Turned Upside Down”.  (Some historians claim this is apocryphal.) 

As examples:

          * A 29 year old whose last job before being elected to Congress was bartending is the beneficiary of swooning treatment from the media.  Many of her fellow Democrats, including Presidential candidates, feel compelled or emboldened – to endorse her harebrained Green New Deal scheme.

          * A young, defeated senatorial candidate with essentially no credentials (other than a few terms as a congressman from Texas) announces he is running for President to uncritical acclaim by the CNN/MSNBC cheerleaders.

          * The President, the last in line of chief executives who’ve included notables such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, apparently doesn’t comprehend the difference between dignified behavior and that, traditionally, which is not.  And his indiscreet conduct and language is applauded by adoring fans.

What happened to the America which some Americans (such as TSC) thought they knew?

Of course, it’s a mistake to extrapolate the approval exhibited by some Americans as being embraced by most.  But it is obviously Pollyannaish to term these episodes as mere aberations.

Two explanations come to mind.

First, Americans, in general, no longer have a predisposition to view with high regard credentials such as training, education and experience as a prerequisite for assuming leadership roles.

That altered respect for what used to be considered necessary qualifications and at the heart of populist movement that cuts across political lines.

And there is ample justification for the populist reactions.  America’s credentialed leadership has been disappointing.  Ten years ago, the economy was in the tank, largely the result of irresponsible and/or greedy conduct by our nation’s leaders including Congress and financial institutions.

And from a conservative perspective, there was a sense of incompetence, even betrayal, permeating Republican Party ranks.  Promises were made – and not kept – that if voters gave the GOP control of Congress and the White House – good things would happen, like the repeal of Obamacare…  Disillusionment set in.

Secondly, Americans are increasingly tolerant people.  That is distinctly positive when it comes to accepting people from different backgrounds and racial groups.  But it also extends, usually negatively, to what used to be considered deviant or unacceptable behavior .  Tolerance in that respect usually means an abandonment of standards (as the notorious – to TSC – Nike commercial used to preach, “just do it”!)  Much of society seems to have abdicated its traditional role of setting – and enforcing – standards with the inevitable result that they vanish.   

[The seeming exception to this condition is that “toleration” excludes conduct or speech which might hurt someone’s feelings… unless, as conservatives will note, their feelings might be offended.]

Social Media with its anonymity has greatly exacerbated this harmful coarsening of standard-less tolerance.  So the lowest common denominator of human nature is celebrated.

   Religious leaders, the very people one would expect to promulgate social and ethical standards, are largely silent.  Is it fear of being ignored, deemed irrelevant by the broader community?  How sad!

Maybe in these times, institutions such as churches, schools and community organizations have become largely impotent.  They no longer have the ability or desire to set – enforce – moral standards.  To do so would be, after all, intolerant!  Rather, increasingly, people feel isolated and alone:  “Guidance” from social media has filled the void.

Is it still possible to turn the world “right side up”?