politics

The past is here again

My mom saved the local newspaper, The Arizona Republic, from the day I was born, in October 1973. It cost 10¢, by the way. And even though it was more than half a century ago, much of it feels eerily recent:

• In the Grin and Bear It  comic by George Lichty, the head of the Cost of Living Council says: “The economic situation is improving, gentlemen! The average family can now afford everything except food, clothing and shelter!”

• “highly inflationary” newsprint price hike causing newspapers to consider subscription price increases

• “Don’t let high interest rates spook you”

• “Buy home now before costs rise”

• labor shortages

• worker strikes

• gun violence

• resistance to gun laws

• Today’s chuckle: “The government is concerned about the population explosion, while the population is concerned about the government explosion.”

• “State fair, like everything, is changing with the times”

• Dunkin’ pumpkin donuts

• “Terra not so firma as we’ve always been led to believe…. the whole North American continent is constantly rotating, tilting, cracking, sinking, rising and otherwise going through scary writhings.” (Lowell Parker)

• “Practice of acupuncture, that ancient Chinese needle treatment that turns patients into human porcupines, isn’t endorsed by the American medical profession but is gaining popularity anyway.”

• “‘Sex-change operations have become so well accepted that that some insurance companies will pay for them,’” New York physician Roberto C. Granato reported, “because transsexualism has become ‘such a well-known and accepted condition’… Transsexuals, he said, live and work as members of the opposite sex, and when they undergo sex-change surgery they ‘leave their anxiety on the operating table.’” (Associated Press)

• “Impeachment panel splits on party lines”

• “President Nixon won’t be impeached; Congress hasn’t the heart for it… If he is not impeached, the House of Representatives will have been guilty of gross dereliction in duty… The man ought to be impeached. The facts positively demand it… And what would the President be charged with? There is such an abundance of possibilities… one hardly knows where to begin.” (William Raspberry)

• In Phoenix, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller sounded “like a presidential candidate by taking political pokes at welfare chiselers, dope pushers, and big bureaucracies…” The governor “made it plain he was a party man by applauding Barry Goldwater and John Rhodes, with whom he has had ideological differences in the past…” Rockefeller “carefully avoided giving direct answers to such politically divisive questions as whether President Nixon should resign and if he was right in firing the Watergate special prosecutor… ‘The hard reality is that throughout the country, there has been a blurring of our sharp focus on what is right and what is wrong,’ he said. ‘There has been a growing tendency to cut corners, to think it’s smart to beat the system… The shock of Watergate can and must make all Americans realize that we must return to our basic belief in individual integrity and honesty.’” (Robert Reilly)

• “I would like to ask this question:  where are the decent Christians that remain so hush-hush concerning sinful, indecent people?” (M. Hale)

• “Senator urging suspension of Nixon’s pal as bank chief”

• “World is on brink of war”

• United Nations sends troops to police the Middle East.

• “Corporate vote gifts criticized”

• “GM complains despite earnings of $267 million”

• “Energy management urged for businesses”

• Two typhoons in Manila inflicted $2.3 million in damages earlier this month. A tropical storm is lashing the East Coast.

• Today’s prayer: “Giving us the ability to think must surely be Your greatest gift, O Lord. Help us to always use the power of thinking to its utmost when faced with indecision. Amen.”

Inflame them to madness

“Whosoever contributes, especially with success, to enlarge the Understandings of Men, and to mend their Hearts, is entitled to the Friendship and Protection of the Governors of Men, I mean of such as would truly answer the noble end of Government; who, if they pursue their duty, and consult the honour and improvement of human nature, will chearfully and generously promote whatever has that good tendency. And they who practice different Politics, by cramping the human Soul, possessing it with false awe, and debasing it through Darkness and Ignorance, do not deserve, but rather disgrace and forfeit, the glorious and endearing title of Magistrates and Protectors.

“True and extensive Knowledge never was, never can be, hurtful to the Peace of Society. It is Ignorance, or, which is worse than ignorance, false Knowledge, that is chiefly terrible to States. They are the furious, the ill taught, the blind and misguided, that are prone to be seized with groundless Fears, and unprovoked Resentment, to be roused by Incendiaries, and to rush desperately into Sedition and acts of Rage.

“Subjects that are most knowing and best informed, are ever most peaceable and loyal. Whereas the Loyalty and obedience of such, whose understandings extend not beyond Names and Sounds, will be always precarious, and can never be thoroughly relied upon, whilst any turbulent or artful men can, by dinn and clamour, and the continual application of those Sounds, intoxicate, and inflame them even to madness, can make them believe themselves undone though nothing hurts them, think they are oppressed when they are best protected, and can drive them into riots and rebellion, without the excuse of one real grievance. It will always be easy to raise a mist before eyes that are already dark: and it is a true observation, ‘that it is an easy work to govern Wise Men; but to govern Fools or Madmen, is a continual slavery.’

“It is from the blind zeal and stupidity cleaving to Superstition, ’tis from the Ignorance, Rashness, and Rage attending Faction, that so many, so mad, and so sanguinary evils have afflicted and destroyed Men, dissolved the best Governments, and thinned the greatest Nations. And as a people well instructed will certainly esteem the Blessings which they enjoy, and study public Peace, for their own sake, there is a great merit in instructing the people, and in cultivating their Understandings. They are certainly less credulous in proportion as they are more knowing, and consequently less liable to be the Dupes of Demagogues, and the property of Ambition. They are not then to be surprized with false cries, nor animated by imaginary Danger; and wherever the Understanding is well principled and informed, the Passions will be tame, and the Heart well disposed.

“They therefore who communicate true Knowledge to their species, are true Friends to the World, Benefactors to Society, and deserve all encouragement from those, who preside over Society, with the applause and good wishes of all men.”

—Pierre Des Maizeaux (1673–1745), Dedication, The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle, Second English Edition, Volume the First, 1734

Fight for our lives

like wild animals, I am happy hiding
the artificial frightens my being —
but it is time to fight for the earth

Terri Guillemets

scrambled blackout poetry created from Rafe Martin, Birdwing, 2005