Brave New Windblown World

To say that the United States faces an existential crisis (crises?) not experienced since the American Civil War (1861-65) is not hyperbole. American history is being erased and rewritten on a daily schedule, by those who care more about tearing down its purported affront rather than understand its recognized importance. I use the word schedule because this occurrence, undoubtedly, is timed with the longstanding agenda by certain, well-funded extremist groups to ultimately dismantle, if not fully overthrow, the ideals and values for which the country stands. Correspondingly, there are those who willfully continue to deny that this is even happening. When confronted by the evidence, it is categorized and dismissed as conspiracy, hoax, or propaganda; anyone disseminating it is labeled insensitive, privileged, and/or racist. As much as one may wish to be surprised by this circumstance, the dire warnings have been present, yet ignored, for decades.

In 1820, the U.S. was embroiled in the admission of new states, Maine (1820) and Missouri (1821), that centered on the balance of power between free and slave states. This debate resulted in the Missouri Compromise, which, for the time, allayed what eventually would boil over decades later into the aforementioned civil war. Also that year, President James Monroe, in a practically uncontested presidential election, was re-elected to a second term. In 1920, the U.S. Department of Justice, at the direction of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, continued rounding up anarchists, communists, and other radicals (known colloquially as the “First Red Scare”), mainly in reaction to the Russian Revolution that fueled fears of domestic infiltration and unrest. Additionally, race riots engulfed multiple cities throughout the country, as tensions heightened due to numerous socioeconomic factors in the post-WWI era. Prohibition also went into effect and Warren G. Harding was elected president in the U.S., while world powers continued efforts to conclude WWI by adopting the Treaty of Versailles and battling the Spanish flu pandemic. Although not a comprehensive list of events in those years, history may not repeat but, as Mark Twain suggests, it sure does seem to rhyme.

For this 2020 election year, Ronald Reagan vs. Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election undeniably might be even more relevant to current events. Mondale, a former senator who had served as vice-president under President Jimmy Carter only four years earlier, and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, a U.S representative from New York, were heralded and forecast by media and politicos to sweep out the incumbents Reagan and his vice-president, George H.W. Bush. Instead, the opposite happened, with the Mondale/Ferraro ticket winning only the former's home state, Minnesota, and astronomically losing both the electoral and popular vote; four years later, Bush would be voted into the presidency, thus cementing the legacy of “Reaganism.” If that scenario sounds remotely familiar, Trump/Pence vs. Biden/Harris quite possibly could see history repeat.

Humanity has been on the brink of chaos and descent before, looking over this similar precipice many times. There is a reckoning that must hold to account the circumstance, but there also must be change; what has happened before can, and ultimately will, happen again without either one. We may indeed look back on 2020, quite literally in hindsight, as a watershed year not only for the world, but especially for the United States. Let us hope, and assuredly plead, that it will not be for misguided and ill-fated reasons.

©2020 Steve Sagarra

A Stir of Something Wicked

“Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe.”
-H. G. Wells

For the past few months, the world has teetered over the proverbial slippery-slope on several levels due to the SARS-CoV-2 (“Covid-19”) outbreak. Through no fault of their own, individuals, local communities, and vast populations have experienced consequential socio-economic disruptions and devastating hardships from which they may never recover. While overall numbers are lower compared to seasonal viruses like influenza, the loss of human life nevertheless has been astronomical in a relatively short time period; the exact toll continues to clarify with increased available testing. All due to communist China’s failures to properly contain and report on the coronavirus unleashed from their country before it erupted unchecked into a global pandemic - possibly, as history suggests, part and parcel of a calculated agenda.

In reaction, the debate centered around that deemed essential and non-essential in order to “flatten the curve.” Who decides who and what are essential? As it turns out, governments at all levels made that decision for everyone. Yet, what is essential for one person might not be considered essential for the majority, and vice versa. Not unexpected, this circumstance presented a handful of polarized, albeit mostly restrained, situations throughout several countries, including the United States, as citizens rebelled against mandated lockdown and safety procedures considered as infringing on freedoms and rights. Nevertheless, officials worldwide decided, and the general populace begrudgingly yet obligingly acquiesced, that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, or the one.

Another “who” - the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) - decided what information, and from whom, was deemed essential to counter the ensuing pandemic. Logically, one might think weighing the most reliable information available to them would be followed by a proper course of action. Instead, they callously sided with China’s questionable assurances and statements, towing communist propaganda in its wake, while simultaneously ignoring Taiwan’s prescient and dire warnings. An international organization meant, in idealistic if not naive theory, to be above such collusion and politicization, the world continues to suffer for that biased decision. Arbitrarily, the W.H.O., no less acting on behalf of China whether intentional or not, decided the needs of the few, or the one, outweighed the needs of the many.

Amazingly, the global shutdown of daily life and adoption to this new, hopefully temporary, normal has not devolved into an apocalyptic hellscape as some predicted, and for which others possibly prayed. This has seen both positive and negative effects, highlighting frontline heroes while exposing bureaucratic villains. Intriguing, the United Nations (U.N.) has been relatively absent and more inert than usual during this chaotic time. Of course, the U.N., like its proxy agency W.H.O., equally is guilty of disseminating and parroting misinformation attributable to Chinese pundits and state-run media. Perhaps, the international body simply is too busy to verify before trusting the source, focused more on expanding its #uselessnations status admonishing countries (e.g. Israel, United States) that dare to act upon their independent, sovereign rights counter to U.N. agenda.

None of which downplays or excuses the true culprit: China. Not the Chinese culture or people in any general critique, although certain aspects of the former could, and conceivably should, be ended by the latter to ease future concerns. Rather, the communist Chinese government is to blame and bears sole responsibility for the pandemic. There must be a thorough investigation and accounting of their actions, followed by equally judicious punishment both economically and politically. Even more, there can be no return to the pre-pandemic conditions that allowed it to happen if humanity wishes to live any longer and further prosper in the aftermath. Those who would betray that ideal must be stopped now before they once more can throw the world into chaos and, time and again, onto the precipice of our ultimate self-destruction.

So say we all.

©2020 Steve Sagarra

Audacious Perseverance in Mercurial Times

Throughout history, we have witnessed extraordinary individuals, many living ordinary lives, saving humanity from its continual hubris and shortsighted mess. Cemeteries and mausoleums, unfortunately, are permanently dedicated to them. Yet, I find cemeteries and mausoleums unnatural, as they both represent a barrier against nature. In either instance, the deceased is preserved and shielded against those processes which routinely occur in nature, thus mitigating any restoration to it in any natural way. This is one reason I wish to be cremated, returned to the ash and dirt from which humanity originated.

Naturally, our existence is arbitrary at best and insignificant at worse. There are uncontrollable, not to mention unknown, forces not only on this planet but also throughout the universe that could annihilate us in an instant. It would be naive not to believe that process already is at work, in some way, even perhaps either by our own actions or a higher entity beyond appeasement. What do we do with our finite time? We contend for, quarrel over, and give sanction to the even more arbitrary and insignificant.

Currently, humanity faces one of its greatest threats in the form of disease. In a rare and unprecedented move, the entire world, for the most part, has come together in solidarity out of necessity to expeditiously defeat this unseen enemy. Not since the Second World War has such global consensus taken hold to put aside selfish aspirations for the greater cause of the whole. Although petty squabbles - and the apparent need to score political points - have not subsided in spite of this circumstance, they are more in the periphery than anything of lasting substance. Of course, personal setbacks, economic hardships, political ramifications, etc, must be considered, but these are best left to contemplate and address after due diligence.

There are consequences in doing anything, but even more so in doing nothing. Perhaps, it is time humanity permanently casts away vice in favor of virtue. More importantly, it is long overdue for humanity to start acting humane - toward its fellow inhabitants of this world, and, especially, in respecting nature’s creations in general. After all, we are at the mercy of indefinite impermanence, and judgment could come right soon without notice if so chosen. Do something extraordinary in life, even if it may seem ordinary now or in the hereafter. 

©2020 Steve Sagarra