It was a dark day in my opinion when the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate spoke to the media. It had become apparent there would be no witnesses, no documents, and no interest in pursuing the truth in the Impeachment trial. He described the trial as a perfidy. One of the analysts felt it was a time for a five cent word not a $25.00 word. Not all of us would know the word or understand the message it conveyed. I went to Google and was advised it had become the top searched word in the time frame after America heard it. It is encouraging to realize many concerned citizens were paying attention. Webster defines the word as the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal: treachery. The word first appeared in 1592 and referred to an accepted rule of war that it would be against the code to dress your soldiers in the uniform of the other side to gain an advantage. More recently, theologians like Jean Paul Sartre saw this practice of “bad faith” as “hiding the truth from oneself.” He went on to write that “a person who is not lying to himself is authentic. Authenticity is being faithful to internal rather than external ideas.” Only Senator Romney in the Republican party meets my interpretation of “authentic” as he followed his conscience and was not lured into self deception.
The Webster word search provides many interesting related side roads. Alan Dershowitz demonstrated a severe lack of authenticity during the trial when he claimed “if a President does something he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.” It reminded me of the Lil Abner musical I saw in my youth – Cartoonist Al Capp created Evil Eye Fleegle and the hill billies from Dogpatch who sang “what’s good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA.” Fleegle, from Brooklyn, had a unique skill, the evil eye, his ordinary whammy could stop a charging bull, the double whammy could fell a skyscraper, and the triple could melt a battleship. Then it was current political satire and turns out it is timeless. Pundits were reminded of King Louis XIV, known for his many excesses as the “Sun King”, who may have memorably proclaimed, “l’etat, c’est moi” or translated “I myself am the nation.” King Louis believed in dictatorship by divine right. The whole notion that an obviously self serving leader would be above the law and the constitutional process is unimaginable. It would be most excellent if Al Capp were alive today to refresh his Dogpatch citizens.
I do know one authentic person, my spouse, Karen. It is soon to be her birthday and although age is not an issue she will have lived to see 7 decades. I met her at college and our relationship has been the one constant for nearly 50 years. In 1950 one of the most popular songs was Music, Music, Music sung by Teresa Brewer – “put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon”. The number one song in 1970 is fitting for today. Simon and Garfunkel released “A Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Today, Maroon 5 tops the charts with “Memories”, a tale of love and loss. Karen is loved by all and on the top of the sainthood list of her daughters and her 3 beautiful grandchildren. Join me in a toast to on authentic soul on her birthday.
Enjoy the week end and remember what my father told me when I spun a tale or made an excuse “you can fool everyone but yourself.”
Mike