"Return from Sabbatical"

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Return from Sabbatical

April 9, 2021

 

“There is a certain clarity on a high roof…One’s perspective, at that altitude, is unusually good.

Who has the longer view of things, anyway, a prime minister in a closet, or a man on a barn roof?”

                                                                                                                                E.B. White (1895-1985)

                                                                                                                                “Clear Days,” October 1938

                                                                                                                                One Man’s Meat, 1942

 

Three months ago, I wrote what was to be my last Thought of the Day. Two reasons were cited: fear that my voice was (or would become) angry, and the necessity of being able to laugh – to put away the mendacity of political commentary for the joy of life. However, I decided cessation need not be permanent. Sabbaticals are healthy. Hiding is not. Sober words, I have been told, are necessary to keep the lamp of liberty lit. 

 

What is concerning is “Woke” culture: an insistence that “equality” refers to outcomes, not opportunities or equal treatment under the law; the “canceling” of history; the rise of Critical Race Theory, with its unintended consequences; and the dismemberment of our Judeo-Christian heritage, which abandons faith and family. It is not politicians I find disquieting – since time immemorial they have always served their self-interests – it is their enablers in the mainstream media and entertainment industries, in churches, schools, universities and corporate board rooms, including Major League Baseball – except, in the latter, racial and gender diversity does not apply to players, where talent still reigns.

 

Why do we insist public schools for the gifted and talented should reflect race, not ability? Why do elite colleges provide different (read higher) standards for Asians than for blacks, Hispanics and whites? Why do corporations, owned by millions of shareholders – usually indirectly through mutual funds, ETFs or pension plans – not want the most able to sit in their boards? Do they really believe that long-term holders of businesses are not aware of all stakeholders when valuing a business? People are not equal in physical attributes, mental abilities, or aspiration. Why the discrimination? Would you attend an NBA game if the team reflected the City’s racial and gender profile instead of its best basketball players? Do you believe pilots should be selected on the basis of ability, or should they reflect the nation’s racial and/or gender make up? Attempts to make equal what can never be equal is not only insulting; it detracts from the far more important mission of providing equal opportunities for all to succeed, in whatever field they choose. Yesterday’s political correctness has worsened into today’s “Wokeness.”

 

In The Life of Reason, George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Today, our past is either ignored or condemned as racist, sexist or homophobic. Yet our Founders, for all their faults, produced a nation that became the envy of people everywhere. People across the globe are freer, richer and safer because of the United States. History is a continuum, a work in progress. One can remove statues or destroy textbooks, but that does not change what happened. To best know the past, we should be made to understand what knowledge and moral principles existed at the time. Of course, mistakes were made, especially when measured against today’s values. In The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells wrote: “Man is an imperfect animal.” That is true. There have been times when we slid back. But the forward progress has been remarkable, as anyone who has studied the past 2000 or even 200 years knows.

 

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Critical Race Theory (CRT) is based on the idea that race, “instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour.” It incorporates “the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist…” While the United States was built on optimism, CRT reflects pessimism. It suggests that Martin Luther King’s dream of a world where people will be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, will never be realized. It is a theory demeaning to the people it alleges to help. As Jason Riley asked in a recent Wall Street Journal column: “Why treat the black electorate like helpless children?” As a movement, CRT, with its Marxist view of racial/economic division has extended that distinction to women’s and gender issues. While compartmentalization may make for more focused political campaigns, it is degrading to the individuals it claims to help, discourages social and economic mobility, and it is the principal cause of societal unrest.

 

Perspective is needed. What were common values in pre- and post-Revolutionary times? We know about slavery on these shores, but what about slavery as practiced by African slave traders? What about New England abolitionists? What about the Jim Crow era and Reconstruction? Or the treatment of Irish in the late 19^th Century? What about attitudes toward Jews in the 1930s and ‘40s or blacks in the 1950s? What rules of conduct were generally accepted back then? Have we not improved? Do we really believe that Georgia today is “Jim Crow on steroids,” as some have claimed? Can we not be honest? Should we not judge our forefathers by the standards of their day, rather than by those under which we live? Do we want to be judged by our great-grandchildren based on principles a hundred years hence? Has truth been revealed to those who sanctimoniously attack the failings of our ancestors? Are today’s moral values sufficient for all eternity? Also, how does Western culture compare to other cultures? Has any other culture given individuals more freedom and opportunities to advance, offered more prosperity and happiness than our Judeo-Christian one? Do those who criticize the U.S. stand up against slavery where it exists today, in Africa, the Middle East and Asia? Do they protest human trafficking on our southern border, or the treatment of Uighurs by the Chinese Communist Party? Without a knowledge of the past and without seeing the world through a clear lens, how can we be assured that today’s policies will provide a fairer, richer, more equitable society tomorrow?

 

At bottom, it is freedom that concerns us. We should not be ashamed of our faith, dedication, perseverance, hard work, loyalty, generosity and tolerance, characteristics not confined to one race, but qualities that define us as a people and a nation. By definition, the greater the presence of government in our lives, the less individual freedom we have. On the political spectrum that spans from anarchy to totalitarianism, it is the right balance between government control and individual choice we seek. While political ideologies differ, it is the job of elected representatives to find accommodation. But where are we today? Cancelled history and censorship are practiced in schools, colleges and the workplace. Critical Race Theory, with its neo-Marxist façade, divides people into oppressors and oppressed. It is experienced in government and corporate offices. Where are the open forums at universities that once welcomed dissenting opinions? Where is the once-dispassionate newspaper that still carries as its slogan: “All the News That’s Fit to Print?” 

 

E.B. White wrote an essay in June 1940, titled “Freedom,” which was included in One Man’s Meat. It was at a time when German Nazis, a political party birthed in socialism, had, with the exception of Switzerland and Sweden, conquered mainland Europe. England was vulnerable to invasion. White wrote: “The United States, almost alone today, offers the liberties and the privileges and the tools of freedom. In this land the citizens are still invited to write their plays and books, to paint their pictures, to meet for discussion, to dissent as well as to agree, to mount soapboxes in the public square, to enjoy education in all subjects without censorship, to hold one another, to compose music, to talk politics with their neighbors without wondering whether the secret police are listening, to exchange ideas as well as goods, to kid the government when it needs kidding, and to read real news of real events instead of phony news manufactured by a paid agent of the state.” How far we have strayed from that ideal. We must be a nation where such freedoms are encouraged, else the democratic Republic, formed in the crucible of the post-American Revolution, will no longer exist. Talent knows no bounds Whether intellectual, creative or physical, it is not limited by race, sex, gender or ethnicity. A fair society encourages talent wherever and whenever it appears.

 

About fifteen years ago, I started writing Thoughts of the Day. Initially, they were brief comments on markets and came out every day. In time, they morphed into longer, political commentary, with reduced frequency. The past three months have shown me that by avoiding televised news and spending more time reading for pleasure, one may gain clarity without having to climb onto a barn roof. Those of us who like to comment should spend more time in reflection and less time listening to bloviating blowhards on TV. Going forward, I make no promises other than to write whenever events move me. It is likely to be issues rather than personalities that attract my attention.