we build all manner of
walls and fences then wonder why
we feel so alone

We live in a time of such confusion and rancor, with a culture that puts a premium on things that don’t last – money, fame, status, likes.

We chase the approval of strangers on our phones; we build all manner of walls and fences around ourselves and then wonder why we feel so alone.

We don’t trust each other as much because we don’t take the time know each other – and in that space between us, politicians and algorithms teach us to caricature each other and troll each other and fear each other.

Former President Barack Obama in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 20, 2024.

Regardless of who and what and where and so many other things about this speech, it was the style of speech that stirred my soul.

It was a speech.

It was a political speech.

It had a narrative.

It had ideas.

It asked questions.

It answered questions.

It challenged you.

It wasn’t a rant.

I knew half the country watching this speech loved it.

I also knew that half the country hated it this speech, if they even watched it.

Remember when this is what politics was like?

How did the common denominator get to be so low?

Think of the world Mr. Obama described.

A world of such confusion and rancor, with a culture that puts a premium on things that don’t last – money, fame, status, likes.

A world where we chase the approval of strangers on our phones; we build all manner of walls and fences around ourselves and then wonder why we feel so alone.

A world where we don’t trust each other as much because we don’t take the time know each other – and in that space between us, politicians and algorithms teach us to caricature each other and troll each other and fear each other.

Honestly now, deep down where you are honest, not with the world, but with yourself, who wants to live in this world?

king not below man,
but below God and the law …
this at least is clear

No one at the time regarded the Charter as a final settlement of all outstanding issues, and its importance lay not in details but in the broad affirmation of the principle that there is a law to which the Crown itself is subject. Rex non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege — the king should not be below man, but below God and the law. This at least is clear.

Winston Churchill writing about the Magna Carta in his book, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples: Vol. I. The Birth of Britain (Ontario, McClelland & Stewart, 1956).

Rex non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege.

The king should not be below man, but below God and the law.

Mr. Churchill continues, “He has his sphere of action, within which he is free from human control. If he steps outside it he must be brought back. And he will step outside it if, ignoring the ancient Council of the kingdom, and refusing to take the advice of his wise men, he tries to govern through his Household, his favourites, or his clerks.”

The king should not be below man, but below God and the law.

If he steps outside it he must be brought back.

According to Wikipedia: Magna Carta was issued in June 1215 and was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law. It sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power, and placed limits of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself.

by two qualities …
the one touch of genius he had
candour, decency

The one touch of genius he had was that of a peacemaker among Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Poles, bristling with national pride and driven by ambition. It may be, in fact, that such immortality as Eisenhower achieves will be guaranteed by two qualities that do not usually, in a worldly world, guarantee a man much more than the affection of his friends: by the force of them, Eisenhower was able to make trusting friends of about 250 million people fighting for their lives. They are candour and decency.

From the Letter to America titled simply, Eisenhower April 3, 1969. by Alistair Cooke as reprinted in the book, America observed : the newspaper years of Alistair Cooke, Penguin Books, London, 1989.

It was Cooke’s obituary of D. D. Eisenhower.

As Barbara Holland writes in the delightful, Hail to the Chiefs ( Berkley Books, New York, 2004):

One of the coziest things about Ike was that he never worried much. When people handed him worrying papers to read, he just smiled and handed them right back. He didn’t even worry about Senator McCarthy. He pretended there wasn’t any Senator McCarthy. He just blinked and got in his helicopter and went out to Burning Tree to play a Few holes before dinner. He figured it he paid no attention McCarthy would just go a way, and presently the Senate got fed up and censured the gentleman from Wisconsin and he did go away, sputtering and fumbling with his lists and still needing a shave, so Ike was right not to worry.

Candor ( Mr. Cooke used Candour).

Decency.

Right not to worry.

I like Ike.

Boy Howdy, do I miss him.