I admit that I was provoked or encouraged by recent events in the United States. However, my observations apply to more than one country and transcend simple party politics. Cost cutting and small government Republicans have driven the national debt to an all-time high and progressive Democrats have totally changed colors on foreign policy in this case for the better. America is upside down. But so is the world. The Pope proclaims that women may read in Church but not serve as priests. For that he is applauded. How generous and progressive!
Mine is neither a lamentation nor a condemnation. It is simply an observation. Whether it’s a conclusion of good or bad depends on one’s perspective. The question is what role does ideology or principle play in politics today. The answer is a very small one, at best. This is not an American phenomenon. It’s global and democratically global. The most obvious example is the outgoing president of the United States, but to be fair Angela Merkel, Boris Johnson or Emmanuel Macron while not as outrageous are not to be confused with Socrates, Aristotle, Plato or even Abraham Lincoln. However, they can be compared to Winston Churchill who left a legacy of undeserved favorable reviews. He was in essence a pragmatist who saved the United Kingdom with American assistance, but then sold out to authoritarianism and imperialism. Frankly, he was a politician of little principle.
Donald Trump is an aberration so he should not be denigrated persistently, but relegated simply to pariah status. The problem is not Mr. Trump. The obvious conundrum is that he garnered 75 million votes. Mr. Trump is 74 years old. He recently scandalized himself to such an extent that he has no political future despite the pundits. But there remain 75 million Americans out there. They are not all uneducated white men but they are all deplorables to use the terminology of one of my least favorite politicians.
Is America deplorable? Is the world deplorable? Sorry, President Biden, despite your protestations, this is who we are. Frankly we need to seek answers in a metaphysical sense, but recognize the world we live in and work to change it because this is who we are, and we should be better.
Our world is devoid of ideology, principles or beliefs. Obviously, this is not good but this is reality. My solution is partially about God, the concept more than the Biblical figure. Despite the pronunciations of the Israeli philosopher Harari or the empty churches in the Czech Republic, there is a God because, after all, someone had to create the material for evolution and Jesus was the most influential person in world history not only in religion. Personally, I shudder to think that there is no one above us because we are so weak and needy and need God for solace and inspiration at the very least.
Humans should be encouraged to strive for a better society as well as for their spiritual growth. Unfortunately, much stands in the way of bettering one’s economic situation. Easy for me to say, having been born in America, albeit of immigrant parents. Still there are matters that even the most deprived or depraved among us can understand. One of the most salient considerations is that, irrespective of financial wherewithal, skin color, gender, we are all equal. That’s relatively easy to say for a financially well off, educated white man. We are equal in theory but not in reality.
There was or is a revolution in America. The assault upon the Capitol carried out by armed, angry, uneducated white men was a paradigm. I recognize the generalization. My point is that there is a problem with angry, white, uneducated men touting the anachronistic Second Amendment. We can go on like this and call it democracy or American freedom. And it would be democratic and even direct, as opposed to the use of the Electoral College. Except that armed, angry, uneducated white men should not represent America.
I do not have answers. I simply raised some questions. Who are we? Perhaps it is time to take stock as Americans, Canadians, Germans, Brits, French or Ukrainians. In moments of solitude, I debate whether I am more American or Ukrainian. And then America undermines its relationship with Ukraine and I insist that I am mostly Ukrainian. But Ukraine seems to screw up most of the time and then there are those Little Russians. Perhaps because Ukraine is an underdog, I cut it and them some slack. But frankly Ukraine is a composite where Little Russians, uneducated or uninformed white men and women play a prominent role. This is who we are. We must be better.
Askold S. Lozynskyj is an attorney at law based in New York City who served as president of the Ukrainian World Congress in 1998-2008.