I can’t shake these words:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

and there’s something deaf in me, even as I write this, something unable to react as I believe I should.

I remind myself we’ve been through worse bouts of xenophobia and “purification,” and sometimes transcended it magnificently.

But that all happened during this country’s ascension, not during its decline. So I’m not sure there’s good precedent.

Aging gracefully seems to depend on an acceptance of oblivion, and a happy marvelling at the diversity that keeps life roaring on.

But there is no way to communicate, in political terms, a mature vision for this country without running afoul of our need for pep-rallies.

the falcon cannot hear the falconer

There’s that deaf feeling, circling and yet pin-pointed.

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

—Hermann Göring, at the Nüremberg trials after WWII