Watching the royal wedding unfold before the cameras and the large crowds in England was lovely, inspiring and sad. It was lovely to see such wonderfully British pageantry; it was inspiring to enjoy a happy and loving young couple; and it was terribly jarring to see such inclusiveness in Britain – where one seldom sees it – and to realize sadly that so much of what unfolded in the ceremony and about this unusual (for Britain) couple, seemed so totally lost and under attack today in the United States.
In fact, to watch such shining elements of democracy and inclusiveness in England (where they have decidedly not been in the past) and to realize that they are gone now in the Trump era in the United States was especially painful. Not only was the whole thing unsettling and sad, it was decidedly off script. For we, in the United States, have always looked abroad at England judgmentally for its rigidity, for its incessant struggle to maintain class and group differences, for the historical hold of white privilege. But, literally in a second, the ceremony and the camera caught an amazing national metamorphosis – from centuries of class, gender, and race rigidities, England suddenly threw it all overboard and showcased a Twenty-First Century society brimming with all the best that humankind can strive for.
All this, while admirable in the English case, is especially painful because we were doing so well on all these vectors until Donald Trump was elected. While we had our faults, as all nations must, we were, in fact, a shining example to the world. Now, in only months, Trump has brought two centuries of human progress crashing down, and there is no indication that he will stop or that we will be able to recover sometime in the years ahead. America’s social, economic and political triumphs will be preserved, but we have to hope that they can be removed from cold storage when he is gone. If Trump does end up, however, definitively ruining the American experiment, then thank goodness England is now prepared to take our place.
Comments
Michael Salisbury
May 31, 2018
You claim
"All this, while admirable in the English case, is especially painful because we were doing so well on all these vectors until Donald Trump was elected. While we had our faults, as all nations must, we were, in fact, a shining example to the world. Now, in only months, Trump has brought two centuries of human progress crashing down, and there is no indication that he will stop or that we will be able to recover sometime in the years ahead."
Lets see:
1. Unemployment the lowest in 40 years
2. Minority employment is way up
3. Attempts to control our borders are improving
4. Illegals are being deported
6. The sensless homicides in Chicago are being called out
7. Their is a new sesitivity and accountability for sexual misconduct
8. Progress on de nuking North Korea is historic
9. Efforts to ban abortion is succeeding
10. Self protection to prevent school shootings gaining support
11. individual mandate repealed
12 Tragedy of substandard care for vets finally being delt with
13. Trade imbalance being addressed including China's cheating
14. America's best alliance in Middle East reinforced with move of embassy to Jerusalem
The historic liberal alternative:
1. More innocent babies killed
2. Free college (how is it free, someone will have to pay)
3. Free health care (ditto on someone will have to pay)
3. Everyone guarenteed an income (who pays for this?)
4. Student loan forgiveness ( I guess no one pays , right?)
5. Trade imbalance ignored
6. Isis and MS13 unchecked
What are you thinking. there is no basis for your conclusions. Take a look at the facts rather than pursing a point of view that is based on fear and loathing.
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