"Advancement" without humanity

Even if much is hunky-dory (a relative assessment), something still gnaws at our more real selves

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I didn’t watch the State of the Union address. In fact, I headed off to bed about the time it began. There’s plenty of time in the morning after one of these to scan a roundup of recaps. Five takeaways and such.

And from such a perusal, I can see that he, quite predictably, tooted his horn about some items that were undeniable accomplishments:

He closed the southern border. He hit the Iranian nuclear program. He has struck blows against DEI and contributed to the rollback of trans insanity. He has massively deregulated. He signed a tax bill that, despite some unfortunate gimmicks, makes permanent the tax cuts from his first term. Military recruitment is up and fentanyl-trafficking down.

The problem is, once again, the matter of conflation. The above list is laudable by actual conservative standards, but it’s folded into the larger Trumpist project (although the word “project” implies a coherence that doesn’t seem to be there). He’s still determined to impose tariffs on all manner of trading partners. He’s not sorry he accused Gorsuch and Coney Barrett of being swayed by foreign influence. And he showed that he has no qualms about standing in front of Congress, (much of) the Supreme Court, visitors and the world press and declare that the only way Democrats can ever win an election is to cheat.

It’s not my aim here to let loose once again on the Very Stable Genius for the latest barrage of evidence that there’s nothing appealing about the man. Rather, today, I’d like to look at the above list, so as to ask what’s missing.

The use of the SOTU platform as a bragfest is not new with Trump. That’s why there’s a significant sentiment among the populace to return to the Jeffersonian sending of a letter to Congress. Maybe we’d get a more sober take on the nation’s true state - although probably not with this guy.

But while I find the whole Trumpist exercise without redeeming qualities, there is still a base of post-Americans who like the whole package - the conservative stuff enumerated above, but also “Shut up, piggy,” the ballroom replacing the East Wing, the VSG banners hung from the facades of the Labor and Justice departments, the insertion into the business dealings of media companies, the neglect of Ukraine (and red carpet treatment for Putin), tariffs, and the presence of a poorly trained and led ICE in post-American cities.

From the perspective of the Narrow Sliver of Terrain (the dwelling place for actual - that is, pre-2015) conservatives, it looks like Trumpism has settled for mess of pottage, but I’m sure that to them it’s the picture of renewed national glory.

But lefties felt this way after Clinton’s and Obama’s annual bragfests in the House chamber. The numbers they wanted to see up were up.

And this is the point I want to make. Lefty and nat-pop each have their own vision of a thriving country, but - quick quiz - what’s missing from each?

The rosiness of their pictures is materialistic, to the exclusion of a look at whether America is any closer to having a handle on what makes life worth living.

Oh, hard-core nat-pops talk a great deal about “heritage,” by which they mean keeping the country’s northern European stock as pure as possible. It’s still about making daily life “suitable,” with no consideration of why pure ethnic stocks are good, or even actually amount to a diddly.

The roar of the sum total of the moment’s screaming matches is deafening, but there’s precious little of actual consequence in it.

Our civic institutions and traditions are no less in shambles for the stock market being robust or the border secure. 40 percent of post-Americans don’t even read one book per year. Young people aren’t hanging out in person together. The number of post-Americans, across all generations, identifying as religious “nones” has been steadily rising for years. Eliminating DEI and reining in the EPA haven’t ameliorated these developments.

Trumpists and progressives want to stomp each other into the dust, but the question remains, what then? Is the world at that point more amenable to human flourishing? Will we have restored a high regard for reverence, awe and humility? Or do we, at that point, conclude that such quaint notions no longer serve us?

The nones seem to have settled on a view of the good life that has little need for the eternal:

One significant pull factor is the intellectual and personal freedom and autonomy that comes with leaving religion. Many people who leave religious institutions express a sense of relief at being freed from the dogmatic obligations that once governed their lives. For example, instead of spending time attending religious services or adhering to strict and arbitrary moral codes, they find themselves with more time and freedom to engage in activities that they find personally fulfilling, such as spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, or focusing on their careers and other obligations. Many religious exiters connect this freedom to morality and the notion of authenticity; they can “be good” and better connect with their authentic selves having left religion.

“Personally fulfilling.” This is a tacit acknowledgment that the personal autonomy to define meaning as one sees fit is the apex of human satisfaction.

And now again the question arises of how to reacquaint the species en masse with the persistent inkling in the soul that all the striving after wind is not the end product of a life, that there are considerations beyond.

So I can’t get too worked up about a SOTU from a Republican or a Democrat. They both offer stunted visions.

I realize that the question of what an individual can do looms. I don’t have a hard and fast answer. (I hope you weren’t reading to the end hoping to find one.)

But what else, really, is worth occupying one’s thoughts with?