In a recent interview, Jon Meacham stated: “the Enlightenment is on trial.” It’s a startling assertion. The Enlightenment was founded on observation and reason, the accumulation of scientific knowledge. But by virtue of his position, through his words and deeds, Donald Trump is likely the greatest threat to reason and science that the world has seen in the 21st century. That alone is disturbing, but the greater tragedy is the collapse and moral failure of those who meekly and subserviently give in to him.
Susan Collins’ total surrender to the base impulses of our current president has been shocking and profoundly disappointing. She could have, and we fervently hoped she would, display the backbone so prominent in some of our earlier statespersons, and argued for reason and moderation. But it was not to be. Following the lead of weak and self-interested politicians across the country, she has remained silent as the President has attacked headlong every vestige of polity.
No matter the outcome this fall, every person who succumbed to fear, who let political survival “trump” moral integrity, will live the rest of their lives knowing they succumbed to cowardice, that they turned their backs when courage was called for. That is a sad and lonely existence. But there is an alternative. In the words of the late John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, you have to speak up. You have to say something. You have to do something.”
Clay Graybeal
Arundel
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