Let Him Go

November 8, 2020 (135 words)

And now a word of praise for those veteran actors and actresses – like Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Lesley Manville – lucky enough to find good material they can really grab hold off, even this late in their careers.

Praise also for the team of largely unknown filmmakers who create these worlds we can immerse ourselves in for a couple of hours. Each is an artist in their own right, though most will never become a household name. Their anonymous artistry lies in capturing the unobtrusive detail.

Everything they put on the screen registers effortlessly as we sit there in the dark. And then it all resonates with us long after we leave the theater.

The new feature film Let Him Go is one of those. A job well done, all the way around.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
November 8, 2020

A Pendulum of Political Despair

November 7, 2020 (796 words)

This morning the presidential election was officially called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The incumbent had an early lead in many crucial states once the polls closed on November 3. But that lead was subsequently erased after mail-in and other early voting ballots were allowed to be tallied.

As this process slowly and deliberately unfolded over the last few days it gave us all a chance to prepare for the inevitable. Now that we know for sure who won, the media has wasted no time in telling us what it all means.

For the record, I could have lived with either candidate as President for the next four years. Both men are flawed as politicians, and both our major party platforms leave a lot to be desired.

So I can’t really join the jubilant celebrations that have spontaneously erupted in many of our nation’s largest cities. Nor can I commiserate with my fellow suburbanites and the legion of rural folks who feel their beloved country has been stolen out from under them by socialist forces.

What does concern me is the deep divide between big cities and the rest of the country, as evidenced by the electoral map. And I am concerned about the constant search for political heroes and villains we all let ourselves get caught up in.

Donald Trump, may he rest in peace, was not quite the nefarious interloper his harshest critics made him out to be. But neither was he anywhere near the embodiment of a bold and principled statesman his most enthusiast supporters tried to conjure out of thin air.

The man had a few good instincts, which he rode to an unprecedented and thoroughly unexpected victory. During his one and only term, though, the renegade hero never really developed a proper feel for the job, did he? Which I guess demonstrates the old adage “fake it till you make it” is not fool-proof.

This experiment of watching a political neophyte attempt to lead the world’s largest and most successful liberal democracy has been a disjointed and messy affair, to say the least. One major irritant has been President Trump’s habit of dabbling in a constant flow of off-hand tweets and verbal faux pas. Many were immediately interpreted as highly offensive, becoming self-inflicted wounds that could have easily been avoided. But he stubbornly refused to take counsel from more experienced advisors.

As has been duly noted, Mr. Trump apparently lacks even a semblance of impulse-control, which is sort of a pre-requisite for being a responsible adult, let alone leader of the free world. Why would anyone in high office gleefully unfurl a continual barrage of broad-stroke comments that serve no constructive purpose?

While every election in contentious by nature, this one seemed especially so. It will be difficult to pick up the pieces and unite the country, as President-elect Biden has vowed to do. The “messiness” of our out-going commander-in-chief still appeals to a large swatch of this country’s electorate. Donald Trump may have proven to be a less-than-ideal messenger. But the liberal king-makers who have just ascended to power would do well to heed the basic message. Not least on the subject of foreign entanglements that are proving to be less than advantageous.

Living up to the bright promise of being a President for “all the people” is no easy task, as the forty-five previous occupants of the White House could no doubt attest. Particularly when the country seems stuck on a pendulum of political despair.

Many residents of the twenty-three red states are convinced in their bones Democrats only want to burden hard-working people with onerous taxes, and give that money away to the lazy and shiftless in the form of government hand-outs. While the vast majorities who live in the twenty-two blue states are tired of being left behind as Wall Street and the “paper economy” continues to prosper. They have been crushed by a free-wheeling economic system that favors the clever and the advantaged, but does little to protect the interests of the rank-and-file.

One way out of this political despair would be for our most successful citizens to call on their better nature. This could come in the form of no longer sitting back and waiting for “trickle down” to solve everything. If you don’t like big government programs that attempt to address social injustice by implementing confiscatory taxes, then take the bull by the horns and balance the scales yourself.

We won’t need a federally-mandated minimum wage, to examine just one aspect of the dreaded “socialist” Democrat agenda, if our major corporations and international conglomerates and private-equity success stories would start basing more of their compensation policies on distributive justice, instead of focusing so much of their attention on executive pay and investor return.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
November 7, 2020

Democracy’s Achilles Heel

October 31, 2020 (888 words)

Manipulating the emotions of the general public is how our nation’s business is conducted on a daily basis. Then comes election season, when the fear-mongering ratchets up to a fever pitch.

Despite this regularly-scheduled rise in unpleasant sloganeering, nobody really seems to mind. We take solace in the freedom that is our most valued possession. Secure in the knowledge democracy is the system of political organization that best delivers on the promise of absolute freedom for every citizen.

But this broad-stroke version of “freedom” can yield people who do little more with their time than indulge selfish desires, instead of drawing on and calling forth their better nature. And “democracy” can boil down to the cognitive elite trafficking in exaggerated rumors that will coax the rank-and-file into emotional choices instead of rational decisions.

The smartest people on both sides of the aisle are equally guilty of resorting to the lowest common denominator in their discourse. The tragedy is how all partisans have an element of truth in their basic premise. But instead of working to elucidate that truth and educate the public, they let their core message get lost in a flurry of poor word choices.

The justification for this sorry state of affairs is something no one feels comfortable acknowledging. The common rabble is unable and/or unwilling to sit still for a detailed explanation of anything. Our collective attention-deficit disorder forces the smart set into dumbing everything down and making broad appeals to emotion.

This is not how things were supposed to play out, what with all that high-minded talk about an informed citizenry being a pre-requisite to a healthy democracy.

As a Catholic “revert” and a moderately successful small business person, my adult instincts naturally inclined me to a conservative political bent. And that lasted for a good twenty years or so. But the more I ponder the Church’s long-standing social teaching, the more dismayed I am at the superficiality of the conservative position as it is popularly articulated regarding our socio-economic predicament.

For instance, you may have heard a “soft totalitarianism” is taking hold in our country. This trend will only worsen should Joe Biden win the presidency. Those same sources ominously report how Wall Street doesn’t like increased government regulation, or any increase in corporate taxes. Somehow this news is spun to agitate the average middle-class voter into a deep concern for making sure our richest citizens can continue to become even richer.

This particular example of emotional manipulation is executed under the rhetorical cover of “such policies will remove incentive for investment, which drives all economic growth.” While this formulation does indeed express some truth, what goes unsaid is how these days merely turning a profit is not good enough for our cleverest investors.

One must be able to earn the highest profit humanly possible in order to make any undertaking worth the effort. Social considerations such as creating jobs that will sustain a community and contribute to the common good never enter the equation.

I am afraid to report this superficiality also extends to some of our religious leaders – at least the ones I pay attention to and respect. We practicing Catholics have been told in no uncertain terms voting for Joe Biden is a sin. Any thought of addressing economic inequity and predatory financial practices is out the window. Because Mr. Biden, and the entire Democrat establishment for that matter, supports a woman’s right to choose, favors marriage equality, and advocates for the newly-emergent cause of LGBTQ rights. All these policy positions are regrettable, no question about it.

But overt political support for what often devolves into destructive personal behavior does not constitute any sort of enforceable public mandate. No woman is being ordered to have an abortion. No two people of the same gender are being told they must marry. And no one who “identifies” as something other than what their anatomy clearly announces them to be is now being forced to “transition” into something else by a liberal regime.

These innovations in the realm of sexual morality are the natural by-product of our national obsession with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A pluralist democracy like ours actively encourages its citizens to seek out their own unique definition of happiness, wherever that search may lead.

This radical philosophical framework presents an inscrutable problem for those who cling to the heartwarming notion our nation is Christian at its core.

The Catholic spokespeople I most admire are constantly referencing what they claim is the hallowed principle of religious freedom. They see it as an impenetrable shield that should allow orthodox Catholics to practice what they believe in the public square. But these well-meaning clergy and lay persons don’t seem to realize this same reckless sense of freedom allows everybody else to practice whatever wacky idea may pop into their head at any given moment, or at any stage in their lives.

Even more confounding is how the conservative pursuit of “economic freedom” undermines the integrity of the “religious freedom” certain Catholic leaders invoke with such passion, especially at election time. It turns out both forms of freedom – economic and religious – result in moral anarchy. So far this has escaped the notice of all those who have proudly adopted the conservative brand, and consider themselves defenders of the faith.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 31, 2020

Keep It Simple, Stupid

October 23 2020 (316 words)

Okay, so now it’s come to this: As one exits the northbound New Jersey Turnpike, where the Lincoln Tunnel leads into midtown Manhattan, there is a massive billboard dramatically lit against the dark, pre-dawn sky that reads simply:

Trump – Pence Law & Order Vote Tues, Nov 3

This implies anyone casting a ballot for the other major party ticket must favor anarchy and chaos. The message makes no sense, but it does have a visceral appeal.

It’s interesting how we here in the United States take such pride in our reason and our collective commitment to the rule of law, yet we allow so much of the public discourse to be driven by raw emotion.

And speaking of reason and the rule of law, it’s an article of faith a healthy democracy requires an informed citizenry. Since we live in an unrivaled age of information, our democracy should be in tip-top shape. But it doesn’t feel that way to me.

Having the right tools for the job is an absolute pre-requisite to getting anything done. But those tools must be utilized in a way that will accomplish the desired objective.

In our case it is a free press, broadly defined as an open exchange of ideas throughout all strata of society, which is supposed to enable everyone to gradually become better informed.

But this sort of ongoing mentoring is hard work. And it often yields no tangible economic result for the individual or organization that agrees to undertake the chore.

Since we have succumbed to a society-wide pre-occupation with getting ahead, the idea of trying to improve the population’s general level of understanding has taken a back seat to making money.

Why bother educating the common rabble for their own edification, when it is far easier and much more profitable to manipulate their basic instincts into buying whatever it is you are trying to sell?

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 23, 2020

A Breath of Fresh Air

October 15, 2020 (532 words)

Amy Coney-Barrett was said to have “sparred” with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, during the two days they spent questioning her nomination to fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. But that sort of thing is fairly commonplace and hardly worth a mention.

Much more revealing was Ms. Barrett’s good-natured laughter, which she was not shy about sharing during the proceedings. Our hard-nosed, adversarial political scrum would certainly benefit from a regular dose of her genial disposition and plain-spokenness. Too bad she is headed for the Supreme Court, where we will essentially never hear from her again.

(Having a few sentences of some future legal opinion quoted in the press doesn’t really count. Nor will the odd speech before a select audience of enamored supporters.)

Another take-away is just how fractured we are as a people. The committee’s Democrat Senators took the occasion of these hearings to methodically cite every social ill that currently befalls us. As if they were laying blame at the nominee’s feet and demanding, “What do you intend to do about this?”

Their Republican counterparts calmly refuted all charges by referencing Coney-Barrett’s stellar record as a legal scholar and practicing jurist. They also found time to comment favorably on her remarkable personal life as a wife and mother of seven. To hear them tell it, elevating an “originalist” to the high court is just what the country needs at this time.

It all made for some rather predictable theater. Republicans came across as composed and statesman-like, while Democrats came off as, well, kind of “whiny.”

If you find yourself agreeing with my assessment, consider this: Republicans are happy with the way things are. And persistent rumors of social injustice don’t make a dent in their equilibrium. They are convinced any lingering hardship exists only on the periphery. In their minds eradicating the last vestige of inequity is a simple matter of doubling-down on what they are already doing: Spreading the gospel of individual liberty and personal accountability and economic freedom to the far reaches of the population, so all may receive the good news of salvation.

Democrats, meanwhile, are stuck playing catch up. They have been outflanked and left behind by their more prosperous neighbors. They are frantically waving their arms, metaphorically-speaking, and crying out: “it’s not working according to plan, folks, we need a major course correction.”

Republicans believe ensuring the individual good will eventually result in a noticeable improvement of the common good. Democrats have grown tired of waiting for that long-rumored rising tide to come along and lift the fortunes of the rank-and-file – to say nothing of the dispossessed.

One may not agree with every policy initiative Democrats put forth to balance the scales. I certainly don’t. And one may be appalled at the way they have gone off the rails regarding sexual mores, in their own, misguided celebration of “liberty.”

But these legitimate complaints about certain aspects of the Democrats’ approach do not absolve our good friends the Republicans, who still need to be awakened from their self-satisfied slumber. That’s what I was reminded of when listening to a few choice snippets of Amy Coney-Barrett’s Senate confirmation hearing.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 15, 2020

Sowing Discord and Strife

October 8, 2020 (613 words)

Going to bed early is my stock-in-trade, so i only caught the opening salvos in last night’s Vice-Presidential debate between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris. That was enough for me to regret the strategy Ms. Harris was given to execute.

The VP challenger is always expected to assume the role of “attack dog,” so i guess we shouldn’t be too surprised by Ms. Harris going after President Trump with a vengeance, painting him as a villain who bears sole responsibility for the fatalities and financial fall-out we continue to experience during this once-every-hundred-years pandemic.

But such broad criticism overshoots the mark by quite a bit.

Certainly Mr. Trump deserves to be grilled for the way he has publically disparaged – in both word and deed – such commonsense precautions as social distancing and the wearing of masks. But he is not alone in his defiance. And those people we’ve seen crowding into bars, beaches, raves, and Black Lives Matter protests the last several months are not all Republicans.

From what I can gather, the best way to contain the spread of the potentially deadly coronavirus is through testing, contact tracing, and treatment. But in order for such a comprehensive approach to be effective, a given population (city, state, region) must accept a complete lockdown, which would mean being confined to one’s home.

Can you see that happening here any time soon? As Americans we bristle at the mere mention of such internment. We pound our fists on the table, and rail against what we imagine to be the onset of tyranny and totalitarianism. Donald Trump may be shameless in playing to these “don’t tread on me” instincts, but they were hard-wired into our national DNA a long time ago.

The Democrats’ pointed critique choses to ignore this basic fact. Their unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious can generate some unintended humor at times, as when one hears Ms. Harris solemnly intone:

Can you imagine if you knew on January 28, as opposed to March 13, what they knew, what you might have done to prepare?

The only thing that comes to mind in response to this question is that we probably all would have started stockpiling toilet tissue and tomato soup, two months earlier.

The Democrats’ strongest issue is the “economic inequity” Republican fiscal policy has created. They should stick to that and make their case as calmly and clearly as possible. Their challenge is convincing the great swath of middle-of-the-road types that implementing a long-overdue economic course correction is not the same as a complete conversion to “socialism.”

The current pandemic has vexed political leaders around the world. No matter what anybody has tried, there is always something that backfires, leaving the people in charge exposed to some legitimate Monday-morning quarterbacking. So why pour salt on the wound now, and try to pin every last ounce of COVID-19 related turmoil on the current administration?

Pollsters tell us most voters have already made up their minds. The only thing left for candidates to do is prod their less-motivated supporters into casting a ballot. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris and their handlers have decided to use the President’s questionable handling of the pandemic as their primary battering ram, in order to rouse those who don’t much care for politics and would rather not be bothered. This tactic does not appeal to our better nature.

In taking a contentious path to the Presidency, the Democrats are guilty of sowing seeds of discord in the hearts and minds of their followers. The very same behavior Mr. Trump has carelessly indulged during his brief but tumultuous time in office, for which he has been rightfully chastised.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 8, 2020