Forward

I'm sure it's coincidence, but striking all the same. 

Alexa woke me today with a heartwrenching BBC story about a sad man who's lived his adult lifetime in the shadow of the horrific disappearance of the little sister he was supposed to be looking after on an Australian beach fifty years ago. 

A few minutes later, checking in with the archival Writer's Almanac, I learn that American author William T. Vollmann suffered just such a nightmare himself. “When I was a young boy, my little sister drowned, and it was essentially my fault. I was 9, and she was 6, and I was supposed to be watching. I’ve always felt guilty. It’s like I have to have sympathy for the little girl who drowned and for the little boy who failed to save her — for all the people who have screwed up.”

I'm not superstitious, but it's still hard not to look for a cautionary message in this tragic uncanny convergence. And a Stoic message: expect the worst, be especially grateful when it doesn't happen to you. And the message of compassion and forgiveness. We've all screwed something up.

Well, even though Senator Manchin apparently is changing his mind about that environmental legislation we so desperately need, our two-party system has for some time been a pretty big screw-up of dysfunction and mutual vituperation. So maybe Andrew Yang's new party is worth a look. 

Two pillars of the new party's platform are to "reinvigorate a fair, flourishing economy" and to "give Americans more choices in elections, more confidence in a government that works, and more say in our future."

The party, which is centrist, has no specific policies yet. It will say at its Thursday launch: "How will we solve the big issues facing America? Not Left. Not Right. Forward."

"Forward" sounds good, but will it really advance progressive values? Will it not siphon strength from the only party currently standing between our present remnant of democracy and fascism?

We've been enjoyng The First Lady, about the lives and times of Eleanor, Betty, and Michelle. The theme asks  if this land really was "made for you and me," the show implicitly asks if it still can be. Can we still "achieve our country"? That was Richard Rorty's question, echoing James Baldwin, and it's why I decided to take on American Studies. We need smart students to become smart citizens who care about the answer.

John Ganz writes smartly about it, and about what Rorty called American sadism and selfishness. Progressives who've led the charge against reactionary conservatism have much to be proud of. They need a better platform than the Democratic Party as currently constituted, with its many Manchins (the West Virginian's not the only one) and their "centrist" stalling and ambivalence. A new centrist party may not be the answer we need.

We definitely do need a politics and a mindset oriented to a better, richer, more intrepid future. I'm with @elonmusk when he tweets 

A new philosophy of the future is needed. I believe it should be curiosity about the Universe – expand humanity to become a multiplanet, then interstellar, species to see what’s out there.

But that's not new, it's at least as old as Carl Sagan. But it's good. Carl probably wouldn't think Twitter was going to be the vehicle to take us there. Elon needs to stay focused on rockets and e-cars

I'm with Norman Lear too. He became a centenarian yesterday, and is not looking back like Archie and Edith. Old guys who look far forward are an inspiration.

“Reaching this birthday with my health and wits mostly intact is a privilege. Approaching it with loving family, friends and creative collaborators to share my days has filled me with a gratitude I can hardly express.

This is our century, dear reader, yours and mine. Let us encourage one another with visions of a shared future. And let us bring all the grit and openheartedness and creative spirit we can muster to gather together and build that future.”

Then, all our heirs in the human family can look back and truly sing "those were the days."