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Inderjeet Kaur

Writer
SPNer
Oct 13, 2011
869
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Seattle, Washington, USA
This picture has two titles:

"...Undimmed by human tears," from a rarely sung verse of America the Beautiful

"O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!"
or

"Not with a bang, but a whimper," from T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Hollow Men.

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."

This picture is not about the shut down of the government or raising the debt ceiling. As serious as those issues are, this is about something deeper and more lasting. It is about the betrayal of democracy of the USA Republic by its own government. It is about the quiet, nay, silent, take-over of the government by the Republican Party on Sept. 30, 2013, in what I have termed a bloodless coup. The coup will fail, of course, and things will sort themselves out and go on as before. Sort of, but not really. The security that the people of the USA have felt about their government for two centuries has been destroyed. No longer can it be said, "It can't happen here" because it has happened here. The strong stable government that has been one of the wonders of the world for over two centuries, long taken for granted by the American people and the people of the world, has evolved into a fanciful illusion, a chimera, a dragon that is devouring its own body.

This betrayal of the people by their elected representatives was foreshadowed by the betrayal of the not-elected Supreme Court in deciding the 2000 Presidential election. Even amongst some Republicans there was an understanding of the meaning of the Supreme Court selecting the President, rather than the People electing hir.

Life will go on. There will still be a country called "The United States of America" and it will still be the world's only remaining superpower, at least for now. It is to be hoped that laws will be passed to prevent this from happening again. But "America," as we have known it is gone forever. Something essential is no more. The trust the People placed in their elected representatives is no more. Once that trust has been shattered, Humpty Dumpty cannot be put back together again; it is a bell that cannot be unrung.

In the words of Franz Kafka, " Betrayed! Betrayed! Once the deceptive sound of the night bell has been followed, it can never be made good."

That is the meaning of this picture.

Still I am a Sikh and I believe in remaining always in charhdi kala. Who knows what will rise from the ashes of The American Republic, The First American Republic? Might a lesson, many lessons have been learned? Might something good and hopeful for the future emerge? I do not know, but I will hold on to the hope that our species will once again triumph over its worst impulses and move forward in a journey to the Light.

"We have got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis."
 

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