The New Dark Age

A few days ago I wrote “American History:  A Trail of Tears,”  to encourage us to examine our American “heritage,” which we often romanticize and rob of its reality.  I used Winston Churchill’s words, “A nation that forgets its past has no future.”  I wrote not to disparage that heritage, but to lift it up as part of our ongoing struggle to attain the American Dream. 

What is the American Dream?  “In a real sense, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “America is essentially a dream, a dream as yet unfulfilled.  It is a dream of a land where men (women and children) of all races, of all nationalities and of all creeds can live together as brothers (and sisters).  The substance of the dream is expressed,” he went on to say, “in these sublime words lifted to comic proportions:  ‘We hold the truths to be self-evident, that all men (women and children) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’  This is the dream.” 

We sing of this dream in “America the Beautiful:  “America! America! God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea….” Added to those words are the following:  “God mend thine every flaw…,”  words that recognize our continued and often frail attempts to live out that Dream.

Are we entering a new dark age?  (Most are aware of the dark age which settled upon Europe for over six centuries.  It was a time in which science, history, and reason were obliterated.)  When reason is abandoned, when history is fabricated, when science is ignored, we are in danger of such an age falling upon us.  When over fifty percent of Americans are labeled treasonous or unpatriotic, when divisiveness is encouraged and condoned, when peaceful protesters are labeled “angry mobs” making a “radical assault on American democracy,” or as “left-wing fascism,” when any opposition, including the opposing party is castigated, when the free press is called “fake news” or “communist,” the dark clouds gather.  

Donald Trump’s speech last night was a divisive one. There was no attempt to unify.  There was no reference to the Dream. There was no attempt to bridge the gaps.  Reason was abandoned.  History was fabricated.  Science was ignored.  The dark clouds that have been hovering over the Dream are darker this morning.

The dark ages still reign over all humanity, and the depth and persistence of this domination are only now becoming clear. This Dark Ages prison has no steel bars, chains, or locks. Instead, it is locked by misorientation and built of misinformation. (R. Buckminster Fuller)