Soulless bastards

Anyone who averts his eyes from the hopeless lives many of our fellow citizens lead and tells himself and others that these men and women only have themselves to blame, is either a fool or a soulless bastard. - from "Bleak House" by Charles Simic, writing in The New York Review of Books

It seems to me that what is truly wrong with American society is that it is overrun by soulless bastards, people who have no concept of or empathy for what the lives of their fellow citizens who are less financially successful are like. Charles Simic writes movingly of these people in his piece that I quoted from above.

They are people whose lives are totally invisible to a certain segment of society. It is unfortunately a powerful segment, this soulless bastard segment. This country that once waged a noble "War on Poverty" often seems to have waved the white flag to the bastards and has given up the battle to try to assist in making life better for millions of its less fortunate citizens.

The most obvious examples of this mind-set are in our dysfunctional Congress that continues to insist on cutting back on the food stamp program and extended unemployment benefits while the unemployment rate is still high and the economy is still struggling to rebound from the Great Recession of 2008. Their theory is that such programs discourage recipients from finding jobs or from finding better jobs because they are worried they will lose benefits. These are people who quite often are working two or even three minimum wage jobs just to survive and support their families and the millionaire congressmen are so very concerned that offering them a very little help encourages them to be lazy!

And then we have the efforts of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives which has struggled mightily to overrule the Affordable Care Act and deny health care to millions of Americans, even though the law was debated, voted on and passed by a majority of the House and Senate, was signed into law by the president and its constitutionality was ratified by the Supreme Court. These are people who do not believe in the rules of governance that apply to a representative democracy. They are essentially anarchists who believe in every man for himself and survival of the strongest (i.e., richest), death to the weakest (i.e., poorest).

But the Republicans in Congress are not alone in their soulless bastardhood. We have billionaires in this country who have devoted a sizable portion of their fortunes to deepening the misery of their fellow citizens by denying them health care or any type of assistance from the government, as well as trying to stop regulations meant to make their air, water, food, drugs, and environment safer. These are people like the notorious Koch brothers with their fake grassroots organizations like Americans for Prosperity, or Tea Party Patriots, Club for Growth, Young Americans for Liberty, Freedom Works, etc. If it is an organization that has a name that includes the words "patriots," "liberty," "freedom," or "prosperity," you can almost be guaranteed that it is being financed by some billionaire with an axe to grind.

(I don't mean to tar all billionaires with the same brush. After all, we have people like Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett and many others less well-known who give enormous amounts of their wealth to causes around the world that make the lives of millions of people better.)

All of those aforementioned faux grassroots groups have spent millions, perhaps even billions, of dollars since the Affordable Care Act was passed to spread disinformation about it and to convince the gullible among us that catastrophic harm will be caused to the economy by providing health care to the uninsured. Their campaign is driven by the cynical political calculation that if the program is allowed to proceed and succeed the population will be so grateful to the Democratic Party for providing it that their opponents will suffer a severe electoral disadvantage. But, frankly, it also seems driven by a streak of pure malice and sadism which marks a total indifference to the suffering of others.

Our society has allowed too much power to fall into the hands of these soulless bastards. We need to remember once again that we are all in this together and that if one of us is suffering it weakens the whole. Selfishness and greed are not the bases of a strong society and we need to reject them by rejecting the emissaries who preach their gospel. Inclusiveness and a just society where everyone has a chance to succeed is what we should strive for, and we need to elect officials who will help us to achieve that and throw out the soulless bastards who are obstructing the way.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

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