Backsliding

Reading Edmond Morris's biography, Colonel Roosevelt.  About, you know, the good cousin, Teddy.

Good book, but disheartening.  Theodore Roosevelt faced, during and after his Presidency, many problems in their infancy that we face today full blown.  Despite the passage of a hundred years and the convulsions of two world wars, problems have changed little except for the names of the guilty, unless it is to get worse.

We still have spineless politicians who would cede our sovereignty and our freedom to a World Court. 

We still have the battle between individual rights and the soullessness of large public corporations.

We still see the battle between seventh century Islam and twenty-first century rest-of-the-world.  Exacerbated by the aftermath of nineteenth and twentieth century colonialism.

I greatly admire T.R. and the things he was able to do, and wanted to do.  He was not a perfect man, but then who amongst us is?  Hint: far fewer than believe they are -- none, in fact!

One can see but faintly from the distance of a hundred years, clear as it may seem.  If I were to guess at how much mankind has progressed in that time, my guess would be zero.  Or a little bit less.

I'm just glad it's only half past seven of a Michigan evening, and still light out.  If I waited until eleven at night to write this I might have gotten really gloomy!