gedavis.com	days go by

	late August gary e. davis	August 25, 2020

Rainless lightening in northern California would dramatize everyone’s sense of unprecendented times without massive fires resulting. A week into that now, thinly smokey air from the north has largely disappeared around the S.F. Bay Area—but still evident enough to give the night’s crescent Moon a rosey patina. The dramas of climate change are no mere matter for meteorology, since “climate” is as psychological as global warming is mal-economic. No degree of astuteness can annul the risks to mental health that chronic danger can cause: Anxiety and depression are as common nationally as they are in my region. A keynote of thriving is resilience, which is a keynote of being well during the pandemic. I am doing well, so far, thanks to vigilance and luck. And democracy in America is doing well, believe it or not: An accidental authoritarian in the presidency has been largely constrained by wise (career professional) inertia of governmental institutions. The U.S. was progressing moderately without an actual president, until the mishandling of the pandemic. Democracy in America is doing well also because the current presidential campaign is vastly engaging the public; and the economy of professional journalism is healthy. In coming weeks, I expect to focus on a range of themes pertaining directly to the U.S. political season: conventional Americanism, self interest irt being democratic, and appreciating genuine leadership. This will be noted at the “new in site” spot on my home page. | August 31: That begins with “being an American (with conceptual issues).”

 

 

Be fair. © 2020, gary e. davis