L’etat c’est moi
Sunday morning, a bitter cold morning with 7 degrees registering outside. I greeted another patron with “a good morning” who happened to be seated at an adjacent table. She mentioned that she was departing to walk to St Charles, which is some distance from this Starbucks here in Geneva. I was reminded that human beings will do what is necessary for life to continue, no matter the severity of the circumstances.
I suppose that fact, demonstrated over and over ought to bring comfort, a degree of solace. Maybe it will as I continue to think about it. Assurance, confidence for the future is wherever one happens to find it.
A friend took me to task yesterday via email, pointing out my cynicism over the current state of affairs in our nation, as the President is about to stand trial in the Senate for abuse of power, for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The anachronistic language highlights the extremity of these charges. My friends objection was to the point that I clearly had given up on the ideals promulgated by our Founders.
Is the President concerned? Who knows, who can tell? He is absent from Washington to be in Davos, Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum.
Can our representative democracy withstand, survive this outlandish, idiosyncratic bid for unrestrained power?
Louis XIV of France comes to mind, the Sun King who ruled France for 72 years. Folklore has it that Louis once said, ‘L‘etat c‘est moi.‘ (I am the state) Whether he in fact said this does nothing to diminish the phrase as perfectly capturing the spirit of an age when “divine right of kings” was a dominant governing principle.
Living in the 21st century, this seems all too familiar. It is the attitude, and the persona of every tyrant, no matter the rationale used to justify their exercise of absolute power.
