Yesterday I resolved to sort through a bankers box of archived materials, a good bit philosophy related, some personal photos from 5k runs that I enjoyed with family members, business related articles on sales saved on the merits of future usefulness….etc.  The material represents the mosiac of my life.  A 8×10 photo of “Animal Jim” launching his nitrous assisted Pro-Mod dragster off the starting line at Great Lakes Dragway was retrieved.  This, — along with manila folders of notes and articles on Plato’s thought, and Nietzsche compose the  life that I’ve lived.  I would not have imagined this adventure.

Yesterday for practical purposes the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump came to it’s predictable end.  It became clear that not enough, if any of the Senators would vote to call any witnesses.  How could one characterize the last four or five days of testimony, sans witnesses, as anything but a show trial, an elaborately costumed “kabuki-like” drama?  Many Senators are elected by/from gerrymandered districts.  Are they going to have a conscience?  And a statement was made before the inception of the trial by the majority leader that the Senate would work in concert with the White House to acquit the President.

Where to from here?  I do not know. 

I have taken the liberty to present for your consideration some quotations from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides.  The Peloponnesian War was a war between Athens and Sparta which lasted for 27 years.  The conflict arose with Sparta’s dissatisfaction with the spread of Athenian commercial power through out the Mediterranean basin.  

Ancient Greek warfare, meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into an all-out struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale. Shattering religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and destroying whole cities, the Peloponnesian War marked the dramatic end to the fifth century BC and the golden age of Greece.  — Wikipedia

Thucydides, an Athenian general who composed the account of the war, as a young man could not have imagined himself on the deck, in command of a force of trireme warships.  In his composition he reflects upon his experience and draws some lessons for the future.

Right, as the world goes,
is only a question between equals in power,
while the strong do what they can
and the weak suffer what they must.

This is a clear definition of Realpolitik, pragmatic politics stripped of all moral and idealistic considerations.  Sound familiar?

Self-control is the chief element in self-respect,
and self-respect is the chief element in courage.

No self-control emanates from the White House.  The Presidents party acclaims this as desirable.  Self-respect, an encumbrance….

Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble
in finding out the truth,
but are more inclined to accept
the first story they hear.

Defense attorneys for the administration adeptly offered a kaleidoscope of stories.  “Are you going to believe what your eyes see, or believe what I have to tell you.”

Ignorance is bold,
and knowledge is reserved.

That has not changed since Thucydides day.

When will there be justice in Athens?
There will be justice in Athens
when those who are not injured
are as outraged as those who are.

Only a short stretch of the imagination is needed to recognize the application to the institutional violence, the oppression of those without power in our country.

In general, men of lower intelligence won out.
Afraid of their own shortcomings
and of the intelligence of their opponents,
so they would not lose out in reasoned argument
or be taken by surprise by quick-witted opponents,
they boldly moved to action.
Their enemies, on the contrary,
contemptuous and confident in their ability to anticipate,
thought there was no need to take by action
what they could win by their brains.

A succinct description of the outcome of the last Presidential election.   Is a replay likely,  come November of this year, 2020?