Carl Sandburg was an early pioneer of Zoom conferencing and podcasts as evidenced by this photo circa 1958
The poet Carl Sandburg said the Civil War was fought over
one word. The word was “is.” Here’s the full quotation: “The United
States is not are. The Civil War was fought over a verb.”
He said it on the campus of Knox College in Galesburg,
Illinois on October 7, 1958, as part of ceremonies commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Senate debates.
Is vs. are. And of course, Sandburg wasn’t one to
minimize the effects and causes of the war. He took the long view.
But not long enough. Look at us now. Nominally,
we’re one country. But only nominally. We’re more balkanized than the
Balkans. We’re like the minor states of the Soviet Union fighting each other
for Moscow’s table scraps.
This space has long said the Confederacy won the war and now
governs it alongside its occupied territories in the mountain and desert
west. And, more recently, of its semi-independent cells of operatives in
parts of the east and the Midwest.
The mindlessness of vaccine and mask opposition are the
current battleground. And that’s just a cosmetic battle.
Behind and beyond is a deeper divide and a far more
important foundation of ideas.
What are we as a country?
Sandburg dealt in words… often powerful… moving. But
words are symbols of concepts and concepts are what we ignore as we pay tribute
to their sounds and forms over their meanings.
The Census Bureau tells us there are a bit over 328 million
of us. It’s hard to get your head around a number of that size. But it’s
also hard to get your head around the notion that we have differences and that
we once found ways to live among each other.
The pipe is so clogged now that no plumbing snake can clear
it.
How long before we start debating the return of slavery?
How long before we destroy ourselves in a storm of Covid? How long before
religious practice becomes mandatory? How long before the houses of cards and
air castles we’ve built collapse under their own weight?
How long before a justice system becomes so corrupt as to
freeze? How long before we’re priced out of our homes and our hopes?
The President wants to spend trillions on infrastructure.
But, Mr. President, what about our internal infrastructure? It’s not just the
roads and bridges, card houses and air castles that are falling apart.
We may be too big to function. But we’re not too big to
fail.
And what would Sandburg say? Or Lincoln or Douglas?
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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