A songwriter predicted the state of our nation
The best way to describe our country today is to listen to the lyrics of a Cole Porter song, "Anything Goes."
Part of its lyrics goes like this:
"In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, but now, God knows, anything goes.
"Good students too who once knew better words, now only use four-letter words, writing prose, anything goes.
"The world has gone mad today, and good's bad today, and day's night today, when most guys today, that women prize today, are just silly gigolos. God knows, anything goes."
An example of this is Trump's appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court (which are for life) along with other holdovers such as the infamous Clarence Thomas, have caused the court's credibility to wither. In addition. Chief Justice John Roberts, who I had admired, has remained silent as if the court is in good shape.
It's like he has in effect already retired and the court seems leaderless. My chief concern is that the decision overturning Roe v. Wade is only the beginning of repealing other longstanding precedents. The sad thing is that there really isn't anything to check Trump's runaway Supreme Court.
An equally serious problem is the change in politicians' attitudes about lying. If you rely on what they are saying, you are looking for trouble. They argue that lying is necessary in order to protect their office and their constituents, but before long schools will need to offer classes in effective lying. It's like telling the truth is now considered old fashioned and you are a sucker if you refuse to lie.
If your opponent is telling lies about you, what do you do? Clearly this is not a new problem. As some say, it goes with territory. If you don't retaliate with your lies, what do you say to your constituents if you lose the race? Some may elect to do anything to win reelection, but once you go to wholesale lying, how does this effect other areas like marriage, job applications, financial statements for loans? And the list is endless. Like they say, once you let the cat out of the bag, how do you put it back in?
It may have been that Cole Porter was prophetic in predicting the sad state of our nation today.
Bass Trumbo
Fayetteville