Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#/media/File:Statue_of_Nero.jpg

There weren't any violins in the 1st century. However, most contemporary sources describe Nero as tyrannical, self-indulgent, and debauched. The historian Tacitus claims the Roman people thought him compulsive and corrupt. Suetonius tells that many Romans believed the Great Fire of Rome was instigated by Nero to clear land for his planned "Golden House".

Sound familiar? 

The phrase "fiddling while Rome burns" is a common idiom used to criticize leaders for occupying themselves with trivial matters or being ineffectual during a major crisis.  

We are living that reality now.

In Need to Know, David Rothkopf today called out the madness of the fact world trade and global security is being shattered by a single man. “Not since Adolf Hitler blew his brains out in a bunker beneath the garden of the German Reich Chancellery on April 30, 1945, have the lives of so many people around the world been so buffeted by the psychosis of a single man.”

Why has Trump launched a war against Iran on a whim, attacked other countries, and upended world trade, Rothkopf asked. “Because he’s insane. Because he’s venal. Because he’s a malignant narcissist. Because he’s a sociopath. Because he has a fragile ego. Because those around him exacerbate and play to those traits to advance their own interests. Because CEOs and investors do likewise to fill their coffers. Because to some people, whether he is insane or malevolent or repugnant or not matters less than whether his actions will feather their nests, increase their power.

“Because they, the billionaires…play their games and the consequences for the little people down below, the consequences for us, hardly matter a whit.”

Quakers tend to be serious people.  We have compassion and make room for mistakes, but we also have very little patience for liars, grifters and vacuous self-absorbed people who relish hurting others. 

Each time I look at the catastrophes playing out in the world I play a little game with myself and try to imagine what things would be like if I applied a Quaker value to the situation.  So, let's play:

• War with Iran: (Quaker value peace) This war is a war of ego.  The current occupant thinks he's going to be the one to provide a "solution" through the use of force. Does that ever work?  In any situation?  Generally what happens is more chaos. 
  • This war would have been a non-starter with a Quaker at the helm. 
• Immigration: (Quaker value Equality) We can't have open borders, but there is a lot that can be done between open borders and ICE shooting innocent American protestors in the streets of Minneapolis to make an immigration system functional. 
  • We would have a sane immigration policy with a Quaker at the helm. Reasonable quotas for entry and a path to citizenship for those that are here. 
• Removing SNAP Benefits (Quaker value Community) Do we really want to be that hard hearted, nasty, stingy Grinch that takes food from the mouths of children?  I know most Americans don't think this way.  I just hope they vote in November. 
  • That would never have happened with a Quaker at the helm.
• Lying (Quaker value Integrity) Most Americans probably can no longer tell the difference between the truth and lies anymore.  This current office holder has normalized the LIE so much that people no longer can understand the truth even when they hear it. Have we received a straight answer on the Epstein Files yet?  
  • Nope, Quakers don't lie. Not part of our DNA.
• Self-Dealing (Quaker value Transparency) One thing we have witnessed is the extreme graft and corruption in government since Citizens United was passed in 2010. Legislation is now for sale to the highest bidder.  There is no civic reason for anything any more.  You want another endless war? Sure thing, just do business with my crypto company (guess who owns World Liberty Financial) and you know who will get 10% of all those transactions and you have a backdoor system of bribery.
  • Transparency means everyone knows everything.  No hidden money. No hidden agendas. It's all open.  Everyone gets to weigh in. As it should be. 

Why play this silly game?  Because in most other systems of government the people are not the sovereign. They are literally peons. Subjects.  Our system begins with "WE THE PEOPLE" and ends with  "...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". These words are located at the end of Article II, Section 1, which details the Presidential Oath of office. 

Here is one last Quaker value ... SERVICE ... (AKA ACTION) In WWI Quakers manned the ambulance corp.  In our context today it may mean putting on your boots and getting out into the streets and doing what is necessary to hang on to our way of life. Let us not be fooled and let us not forget that even Christ went into the temple and tossed out the money changers!

~ Joseph Olejak