U.S. "Nero" Brings Hamlet’s Dilemma to the Modern World
I didn’t think I’d write about politics again
this week, but the subject remains on my mind. That’s largely because I’m visiting Kiev and almost every Ukrainian
I know is asking me the same questions: “What do Americans think of Trump?” and
“What’s going on with Trump and Putin?” When you consider that Ukraine is still engaged in a
prolonged war with Russia, this isn’t surprising. What is surprising is how hard it is to answer. Does anyone really know where U.S. policy
currently stands or if this Administration will let the Russians off the hook
for their illegal annexation of Crimea and occupation of the Donbas region (not to mention tampering with our elections)?
“It’s shocking and depressing, but I have no
idea what’s going on,” Is all I can tell them, “I think it’s clear that the
Russians have a lot of compromat on Trump, but while our system is supposed to
be able to deal with this type of thing, the Republicans in power are refusing to
maintain checks and balances on the presidency and my country is failing
because of it.” I usually add, “It’ll
all come down to the elections in November, if the Democrats manage to take
back the House and the Senate, things will be ok, but if people don’t show up
to vote and the Republicans maintain control, I have no idea what’s going to
happen, except that it will not be good for the U.S. or world.”
The responses I’m getting to this sad
testimonial are usually silence and disbelief. I’ve just confirmed their worst fears. How can this be the America that people
have looked to throughout history as a moral bulwark against global tyranny and
oppression? How is it even
possible? Sometimes, they say
something along these lines and I can only shrug, as I too am asking these
questions as daily political headlines continue to assault my world ideology.
By a strange twist of fate, my return back to
the States after decades living abroad coincided with the 2016 election campaign
and Trump’s victory. I feel how
Hamlet must have felt upon his return home. My state of mind is lost in a mild, but tragic despair. Something is indeed rotten in the
United States, as it was in Denmark for returning prince.
Hamlet is a good parallel. When I studied the play, we spent a lot
of time learning about Elizabethan society and culture to have a thorough
understanding of the tragedy’s backdrop.
We then compared it to ancient Greece to better understand Hamlet’s psychological
downfall. Many similar immoral and
unethical acts took place in classical Greek tragedy, but those protagonists
never struggled with the angst and despair that possessed Shakespeare’s
troubled heroes. The only
significant difference is that Christian thought didn’t exist in classical
Greece and as such, neither did the notion of moral guilt. While it cannot be found anywhere in
Greek tragedy, it’s everywhere in Shakespearian tragedy.
Hamlet’s immense struggle to right his world is
tied to this notion. His world
ideology collapsed when his uncle murdered his father and married his mother
and since he couldn’t rationalize these immoral atrocities, his convictions were
lost and his sanity was pushed to its limit. Christian values are still deeply entrenched in the Western
mind. With the rise of a
completely immoral and unethical man to the most powerful political office that
symbolized moral rectitude and decency, our ideology is also collapsing. I believe this is the base source of the
angst and confusion so many are experiencing and this has led many Republicans to
lose their convictions.
“Excessive fear is always powerless.” Aeschylus
Republican leaders continue to go along with the
President because they cannot properly rationalize what’s happening. They can only focus on the immediate fear
losing power and support from Trump’s rabid base. They’re blind to the forest and only see the trees directly
in front of them. This loss of
ideology has led to an ineffectual government where corruption (of mind and legislation)
is undermining our very foundations while also pushing many to their mental
limits. Some politicians are taking
the easy way out and leaving public office, but their current and recent
actions will leave us in ruin. Many
others are relying on stale, rote slogans of support for the President that do
not make any sense.
Trump has started a fire. It smoldered at first, but now burns
out of control. Will we allow this
fire to reach the magnitude of destruction that it did in Rome under Nero (who also
typified moral degradation, great corruption and extravagance)? It was Nero who in AD 64 lit his
capital on fire for political purposes, but the fire grew out of control and
destroyed the vast majority of the city.
He then blamed it on a new “cult” called Christianity and used it launch
the Empire’s first persecution of the Christians. That disaster finally pushed Roman leaders to start working
to have him removed, but many historians believe that Nero’s emperorship pushed
the Roman Empire onto a new path that ultimately led to its complete collapse.
“Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing.” Sophocles
Is Trump our Nero and will U.S. voters overcome
this challenge that has befallen other civilizations before us and put out the
fire that is starting to rage, or will the masses remain in this ideological
daze long enough to allow him to take down the civilized world before snapping
out of it?
I don’t know the answer, but I’m hopeful and thus,
will continue advocating for as many firemen as possible to show up at the
polls this November to extinguish this threat to our democracy and provide us with
a new birth of moral decency, so that government of the people, by the people
and for the people, shall not perish from this earth.
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