VISITING THE ROOT OF AMERICAN MATTERS -- PART ONE: AS THINGS APPEAR

By Edwin Cooney

I can't recall a time in my nearly 77 years as an American, when the domestic outlook toward our future appeared so gloomy from so many socio, political and even scientific and spiritual aspects. No political leader, no husband, wife, child, teacher, preacher, whether man or woman, is confident of our existence in the absence of marked change in both outlook of practical political application.

As I see it, the above state of matters has multiple causes such as:

(1.) The near institutionalization of hatred for every form of social and political advocacy by everybody against everybody else throughout the socio/political spectrum.

(2.) The use of the mass media that spreads the above throughout "the land of the free and the home of the brave." It seems that today’s national anthem has changed from Francis Scott Key's "The Star Spangled Banner" to Frank Sinatra's "My Way." Note: We just celebrated the 208th anniversary of The Star Spangled Banner last Wednesday, September 14th. Also, "My Way" was written by Paul Anka in 1967.

(3.) Mistrust of all government by powerful people and organizations especially disdain of the federal government.

(4.) The ongoing struggle between religion and secularism.

(5.) The politicization of all sciences led by interest groups, especially those on the right of the political spectrum, although not entirely by them.

(6.) The loss of that vital cordiality and cooperativeness of our two major political parties throughout the halls of Congress.

(7.) The emphasis of state's rights over matters of national concern.

(8.) Our incapacity to effectively tackle ongoing domestic issues such as climate change and homelessness.

(9.) America's historic disdain for foreigners — especially immigrants.

(10.) We brag about our national unity while showing contempt for it.

It's vital to keep in mind that republicanism or democracy and our federal system, however you want to characterize it, is only 246 years old. Up until 1776 the entire world was tribal or monarchist. Back then, human beings for the most part surrendered to authoritarianism — whether social, legal or spiritual. From birth to the grave, much of humanity expected to be told what to do by strict parents, by teachers, and by the church.

Our inevitable change from simple agrarianism to industrialism and into the age of mass computerization has, I'm convinced, thrown all of us off balance. Two-hundred and forty-six years ago we dumped royalty for republicanism or democracy, we indulged ourselves in chattel slavery and profitable Indian genocide, civil war, and two world wars. Today, world wars have become cultural wars, with determined social and political generals and agendas as powerful as the agendas of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur, which ultimately ended a depression and won a world war within a single decade.

I'd characterize this age as the era of genuine chaos and confusion. Of course, we'll come out of this era of chaos and confusion. However, what it will cost us, how we'll accomplish this, and what that advancement will bring is everyone's guess because it encompasses everybody's fortune!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

THE MODERN BRITISH MONARCHY

By Edwin Cooney

British history begins for me in 1066, almost 1200 years ago this coming October, when William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings over King Harold. This is referred to as the Norman Conquest. King William I was crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066. There had been English kings before but they are exceedingly hard to easily follow since they lack continuity.

While visiting the US during our Bicentennial in 1976, Prince Charles asserted during an interview on National Public Television that going back before the Norman Conquest there had been only a total of 63 British Monarchies up until his mother's accession to the throne in 1953. Back in 1976, Americans were contemplating the election of merely our 39th president which turned out to be former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. I remember trying to imagine how many presidents we might have if we lasted over 1100 years!

Only the year before that, in 1975, I had completed my history degree majoring in Modern American, Modern European and Medieval European histories. (Medieval history marks the time between the fall of the Roman Empire in about 500 AD to the time of the Renaissance around 1500. It was the time during which modern government and modern religious institutions struggled often against one another for the control of nations.)  While  studying British royal family history, one can see how monarchs slowly but invariably advanced from merely being the most powerful warriors in the land and gradually became royal politicians. Henry Tudor (Henry VII, 1485 - 1509) was the first royal administrative politician monarch. Henry VIII (Tudor's son) was not merely a politician but, following his clash with Pope Clement VII over his divorce from Queen Catherine, he came to regard himself as head of the newly established Church of England. His second eldest daughter, Elizabeth I who ruled from 1558 to 1603, was ultimately the first truly great head of state, head of church, and top administrator — and one hell of a politician!

Elizabeth II, whom we mourn today, will ultimately be celebrated for her temperament which was both stoic and tolerant. All fifteen Prime Ministers who served during her 70 year reign appear to have found her both cordial and cooperative whatever their political and policy differences were. In that way, Queen Elizabeth II was similar to Oliver Wendell Holmes' description of FDR as possessing a second class intellect but a first class temperament.

It's natural and reasonable to question both the value and necessity of all royalty today. It must be observed, however, that the British have a special ability of using modern expectations and traditional customs, both Medieval and Victorian imagery, to justify and ultimately dignify King Charles III’s reign which began in the afternoon Greenwich Mean Time last Thursday, September 8th, 2022.

I can't resist comparing the last two occasions or conditions of the birth of the past two reigns.

On the evening of February 6th and 7th, 1952, Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth were sleeping in a Kenyan jungle treehouse as King George VI slipped away at Buckingham Palace in London. Thus, it can be observed that Princess Elizabeth transitioned from the jungle to the palace. (Note: That jungle treehouse was burned down the following year during a political struggle within Kenya.) Last Thursday afternoon just as Queen Elizabeth passed from life into eternity, a double rainbow appeared over Balmoral Castle. Thus it could be said that the promise of "God's rainbow" augurs well for the future and fortune of King Charles III!

Here's an irony for you! If you only go back to William the Conqueror in 1066, King Charles is exactly the 40th monarch. That means that since then, the British have had only 40 monarchs while we now have had 46 presidents! How about that?!

Whatever you and I think of both royalty and religion, they are real and must be examined if we are to have an accurate consensus of human progress.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY