Nescience

Let us suppose - at least for the duration of this essay - that when all the votes are counted, the Biden-Harris ticket hands an electoral ass-whooping to Trump-Pence; that the Democrats maintain - and even expand - their majority in the House, and capture the Senate . . . as well as several more governorships and state legislatures. Although by no means a lead-pipe cinch, this outcome is within the realm of possibility. At the moment, no one knows what reaction to expect from ‘45 and his team should he succumb to a political bloodletting; will he reject it, lock the front, back and side doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and call out the American military to protect him? Will he, in his last days in office declare war on China, Iran and/or Russia? Or will the leaders (?) and office-holders of his own political party finally, finally locate their “big boy, big girl” pants and tell him to באַקומען די גענעם אויס פון דאָ (pronounced bakumen di genem fune dah: Yiddish for “Get the hell out of here!”)?

Yes I know, the very thought of dismantling the current administration - along with all its corruption, lack of direction and cult-like devotion to one man - gives much of the American public - and indeed our once and (hopefully) future allies cause for cheerful optimism . . . a kind of “Ding dong the witch is dead” moment. But truthfully, dear reader, replacing Trump with Biden and McConnell with Schumer (as well as showing Miller, Mnuchin, Pompeo and Barr the door) is a mere first step on the path to recovery. For the current gang that couldn’t shoot straight is going to be leaving most of us with tremendous fiscal, medical and civil deficits, as well as systemic weakness and and grave doubts about ever again trusting anyone in power. Then too, there will be those who continue clinging to the staunch belief that’45 is, was and will always be the greatest, smartest and most capable of all American Presidents. Oh, it’s easy to deride them as fools and poorly educated drones. But do remember, they are far better armed than we, and lug about portmanteaus stuffed with resentment, bigotry and the certain knowledge that anyone on the “other side” is assuredly a communist, socialist or globalist. Case in point: the day after the Harris/Pence debate, ‘45 repeatedly referred to the California senator as both “a monster” and “a Communist.” By evening, those two terms could be heard on virtually every conservative and ultra-right wing talk show in America.

Yes, Trump and his tribe are leaving America in the throes of a lethal pandemic that will not go away, a job picture uglier than anything we’ve experienced since the Great Depression and a hell of a lot of people who stand defiantly against the country and government they wish to engage in a new Civil War.

Which brings us to the one thing which holds so much of this dire diagnosis together: nescience . . . our title word. Although hardly known and rarely used, nescience is a most useful word, meaning “ignorant or unknowing.” In all my years of reading novels and essays, I’ve only found it 3 times: In James Joyce’s Ulysses (chapter 17, in which he writes of “the lethargy of nescient matter”); W. Somerset Maugham’s The Hero (wherein the novel’s protagonist, James, is described as having been “. . .thrown into a blind rage by the complacency with which from the depths of his nescience his father dogmatised). and G.K. Chesterton’s The Innocence of Father Brown (“In such a naked state of nescience, Valentin had a view and a method of his own”).

According to the great lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson, “There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable that I would no rather know it than not know it.” Dr. Johnson teaches us that nescience evolved from a combination of the Latin prefix ne-, meaning "not," and scire, a verb meaning "to know." Dr. Johnson likely knew that scire is an ancestor of science, a word whose original meaning in English was "knowledge."

What this word has to do with our current POTUS and many of his cronies and appointees should be clear: both he and they are nescient when it comes to science, economics, foreign policy, conservation and a host of other subjects which are critical for leaders to know something about. In my experience, the wisest, brightest and best educated people need never brag or boast about how smart they are. And while Jefferson, both Adams, Lincoln, both Roosevelts and Obama were quite likely “the smartest person in the room,” there is virtually no record of them ever proclaiming this fact in public. Their books, essays, speeches and actions proved their worth. And what is more, they not only appointed people who were experts in their various fields; they actually listened to their advice, frequently incorporating what they had learned into their final decisions.

Compare this to ‘45, who throughout his presidency appointed (and fired) people mostly on the basis of their personal loyalty, not their expertise or experience in a given field. It has never really mattered; their boss has had neither the patience nor need to listen to others. From all indications, he doesn’t read any material his assistants may provide, and frequently diverges into self-congratulatory asides. The nation has heard him proclaim that he knows more than anyone about nearly any or every subject on which he speaks. All this from a world-class nescient whose sciolism (superficial knowledge) is largely responsible for the deaths of 212,000 souls, the rise of China and Russia on the world stage and the fading away of American exceptionalism. Merely wearing a baseball cap with the letters MAGA emblazoned across its top, or calling leading Democrats by nasty nicknames given them by the president, or refusing to wear a mask or keep a proper social distance, does not make a nation or even a segment of its populace great. What it does do is to separate a nescient minority from the rest of the people; to begin thinking about rebellion, revolution - even resurrection. That segment is, for the most part, politically naïve, profoundly gullible, possessing a striking desire for strong authoritarian leadership . . . and heavily armed.

The changing of the political guard may occur sometime in November or early December. Should this happen it does not mean that all that which has pained and ailed us these past several years will suddenly fade from view, only to be replaced with a growing sense of civility, empathy and the desired return to seeing the good in one another. Alas, that’s not the way things generally work.

But it can’t hurt.

23 days until the election.

If you have yet to mail in your ballot . . . what’s your plan?