Spoken by a man after my own heart:
“You must grant me a
dispensation for saying any thing, whether it be sense or nonsense, upon the
subject of politics. It is truly a matter in which I am so little interested,
that, were it not that it sometimes serves me for a theme when I can find no other,
I should never mention it.”
I’ve come to think of
politics as no more than a pretext people use for getting angry. They enjoy the
illusion of self-righteous power it gives them. It’s a handy stand-in for
religion, sports, musical tastes, anything enabling that rush of disapproving
emotion and self-aggrandizement. A reader asks—neutrally, I think—for my
assessment of President Trump’s second administration thus far. Because I don’t
pay much attention to such things, my judgment is worthless, a waste of time. I’ve
never defined myself with such categories and I don’t think my opinions are of
any importance simply because they are mine. The author of the credo above is
the English poet William Cowper, writing to his friend the Rev. John Newton on
July 5, 1784. He continues:
“I would forfeit a large
sum, if, after advertising a month in the Gazette, the minister of the day,
whoever he may be, could discover a man who cares about him or his measures so
little as I do. When I say that I would forfeit a large sum, I mean to have it
understood that I would forfeit such a sum if I had it.”
Cowper is the poet of spectatorship, of diffidence expressed as a willingness to observe the world, not plunge into its swelter. He was a high-strung man, affectionate and loyal to his friends but haunted by depression and suicidal thoughts. His sense of humor was subtle and often heavily disguised. He barely recognized civic affairs and remained blithely immune to politics. His passions were poetry and religion, not meddling. Like me, I think he understood the role of government to be filling potholes and arresting bad guys, or the comparable obligations of his day. I’m reminded of Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Workers. Asked by a reporter why she didn’t vote, Day is supposed to have answered: “Because it only encourages them”