Someone recently
commented that chaos would follow this election, regardless of who win.
As an historian,
I have to confess: the chaos has started.
For the most
part, everyone likes history, but I think the one thing you get from studying
history versus just reading history is the long-view of life on earth. You
learn how to take an event and follow the ripples through the centuries and
realizing that seemingly unconnected events are, in fact, so intertwined one
would not happen without the other.
The best example
of this is probably James Burke’s Connections series. Watch the series. He actually tells you what that has to do with the price of tea in China and gives you an
idea of what the long-view can do for how your see the world.
So what does all
of this have to do with the current presidential elections? As we all know,
this election is out of control. Pundits and extremists on both sides have
predicted chaos will follow if “their” candidate isn’t elected.
But if you take
the long-view, however, the chaos has started. It actually started decades ago,
if not in the fall out of World War 1, which was itself a consequence of our
on-going shift from agrarian to industrial one and now to automation.
More importantly
for this election, people are losing jobs and those jobs aren’t coming back
regardless of campaign promises. The jobs of the future haven’t jelled yet so
we don’t know where to go for deliverance. It’s a normal part of the ebb and
flow of society but it’s unsettling. Hence the anger, the preppers, the mass
shootings, the rioters, the people quietly googling “where should I live after
Nov. 6?"
One problem is it’s
hard to see the long-view amidst chaos, and many people don’t even look for it.
Business focus
on the next quarter.
Politicians
focus on the next election.
People focus on
the next weekend.
Few of us are
looking beyond the immediate pain to see where we’re going and lay foundations
to get there. Instead, they want a quick fix and assurances that they will be
safe. This is why guns, bunker manufacturing, food preservation and training
for the apocalypse have become multibillion-dollar industries.
Trump’s appeal
lies in his outsider role and promises of quick fixes. He’s cast himself as the
lone wolf hero (a very American literary archetype) and makes it OK to lay the
blame for the chaos on whatever scapegoat you choose. And it’s very nice to
have someone to blame…whether it’s Christians in Ancient Rome, Jews in Medieval
Europe, Witches in early modern times or Communists in McCarthy’s America.
As a woman, the misogyny
that’s erupted around this campaign reminds that it’s easy to lose rights, even
those pledged to us.
My area of study
is the 12thcentury, the era of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress
Matilda, and some men you might have heard about, Henry II (son of Matilda and
husband to Eleanor) and Richard the Lionhearted (son of Eleanor and husband to
no woman).
Matilda was the
only legitimate daughter of King Henry I, who had upward of 20 illegitimate
children. His son and heir, William, drowned when the White Ship burned and
sank in the English Channel in 1120, throwing the succession into chaos.
At the King’s
urging, the barons vowed to support Matilda as “king,” but when the time came
to crown her in 1140, her cousin Stephen of Blois raced to Winchester and had
himself crowned before the pregnant Matilda could arrive. Enough of the
nobility broke their vow and supported Stephen that civil war followed.
By summer of
1141, she was winning. Then the chatter started. Chroniclers tell us that Matilda:
- Displayed “intolerable pride and willfulness”
- Possessed an “extremely arrogant demeanor instead of the modest gait and bearing proper to the gentle sex”
- Was “lifted up into an insufferable arrogance”
- “Alienated the hearts of almost everyone”
- Was “unfemininely willful and unnaturally domineering”
Sound familiar?
For the record,
I have problems with Clinton. I think her vision is small, short-term and unprogressive.
But I also think history will be kinder to her than her peers have been.
History takes a long-view and knows when it’s seen this shit before.
Most importantly,
though, history also tells us not to despair. Chaos ends, just as fat and happy
times pass.
Even in the midst
of The Black Death, people still married, still made wills, still sued their
neighbor for diverting his sewer into their backyard. On the Camino, you’ll see
all types of graffiti but one of the most common phrases is: LIVE YOUR LIFE.
So even as chaos
rages, be kind, have faith, and live your life.
