Embarrassed vs. Ashamed

The last fifteen months have allowed me—all of us, really—the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the difference between the concepts of embarrassment and shame.  

I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of Americans are embarrassed to have the buffoon who occupies the office President Obama left morally and ethically vacant a year ago.  There are certainly exceptions to this state of embarrassment – and it’s worth noting carefully now who they are – before denial and revisionism seek to rewrite history.  Once The Donald has retreated again to his rightful place on the covers of the pulp paper tabloids at the checkout stand, people like Lindsay Graham, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the Republican congressional caucus will conveniently forget their familiarity.  On the other hand, your neighbor—the gun-nut, who is always grumbling about the 'deep state', the Trilateral Commission, and black helicopters—will remain loyal; at least he is legit.  

On the other hand, I don’t feel the slightest bit of shame about this creep being in office; shame is personal, and I did what I could to prevent it.  The current state of our politics is the result of decades of philosophical and intellectual decay, driven by the leaders and underwriters of the Republican Party.  Though I have never been a Republican, there are many whom I have respected, and still respect.  I have fond childhood memories of people like William F. Buckley, James Kilpatrick, and others, who could espouse and defend a coherent governing philosophy, in a way that posed a challenge to those opposing it.  In my imagination, I would grow up to be that opposing voice, sitting across from Buckley in his Firing Line studio; matching him point for point, fact for fact, smug expression for smug expression – all while holding grudging respect for one another’s skills.  These people are gone, and nobody has taken their place.  Intellectual lightweights like Dinesh D’Sousa, Thomas Sowell, and others presume to carry the mantle.  But they don’t measure up to their forebears – and even if they did, the Republicans no longer point to a coherent philosophy for support.  They have unilaterally surrendered the appeal to logos, and now rely entirely on pathos – whipping up anger among their credulous base.  In this, they have relied on such intellectual lights as Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones.  

Yes, it is embarrassing to know that the Current Occupant will have his portrait hung alongside more worthy predecessors.  But the shame belongs solely to those who have lost the ability, or willingness to use their heads in the attempt to discern reality from paranoid fantasy when selecting the leaders of our country.