HUBRIS, meaning pride or arrogance, is a very human flaw that in Greek mythology often led to tragedy.
Daedalus, flying with wings of feathers and wax, thought he could go up to see the heavens, but the wings melted when he flew too close to the sun, and he plunged into the sea. When Arachne boasted that she was just as good a weaver as Athena, the goddess turned her into a spider.
Pride goeth before a fall. It is one of the seven deadly sins. You'd think people would learn, but it gets 'em every time.
Too much pride has been a theme of the Bush administration. After capturing the presidency by judicial decree, they governed as if they had a mandate, running roughshod over those who disagreed with them.
Winning the second time by a clear but narrow margin, Bush declared, "I've got some political capital, and I'm going to spend it."
Spend it he did, and now there's almost nothing left.
The arrogance is mind-boggling. Bush has taken unprecedented powers for himself, using the war on terror to justify his imperium. The tyrant is the child of Pride, said Socrates, and we are coming much too close to tyranny.
Bush thinks he can ignore the law by keeping secrets from Congress. That he can change laws passed by Congress by issuing contrary signing statements. That he can trample the Constitution and amass detailed data on more than 200 million Americans who aren't suspected of any crime. And that he can claim he's just doing it to fight the terrorists, while he leaves the ports unguarded - and that we will believe him. Such hubris!
This from a man who stated in an interview that he doesn't trust intellectuals, so what could we expect. What we got is a from-the-gut Administration, a gut with a bleeding ulcer. The problem is the American people are suffering the consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment