The Romans of the Decadence, Thomas Couture
Powdered concubine dressed in rich silks —
Feet bound, body soft, lips slack —
Views lotuses through binoculars.
A dragonfly alights on her motionless fan.How do you know when your own life verges on decadence?
Certainly when the force of form becomes more important that the force of substance. When etiquette and morals become more important that understanding and righteousness. When procedure becomes more important than creativity. When gratifying your lust becomes more important than giving to others. When patriotism becomes more important than measured governing and enlightened treatment of other nations. When the act of eating becomes more important than considerations of nutrition. When the opera becomes more important than helping the poor and homeless. When one’s own comfort becomes more important than the suffering of loved ones. When ambition becomes more important than benevolence. When prestige becomes more important than charity. When the academy becomes more important than the streets. When loud expression becomes more important than listening to others. When outrageousness becomes more important than communication. When connoisseurship becomes more important than simple acts. When style becomes more important than function. When books become more important than teachers. When expediency becomes more important than the elderly.
When you smell these things happening, you are not far from decadence.
“America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.”– John O’Hara
“As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.” — Gore Vidal
“The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn’t deliver the goods.” — John Maynard Keynes
Our local MoveOn.org group and some of the DFA folks got together on Wednesday to organize a protest against the Republican plan to cut medical benefits for the poor and elderly:
Local activists held a protest Wednesday in front of the 50th Congressional District offices of U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, as part of a nationwide push by a political group called Moveon.org to pressure conservative leaders in Congress to drop proposed cuts to social programs for the poor.
As several speakers addressed a group of about 20 people on what they called Republicans “Reverse Robin Hood economics”, listeners waved signs emblazoned with slogans like: “Where’s the compassion; Resign, scram Cunningham; Stop GOP attack on poor Americans.”
The Republican response was pretty typical:
San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring called Democrats’ efforts to paint conservatives as helping the rich and hurting the poor, “just a political game on the part of liberal Democrats who have never met a spending program they didn’t like.
“I have read this sort of stuff before —- it’s called Karl Marx,” Nehring continued. “The Republicans in Congress are working to cut spending by $50 billion in a $2.5 trillion budget; that is not a lot of money as a percent of overall federal spending.”
I guess corporate welfare and tax cuts for people who don’t really need them are more important to Republicans than making sure that the poor and elderly are cared for. I guess spending billions to develop useless weapons systems is more important than making sure people get the medical care they need. Are we a decadent nation, or what? Well, at least those of us who vote Republican certainly are.
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