White like me

Yesterday’s theme about my relationship with our current president was “old like me.” He and I are both old white men. Tomorrow, I’ll focus on gender. Today’s focus is our whiteness. We grew up in a world of white supremacy. That reality may be our greatest link. New York City is vastly different from Alabama, but we grew up in a culture of white dominance and privilege. His teen years were 1959-1966. My teen years were 1963-1970. The three years we “overlapped” as teens were 1963-1966.

Alabama’s racial segregation was de jure. New York’s was de facto. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were key events of our teen years. The Harlem riot and the NYC school boycott (both in 1964) and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery were during our teen “overlap” years. I understand the President’s innate racism. It’s part of my DNA, too. He and I may have dealt with our whiteness in different ways, but we were both products of a white supremacist culture.

When the President first appeared on the national political scene, he sounded like the early George Wallace (who was first elected governor of Alabama in 1962). In my bones, I heard MAGA as “Make America White Again.” The intended brutality of ICE and the “raid” on the Fulton County voter records are clear expressions of racism. John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me was formative for me. I don’t think Griffin’s project was part of the President’s consciousness as a teenager.

So, how do I deal with my white brother in the White House? I oppose him vigorously and urge my fellow old white men to do likewise. I loved Robert Hubbell’s account of the “F— Ice” chants at a professional wrestling event, and the President’s decision not to attend the Super Bowl (for fear of “big league” booing). See “The tide is turning as Trump hides from the public.” His key point: This all stops when enough of us say, “No.”

Photo of an unidentified old white man at a protest in Athens, Georgia, from Robert Hubbell’s Today’s Edition Newsletter for today (February 5, 2026), cited above.

Owning “good trouble”

My parents were born in eastern Kentucky and grew up in Jellico, Tennessee. They married in early 1945 and both worked at the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. A few post World War II decisions led to my birth and childhood in Alabama. When the 1950 census was released, my uncle Jerry, the family genealogist, noted that my parents resided in Jellico the year of my birth. But, I didn’t make the census because I was still in utero. I lived in Alabama my first 55 years, but my grandparents lived in their Tennessee homes well into their 80s and 90s, so when I think of my ancestral home, it’s the Cumberland Mountains of Campbell County, Tennessee. I’ve been to more reunions at Jellico High School than to my Alabama high school.

As a child, I was more familiar with east Tennessee than Alabama. Children tend to bond with fellow children, so by the time I was eight years old, I was a fan of the new Alabama football coach, Paul W. Bryant, a loyalty that solidified over the ensuing years. When the City of Gadsden celebrated the Civil War centennial in 1961, I had a gray shirt and a little gray felt hat. My dad, then with mostly dark hair, grew a beard like Abraham Lincoln’s and wore a top hat. (I didn’t catch the irony then, but now it makes me smile.) I never felt totally at home in Sweet Home, Alabama. Thanks to my parents, I resonated with black Alabamians. In this dystopian moment, we need to know our fullest identity and we need to know the value of looking from the “outside.”

My parents, grandparents and extended family, particularly my mother, encouraged me to think for myself. She was independent and intelligent. She explained to me that many things about life in Alabama were not “right,” such as racial segregation. But, she was savvy enough to understand the costs involved with being an “outside agitator,” as George Wallace and others were fond of labeling any dissenter. Many parents underestimate the power of one-on-one conversations with a child who is respected as if he or she is an adult. I was an only child, which meant I had ample attention. But, my parents had eleven siblings between them, most of whom we engaged at regular intervals, so (as I’ve said before), I was an only child in a large family.

I learned from my extended family that this is a big world and America is a great country. I saw how things were somewhat (though not entirely) different in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, California, Kentucky, Florida, overseas and in other places family members visited, worked or resided. I learned that everyone at times feels like an outsider. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Luther, and Wesley were significant “outside agitators.” If you find yourself feeling like an outsider, you’re in good company. If you’re ridiculed for asking questions or if someone calls you a “troublemaker,” remember that when King Ahab called the prophet Elijah a ‘troublemaker,” Elijah said to the king, “I’m not the troublemaker. You are!”

ICE knows your face. Own it. The Creator of the Universe knows your face. Own that above all else!

From “John Lewis: Good Trouble, IMBD, 2020

Up periscope

Sometimes I move into a silent “monastic mode” when I feel overwhelmed by the speed of our current administration’s activism. I wear a “string of solidarity” that was tied around my wrist in Selma by one of the Buddhist monks on their Walk for Peace. He was totally silent. I said just three words: “We are one.” Last week, the monks were reunited with one of their group who lost part of a leg in an automobile accident in Houston. They embraced in total silence.

I tend to retreat into history. When I was ten, I devoured the 1960 World Book Encyclopedia my parents bought for me. I read about the “Axis Powers” of World War 2. Unlike ChatGPT, I couldn’t “ask” the static World Book about the origin of the name “Axis.” Recently, I learned it came from a November 1, 1936 speech in Milan by Italy’s Benito Mussolini. He called the recent Berlin-Rome protocol “an axis around which all European States animated by the will for collaboration and for peace may collaborate.”

A new axis seems afoot, as regimes and oligarchies compete and/or cooperate, including China, Russia, and (now) the United States, in which leaders act in their self-interest within their spheres of influence. It feels like the US administration has changed teams, moving from the Allies to this new Axis, having “entered the portal,” like a promising college football player seeking the highest bidder.

As I raised the “periscope” from my retreat into silence, I found an insightful artifact: a lengthy, detailed September 17, 1935 report by the US Ambassador to Italy. Breckinridge Long relayed to Secretary of State Cordell Hull his conversation with Benito Mussolini, who responded to Long’s suggestion that Mussolini offer a compromise at an ongoing Geneva conference:

It is too late to talk of compromise. It is too late to withdraw any of my plans for operation in East Africa. I will proceed. I will not interfere with anyone. I do not expect anyone will interfere with me. But I will not permit interference. I have one million men under arms in Italy. I have a competent navy. I have an air force with a certain superiority. I will not permit interference from any source.

From “How Hitler found his blueprint for a German empire by looking to the American West,” by David Carroll Cochran, Waging Nonviolence, October 7, 2020.

Sovereign

Sovereign may be the most important word for 2026, along with its companion word, sovereignty.

The issue of who, or what, is sovereign may not be top of mind, but everyone, often unconsciously, operates with an idea of who, or what, is sovereign. It’s not just a political question. It’s a psychological question: “What is my ultimate concern?” It’s also a faith question: “Where is my ultimate allegiance?” Or, “What is my ultimate authority?” Sovereignty tends to enter our consciousness in times of crisis.

Great Britain is a good case study. It’s part of American history. The United Kingdom’s current monarch, King Charles III, is sometimes referred to as the Sovereign: In this representative role the Sovereign acts as a focus for national identity, unity and pride; gives a sense of stability and continuity; officially recognises success and excellence; and supports the ideal of voluntary service.

George Washington didn’t see sovereignty invested in a person, like King George III. During the war Washington was addressed as “General” or “Your Excellency.” Future second president John Adams even suggested “Your Highness” and “Your Most Benign Highness.” Since the Constitution prohibits titles of nobility, it was finally settled that George Washington be addressed as “Mr. President.

The sovereign of the Roman Empire was the Emperor. Constantine embraced Christianity, whose local leaders were bishops, of whom the Bishop of Rome became the most influential. Known informally as Pope, or Papa, at times this bishop was more powerful than the Emperor. It was about sovereignty: Was the Empire sovereign or the Church? Was the Emperor sovereign or the Pope?

In Europe, nation-states emerged as new centers of power. The British Parliament enacted several Acts of Supremacy (Acts of Sovereignty). The 1537 Act made Henry VIII the head of state and the head of the Church of England, displacing the Pope, a significant event in the Protestant Reformation. Though largely symbolic, today’s King Charles is officially the head of state and the head of the church.

More tomorrow:

Is the United States sovereign or is the United Nations sovereign? Is international law meaningful or meaningless? Or, sometimes meaningful and sometimes meaningless?

If we see the US as sovereign, does might make right? Does the leader of a nation with a strong military (like Germany in the 1930s) do whatever he or she wants with neighboring nation-states?

Within the US, who, or what, is sovereign? The President? The Congress? The Supreme Court? These are important questions. Be wise. Ask tough questions. Make good trouble. Keep a sense of humor.

Are sovereign states “for sale” to today’s oligarchs? You may not have the wealth to buy a country, but you can buy a Sovereign. The UK has been minting gold Sovereigns since 1849. What’s in your wallet?

From “All Sovereign Coins,” by The Royal Mint

America as Empire

In light of ongoing US action in Venezuela, and thinking about the US as Empire, an article in The Collector, “The 6 Empires That Shaped the Bible Story” made me ponder which of the six is the US most like. The article included some beautiful artwork, such as The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, by Francesco Hayez, 1867, from Wikimedia Commons:

From July 4, 1776 through December 6, 1941, America as Empire would have been absurd to most Americans. The nation had a long tradition of isolationism and aversion to overseas military action. Less than four years after Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the US was the world’s greatest power. Harry Truman said, “I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.”

Empire came gradually. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase expanded the US beyond the Eastern Seaboard. The War of 1812 solidified US independence. James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off limits to European colonization. Of the first 44 presidents, Theodore Roosevelt would have most enjoyed leading an Empire, a task inherited by his cousin Franklin, who died exhausted at age 63.

The US entered World War I late, but Woodrow Wilson worked to establish a “league of nations” to avert another war. But, US isolationism prevented the US Senate from ratifying the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant of the League of Nations. The United Nations was formed immediately after WW2, creating an imperfect, though crucial, stability and a tradition of international law.

In 1970, while topping a hill on US Highway 82 near the Alabama/Mississippi border, I saw the top line of a billboard, which declared “Get Us Out.” I expected the message to read “of Vietnam,” but the rest of the billboard read, “Of the United Nations!” Then and now, a big question is: Who, or what, is sovereign?

From “The John Birch Society,” Wikipedia

Formation

Retirement is freedom to live into one’s deepest calling. For me, it’s spiritual formation, a term that sounds religious. Since much of the world’s public religion today is toxic, personal formation may be better. For the simplicity in this and the next few posts, I’ll call it, simply, Formation.

In 1968, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite was a major opinion-swayer. Lyndon Johnson understood the significance of Cronkite’s opinion that it was time to negotiate an end to America’s war in Vietnam. In my opinion, Fox News has become America’s most important opinion-swayer.

As an act of intentional formation, we no longer have TV cable. I subscribe to CNBC+ for $15 a month to access their financial news, so I don’t aspire to be a Desert Spiritualist. After our two-month camping trip, I’ve re-established a daily pattern of media intake that will continue to evolve. Here are links to today’s example of my first reads:

Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, from the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, which I access via Substack. She is also available on YouTube and Facebook.

Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse, a federal prosecutor for 25 years, is must reading in this age when (for now, at least), the judiciary is our only functioning “check and balance,” and it is wobbly. Vance helps me know (with wonderful Jewish precision and levity) the crucial legal issues of the week.

Those three are everyday “must reads” for me. Also, I check Robert Hubbell, whose Today’s Edition Newsletter tends to be encyclopedic. I use Hubbell to practice speed-reading. Today’s post. “Toto, I dont think we’re in 2024 anymore….” was a good review of Tuesday’s election results.

From “What the Frogs Know,” by Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse (cited above)

Nuisance or necessity?

If you’re radically MAGA, you likely view government as a nuisance, or at best a necessary evil to be minimized, mostly limited to national defense. The Trump administration has expanded our military by creating a Space Force to police the heavens and ICE to police the immigrants.

If you’re radically anti-MAGA, you likely view government as a necessity, a mostly welcome partner to individuals, businesses and institutions. You likely see the Trump administration as at best a bumbling disaster and at worst the beginning of America’s plunge into fascism.

Many Americans are somewhere in the middle of that continuum, the ones who swing elections. In 1932, Dale Carnegie wrote Lincoln the Unknown, which begins with his radical poverty on the wild Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois frontier of the early 1800s. Government was not a factor. Settlers were on their own:

Abraham was a 7-year-old migrant to Indiana from Kentucky when Tom Lincoln hastily built what was then known as a “three-faced camp.” Today it would be called a shed. It had no floor, no door, no windows …. during the long winter of 1816-17, one of the severest and most violent winters in our history.

As for food, they had no butter, no milk, no eggs, no fruit, no vegetables, not even potatoes. They lived chiefly on wild game and nuts. Tom Lincoln tried to raise hogs, but the bears were so hungry that they seized the hogs and ate them alive. For years, there in Indiana, Abraham Lincoln endured more terrible poverty than did thousands of the slaves whom he would one day liberate.

Late last night, Lincoln Unknown gave me a context for the Heather Cox Richardson reflection on Greg Abbott’s view of government as he handled questions about accountability for the tragic death toll from the Independence Day floods in Texas. Is government a nuisance or necessity? During the Great Depression, the nation voted in 1932 that government is a necessity. What about now?

From Lincoln the Unknown, by Dale Carnegie, 1932 (eleventh printing, 1977), via a Goodreads review

Where’s home?

During the height of the current tariff fiasco, CNBC’s bond commentator, Rick Santelli, and “Fast Money” host Melissa Lee had a brief, but pointed exchange about the tariffs’ impact. Lee’s grandfather immigrated from China to the US. Santelli is the grandson of four Italian immigrants. Santelli, known for “dynamic reporting,” took a swipe at “globalists,” saying he is a “patriot.”

I see the US patriots who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944 as both patriots and globalists, but today’s focus is simply to ask, “Where’s home?” My parents were both born in Kentucky and raised in Tennessee. Three of my grandparents were from Kentucky, one was from Tennessee. The ancestral homes of my grandparents ranged from northeastern Kentucky to northwestern North Carolina.

Though I grew up in “sweet home Alabama,” about every six weeks I went “home” with my parents to east Tennessee. The Cumberland mountains are “home” for me, too. My last clergy appointment was in Jackson, Tennessee (2005-2010). My parents followed us there and both died there–for them a homecoming of sorts. Where’s home for you? Tim Snyder helps me think about where’s home:

From “Last Year’s Move to Toronto,” by Timothy Snyder, Thinking About…, June 2, 2025, a 22-minute video. Snyder, an Ohio native, has spent years living, working and traveling in Europe. After a long career at Yale, Snyder now holds the Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, a position supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies. Snyder has published ten books, including: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010); On Tyranny Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017); The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (2018); Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015); Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary (2020); On Freedom (2024).

Biggest mistake

I often schedule posts for publication at 12:05 am. Last night (12:05 this morning) I finished Timothy Ryback’s Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power, my six-day immersion into the six months prior to Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor by Germany’s President, Paul von Hindenburg.

Eleven chapters cover the last three months ending January, 1933. The title of the 22nd and final chapter is “January 30, 1933.” I read this book over the last six days of January, during the first ten days of the new administration in Washington, DC, which felt like another authoritarian takeover.

In January, 1933, the Nazi Party was broke and appeared defeated. Newspaper magnate Alfred Hugenberg, chair of the rival German National People’s Party, controlled a block of Reichstag delegates that would either make or break Hitler’s quest to be Germany’s Chancellor. Ryback wrote:

Hitler’s archrival sent him a 3-page letter and an olive branch. Hugenberg wrote of his “deep concern” about the long-term future of the conservative nationalist movement as a whole. He worried that the centrists were planning to siphon votes from the radical right into a coalition with the Social Democrats, tipping the political scales dangerously to the left, possibly into the hands of the Communists. (p. 215)

Hitler needed Hugenberg’s delegates. Hugenberg wanted to be Minister of Economics. They cut a deal. Hindenburg reluctantly appointed Hitler Chancellor and Hugenberg to the cabinet. The next day, January 31, 1933, Hugenberg told a friend, “I just made the biggest mistake of my life.” (p. 301)

From “The document that might have stopped Hitler,” by T.O.I. staff, The Times of Israel, March 14, 2014.

Massive minority mandates

In 2024, Donald Trump received 49.8% of votes cast. Kamala Harris received 48.3%. It was 77,284,118 to 74,999,166 of 156,302,318. Last week, Mr. Trump’s speech (by teleconference) at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, began with these words:

…      This has been a truly historic week in the United States.  Three days ago, I took the oath of office, and we began the golden age of America.  The recent presidential election was won by millions of votes …. It was a massive mandate from the American people like hasn’t been seen in many years. ...

Mr. Trump considers his win by 2,284,952 votes, or 1.46%, to be a “massive mandate,” won “by millions of votes.” In politics, as in football, a win by one or two points can have “massive” significance.

Timothy Ryback’s recent article in The Atlantic describes the German election of 1933, which gave the National Socialist (Nazi) Party 37% of 600 German Reichstag (now Bundestag) seats, part of a right wing coalition that controlled 51% of the seats. Adolf Hitler was a compromise choice for Chancellor, but he told an American reporter he believed his 75% of 51% was enough to grant him absolute authority.

Hitler opened his first cabinet meeting “boasting that millions of Germans had welcomed his chancellorship with ‘jubilation,’ then outlined his plans for expunging key government officials and filling their positions with loyalists.” From “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days,” by Timothy Ryback, The Atlantic, January 8, 2025. The next few posts will focus on Ryback’s March 2024 book, Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power.