In my last post, "Biden's Handlers", I mentioned Alejandro Mayorkas, the Director of Homeland Security. He appeared on the TV show Meet the Press in February of this year to shore up concerns about President Biden's mental health, and described the President, during frequent meetings with him, as "sharp" and "focused".

But the President's terrible performance during the CNN debate with Republican candidate Donald Trump cast Mayorkas's and others' positive assessments of Biden in doubt, suggesting either willful deception or lamentable self-deception. Most people who know Mayorkas doubt that he would let Biden deceive him; so only willful deception remains. Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show ran footage from President Biden's earlier news-conferences, showing mental decline as early as 2022.

All this made me interested in Mayorkas; so I took some time to read up on him. Wikipedia says he grew up in a Jewish home—born in Cuba but emigated to the States with his parents, one year after the Cuban Revolution. His name suggests that his family-lineage goes back to Mallorca, the largest of the Ballearic Islands off the southern coast of Spain, and  the spelling might indicate an interval in Greece.
Mayorkas has had a turbulent but tenacious career as a government official. He took on his duties as Director of Homeland Security after a contentious 56-43 vote. His tenure at DHS came under fire over concerns about America's porous southern border. House Republican dissatisfaction led to a vote to impeach Mayorkas, which succeeded by one vote, almost completely along political-party lines. A subsequent Senate vote of 51-49, however, defeated the impeachment of Mayorkas, again along party lines.

It reminds me of the recent Supreme Court decision to immunize Former President Donald Trump from prosecution. Republican justices voted for it, Democrats against. I discuss their ruling on this web-site in a post dated 5th July, "America Needs to Act". Like the Mayorkas impeachment vote, the Supreme Court ruling exposes irrevocably a serious rent in the nation's governing fabric—starting at the very top.

We can argue all day, in vain, about partisan politics and partisan justice, how partisan politics gets in the way of the best interests of the country, and all that. It gets us nowhere. The rent in the fabric of the nation is philosophical—call it "self-interest" if you like, but the rent has a philosophical and futuristic orientation. The ancient Greek philosophers worked alone. They did not pool their talents, negotiate with other philosophers and issue public statements, or compromise on their principles. Neither should we.
We need to divide the country. Republicans have faith in their ideas for the best governing plan; the Democrats have faith in theirs. Really the only reason we remain together is out of fear of having to go it alone. We would rather have someone with us on this journey of life, even if we hate his guts and blame him for our problems. I also understand our unwillingness to confront the consequences of a division:

  1. The Stock Market will probably tank. It will shrink to perhaps a quarter of its present value.
  2. Law enforcement agencies will have to divide like everything else and redefine jurisdictions.
  3. People will have to pack their bags, load up a moving van, and sit on their thumbs while they wait for further instructions—until the division plans are finalized.
  4. Our political leaders who have worked their entire lives to get re-elected will have to make sacrifices that diminish their status, or even end their careers. Everyone will wonder "Why support a division plan? It's insane!"

But if we take the measure of those costs now, we can prepare for them and minimize their impact. If, on the other hand, we remain in denial about the need for a division, then a division by force will likely happen—India in the late-1940s or Yugoslavia in the 1980s. The destructive power of those divisions should persuade us of how high the stakes are.