( I have previously shown this painting on the blog, but I
am using it again here, as a stand-in for a new painting of
a large field of sunflowers, of which I do not as yet have
good photograph. I'll try to have the new painting up soon. )
Some viewers of this blog may be wondering about the choice of title, for this entry,
and why the field of flowers. Most people will assume that the inspiration comes from
the fact that fields of sunflowers have been in full bloom, putting on a fine show across
the mid-west. That was partially my motive, but I was also interested in the symbolism
of these large fields of tightly packed, flower-faces, standing together, like gatherings
of crowded, open-faced people, waiting to hear important words. Perhaps I will say
more about that later.
The title of this entry is a fairly well-known quote which dates back to well over a
century ago, when a small-town, newspaper editor in Kansas, took a hard look at his
fellow Kansans, and what he saw made him angry. He decided to write and print a
harshly critical editorial, which he titled "What's the matter with Kansas?". That new
editorial was picked up and reprinted by newspapers all across the country, and it
made that editor famous. That man's name was William Allen White, the owner and
publisher of the Emporia Gazette, and he became known a the sage of Emporia.
He was a frequently quoted, influential political figure, and associate of major political
figures, for the first half of the twentieth century, including presidents of the country.
So, what was it about his fellow countrymen which sometimes caused his ire and
harsh criticism? He was particularly concerned with political movements known as
populism, and with how thoughtless voters were so easily led to follow their worst
instincts, by frauds and charlatans. A look at the history of the period, provides us
with two prime examples: first was White's battle with the KKK, which had taken
political control of the southern states and Indiana, and was on track to control Kansas,
and second, his war against the fraudulent, goat-glands doctor, Dr. Brinkley, who came
close to being voted into the office of governor of Kansas.
By the early nineteen twenties, right-wing populism was surging across Kansas.
The organizers of the KKK, were taking the opportunity to enrich themselves, by
appealing to the prejudices and fears of the xenophobic citizens, charging them the
equivalent of three hundred dollars, for membership in the Klan. (The question of
why anyone needed some "official" stamp of approval, to parade around in a sheet,
shouting ethnic and racial slurs, didn't seem to occur to the members.) Power hungry
men have always encouraged people to blame all of their country's troubles on
"the other", the citizens who have the wrong religion, or the wrong ethnicity, or the
wrong skin tone, or anyone who somehow doesn't "belong" in their country.
( The members of the Klan chose to forget the fact that they were all immigrants
or descendants of immigrants to this country.) As the Klan's membership in Kansas,
swelled past forty thousand, politicians began to bow to the pressure of the Klan's
demands. Even as White was fighting to eliminate such influence, the mayor and police
chief of his own town, granted permission for the Klan to parade through the streets
at their will. During the nineteen twenty four election campaign, for the governorship
of the state, both the Republican and the Democratic candidate, were accepting
support from the Klan. As election day neared, White stepped forward to offer
his name as a write-in candidate for governor. He didn't win the election, but he
won such a large percentage of the votes, that the new governor realized that the
Klan didn't have the power to control his governorship.
In the nineteen twenties, there was another opportunistic fraud in Kansas,
who was taking advantage of gullible fools nationwide. He became famous
as Dr. Brinkley, "the goat doctor", because of his widely promoted "cure" to
restore virility in men, which consisted of the surgical implanting of goat testicles
into his patients. He achieved his fame because he had his own radio station,
broadcasting his propaganda across the country, gathering a steady stream of
revenue, and hopeful fools to undergo the surgery. Such opportunists who want
to appeal to the populist mind-set, have always found it useful to have their own
active, propaganda machine, similar to Donald Trump's trumpeting from Fox,
while they constantly claim that reports from reliably truthful, news sources, are
"fake news". ( Joseph Goebbels would have felt right at home at Fox. )
White was in the forefront of sensible people who were telling the public
that Brinkley was a total fraud, but the goat-doctor was unwilling to give up
his lucrative scam. In nineteen thirty, he decided to use his propaganda
machine for an additional self-promotion, by running for governor, and he
appealed to his right-wing, religious base by denouncing the theory of evolution.
White wrote opposition editorials, refuting Brinkley's false propaganda as lies
"irresistible to the moron mind", and calling Brinkley's supporters "a great,
seething, moronic underworld". Brinkley supporters who evidently didn't
know the definition of the word "moron", but who thought they knew what
White meant by his use of the "underworld" reference, wrote angry letters to
the editor, proclaiming themselves to be "good Christian people". So, White
had to correct their misunderstanding, by saying "I didn't mean that you were
wicked. I meant that you were dumb!"
As things turned out, Brinkley actually got enough votes to have been
declared the winner, if the vote counting system had not been changed, shortly
before the election. So, he might well have been the governor, when his final
exposure as a fraud occurred, and we can imagine what political chaos that
would have created.
Now that I have rattled on for longer than most viewers probably cared to
read, maybe I should try to get around to the point of what I want to say. We
are now taking part in the most important presidential election, to the future of
our nation and the world, that we are ever likely to have in our lifetime.
The man who becomes president for the next four years, may well determine
whether or not life as we know it, will be able to survive on this planet. If some
aggressive steps are not taken soon, to reverse global warming, we will pass
the tipping point, leaving our children and grandchildren with no world to inherit,
but the man who holds that office now, does not believe in science.
What is true of Kansas is also true all across our nation. Too many of us
have lost our sense of idealism, and are now too easily misled by frauds, and
too willing to give in to our worst instincts, as exemplified by Donald Trump.
George Washington signed a pact, dedicating his life, his fortune and his sacred
honor, to his country. Donald Trump has no honor, and he has dedicated his life
to getting whatever he wants for himself, no matter what it costs everyone else.
He has no sense of civic duty or responsibility: he takes pride in avoiding paying
his income tax, saying that such maneuvers makes him "smart". He encourages
the white-supremacists and other hate groups, who feel emboldened by his
endorsement. He withheld vital information from the American people, about
the deadly severity of our pandemic, because he thought it would damage his
reelection campaign. And, he specifically endangers the lives of his own, duped
followers, by politicizing the plague and discouraging the use of the proper safety
measures, to limit the spread of the disease.
What could be a better example of Trump's indifference to the life or death of
of others, than his political rallies, with his mask-less fans so tightly packed together,
like those fields of open-faced sunflowers, receiving all of the viruses and lies being
shouted their way?
Now, we are about to decide who will be in the White House for the next four
years, making critical decisions for our nation. We can choose a racist narcissist,
who thinks only about himself, or we can choose his opponent, Joe Biden, who
has spent his life in public service, and who strives to achieve a better, more idealistic
America for everyone.
Anyone who thinks that we don't have a clear choice this time, must be one of
William Allen White's morons.
E. P. McNerney
