Broken

Hell’s broken loose.

Robert Greene (1560-1592), Farewell to Folly

At best, the renewal of broken relationships is a nervous matter.

Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918), The Education of Henry Adams


As I write, everything appears to be broken - foreign relationships, the health system, reform of the system, the economic recovery, faith in President Obama’s leadership.

These are nervous times.

• Democrats are nervous about losing the Senate.

• Republicans are nervous about what they will do if they win the Senate.

• President Obama is nervous about what he will do in the remainder of his Presidency.

• The Western World is nervous about winning the war against ISIS.

• Americans are nervous about the economic recovery (William Galston, “The Recovery That Left Almost Everybody Out,” WSJ, September 24).

• Ordinary citizens are nervous about losing their health plans (John Goodman, “Why You Are Likely to Lose Your Health Plan, Forbes, September 24, 2014).

Fear not, said Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976), American historian, “ Americans are a tough but nervous, tenacious but restless race; materially ambitious, yet prone to introspection and subject to waves of religious emotion.. A race whose typical member is eternally torn between a passion for righteousness and a desire to get on with the world.”

We will figure out what to do. We have to. There is no other choice.

With health care, the choice is between ObamaCare, modification of its mandates, repeal and replacement, or as yet some unidentified middle and higher ground.

Keep the faith. Remember the farmer’s maxim: he who breaks ground gains ground.

Broken ground can be fertile ground.