The World Keeps Turning: Signs, symbols and political morality
Published: 06-20-2025 11:07 AM |
The signs of summer are everywhere and hard to ignore. Birds surround the feeders, swooping and squabbling and feasting on a banquet of seeds and nuts, the grass threatens to grow up around my ears overnight, the sun lingers for hours at dusk, and the solstice brings more daylight than we’ve seen in a full year. It’s a glorious time in New England, bathed in verdant green and luscious gold, with months of heat and light ahead.
But just last week, the signs at the Flag Day rally in Greenfield indicated a rampant discontent with our nation’s direction and its aspiring dictator. I waved a small American flag to symbolize my love for America and to honor those who have sacrificed for our democratic way of life.
Others used more original, creative symbols: elaborate costumes (a grieving Statue of Liberty, cardboard tanks), humorous images, and clever word play (“No faux King way”). They offered personal explanations (“I’m here so I can tell my grandkids I did something”) and blunt, obscene declarations (“F*** Trump”).
Many signs identified specific issues which have been debated under multiple Republican and Democratic presidents, in Congress, town halls, newspapers, magazines, and online: Medicare, Social Security, national parks, environmental regulations, government efficiency; immigration, ICE, tariffs, higher education, free speech, pseudo-science, public health, military spending; troops in the streets, etc., etc. Each deserves careful congressional consideration rather than blanket executive orders.
But one sign caught my eye, and helped me focus on what I see as a central point: “We no longer have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.”
I realize that morality in our personal lives is a very high horse to ride on, and a very easy one to fall from. I don’t think the personal lives of Democrats are essentially more moral than Republicans, and there is certainly more than enough religious and moral hypocrisy to go around. I own a healthy piece of it myself, often choosing self-interest when some sort of sacrifice is the truly moral choice.
I don’t see the sign’s message as pointed at Trump’s personal life, although his sexual misconduct and blatant lies offer fruit hanging so low that it’s hard not to trip over them. Instead, I saw it referring to America’s political morality, defined by many as “a code of conduct endorsed by a society or group.”
Americans have agreed for 250 years on a few basic concepts reflected in the Constitution’s guarantees and prohibitions. Two of them are now being blatantly violated: our system of justice cannot be subverted by bribes or monetary payments, and government officials must work for the good of the American people rather than personal power or riches. Politicians should not be for sale, and no one is above the law, regardless of their money, influence, or power.
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President Trump is now openly selling pardons and commutations, for money (invested in his businesses) or political support. He has pardoned or dropped prosecutions against 16 politicians convicted or charged with corruption, including New York’s Democratic mayor with a clear, written expectation that he would assist Trump’s immigration agenda. Another 13 got out of jail free after convictions for federal drug crimes, including trafficking fentanyl. Elizabeth Fago paid
$1 million for a seat at a Trump dinner shortly before her son, convicted of fraud and stealing from employees, received a pardon for an 18-month sentence and $4.4 million fine.
Meanwhile, Trump’s private fortune has increased by almost $3 billion in the last year. Business leaders can pay $5 million for a personal meeting with the king (sorry, president), hoping to get preferential government treatment. Trump said rejecting the gift of a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, a well-known source and conduit for terrorist financing, would be “stupid.”
Trump’s pardons aren’t illegal under the Constitution. But Americans have always believed that serving America meant making some decisions which would be considered “stupid” within the selfish mindset which places personal profit above public service. It’s the same greedy view that led Trump to label veterans who served and sacrificed for our country as “suckers” and “losers.”
Our court system hasn’t yet delivered consequences for the avalanche of actions that tiptoe around, or purposely step across, the line between legal and illegal. But Trump’s actions are definitely immoral in a political sense. They violate our American “code of conduct” for public service established and reinforced over centuries. He is destroying our sacred political values and our democracy at the same time.
Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.