Unity

Yesterday, Donald Trump left the capital in a final fog of lies, summarizing all those great things that actually did not happen during his presidency. It was the same old tripe, rendered after all these months and years to nothing more than meaningless blather. 

And then he was gone. And, as it seems to be, suddenly irrelevant. A totally new atmosphere seemed to fall on the capital and on the nation--new, and yet familiar, tranquil. Old, reliable patterns slipped back into place, words and traditions and attitudes that we could recognize. The war is over, the dawn is rising, and peace, one prays, will reign again.

One prays, yes. One prays that division may be overcome by a new spirit of cooperation, a dedication to government for the benefit of the people rather than a government of endless bickering and insult. One prays for agreement on a basic foundation of decency and propriety, and for a shared intelligence and thoroughness in the operation of those systems that are so important to the thriving of society. Let us never again elevate our worst inclinations, paranoias, prejudices and cruelties to a position of national power, but let the mystic chords of memory, as Lincoln said, swell again, touched by the better angels of our nature.