There is nothing in the United States constitution or laws to prevent Presidential mendacity, arrogance, avarice,  vulgarity, ignorance, narcissism, or vindictive, sociopathic behavior.  Neither is there anything in law or constitution to prevent tolerance of it by congress, or admiration and emulation of it by citizens.  It is a matter of culture, ethics, morality and norms of everyday civility.  It is a question of the kind of society in which we wish to live, and leave to our grandchildren.  The only cure for such behavior is massive public outrage and opposition.

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There is always a demagogue to articulate, simple, wrong solutions to every problem, and a great many more to blindly accept and implement them.  Professionalized it becomes politics.  Personified it becomes the Trump administration. 

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The genetic code is both constitution and bill of rights for all life on earth.  Those who tinker with it should be held to strict account in the high court of public opinion, for there is no other court to which the code can appeal, other than the court of evolution.  The only penalty that court can impose is extinction of the species.  

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Countless philosophers ponder, academics pontificate, poets muse, prophets preach, authors write, politicians fulminate, economist count, soldiers kill, painters daub, consultants advise, generals order, and  people parade, while the earth impassively turns, unimpressed. 

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Society is always enthralled and mesmerized by science and technology and their benefits, which tend to be superficial and temporary.  It is largely indifferent to the pernicious effects, which tend to be profound and persistent.

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We no longer have much agriculture.  What we have is biological manufacturing- – – giant corporate, factory farms spewing out engineered, products of seductive appearance, debased taste, diminished nourishment, and ever increasing chemical content.  The long range effect is not known, but is most likely to be serious,if not catastrophic. 

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Every nation state, realizing that completely unrestrained freedom results in anarchy, finds it necessary to impose and enforce some system of restraint on individuals and organization within its borders.  Unfortunately, they see no need for restraint on themselves, and insist on complete, unrestrained freedom in relations with one another and the planet itself.  The result is ever increasing global chaos, death, destruction and environmental devastation.  If there is to be a livable world for our grandchildren, it is far past time to envision and bring into being an effective, beneficent, chaordic concept of global governance, as difficult as that may be. 

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Has higher education debased itself by turning away from the humanities and embracing the training of specialists and managers expert at realizing short term objectives with little regard for the cumulative result – – – – a world of unrestrained greed, self interest, centralization of power, gross mal-distribution of wealth, plunder of the planet, instruments of massive destruction and genocide, and blind worship of science and technology.  If not through the instrument of higher education, how did we get where we are?  These questions should not ignored.