Column on Inaugurations

As I write this, Washington is  in a frenzy of preparation for the inauguration of President Trump. Inaugurate goes back to Latin. Omens, augurs were consulted when it was a proper time to install someone into a position of public importance In our time, data is the substitute for omens often. We do not peer into the future well. We  are uncertain about assessing risks and rewards.

I am glad that we have formal ceremonies for important public events. I even wish that we had more of them, for congress and the Supreme Court for instance.The military is the great bastion of formal ceremony for public demonstration. Since Johnson. Presidents have not worn formal top hats, and we will notice President Trump’s formal style sense. The White House was overrun after Jackson’s first inaugural. A persistent rumor was that the crowd moved outside only after the punch was taken outside. Police had to be called to control the crowd for Lincoln’s party. Our new  president has planned his address to be short. William Henry Harrison spoke without a coat or hat for almost two hours. (He died a month later.)

In so many ways the omens are good. We  are not at war.The unemployment rate has fallen as we averted an economic meltdown just eight years ago.The air and water  are cleaner. Since 1970 we have a 70 percent decrease in major pollutants. Water considered fishable has increased dramatically in my lifetime, a lifetime that includes the Cuyahoga river catching on fire and Lake erie being declared dead to fishing.Educational attainments have moved to where almost one third of our citizens have completed four years of college. Crime has had an alarming uptick but it is paradise compared to a generation ago.In 2014 murders, in  a growing population, were at the number in the late sixties.

Of course dark omens lurk. The new president is saddled with low approval ratings, a trump card in negotiations with Congress Since the oil shock of the seventies, wages have remained relatively stagnant for many of us. Global warming continues at an unnatural pace. Poverty rates for African americans are over double of that of whites.

At least the ancients did not trust themselves to  try to peer into the future, so they use incantations and omens. We see the omens we wish to see. Given a wealth of data, we choose to ignore it. Sometimes, we “cherry-pick” data to conform to our own predilections.We  may be given a set of facts and interpret them differently. We seem to be in  a new stage where we ignore data and make claims without evidence. Public life  requires reason along with passion.

Lincoln edited a draft of his first address from Sec. Seward. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Let me close with a prayer. God of all, bless our new president. May he be gifted with health, security, and safety throughout his term. May he discover within himself the virtues required to  take on the awful responsibility of this office. May he be given the grace to discern and act upon the public interest.May he receive wise counsel. May peace rest upon our land. May his vision extend to the undiscovered country, the future, and the world we leave our progeny.May he aspire to the very best of our traditions and national identity, and may we grow into our founding promise.