“People talking without speaking, People hearing without listening . . . And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence.” (lyrics by Simon and Garfunkel)

Many years ago, I laid down on the sand in Harbor Cove, Redondo Beach, dressed only in my cut-off fatigues and a jungle hat. I found peace there in that moment from a recurring nightmare of body parts strewn across a field of death. Nobody but another war vet could possibly understand the ambivalence I felt before this regrettably human condition, that is, the juxtaposition of peace and violence.

Today, as I walked along the Bay, that same ambivalence stirred in my heart, awakened by the brilliance of a clear blue sky, the return of sea birds, and the wild ducks’ raucous mating rituals. The only difference between now and then was our mostly unseen contemporary field of death which remains hidden behind hospital walls and refrigerated trucks. But today’s unexpectedly intense blue sky had its own secret, born of closed businesses and permanently parked cars. It is the result of both home sequestering and nature’s heralding a possible future we may never see: a prophetic interlude before a future crisis not caused by a virus but by a more dominant species. Our current field of death is a precursor of what humanity may bring upon itself, without the agency of a novel virus. Of course, we could choose to survive any global threat by taking mitigative actions. But will self-distancing during a pandemic inspire us to replace environmentally destructive human systems? If we can mitigate a pandemic, then we could mitigate the effects of global warming. That threat endangers not only our posterity, but all life on this planet.

I had this dark vision of our human condition after listening to the Administration’s daily press briefings. They are an analogue of this human condition. While the scientist and medical authorities prepare us for COVID-19’s progress, and instruct us on how to mitigate its threat, the Administration focuses us on an alternative reality rather than what is being experienced in hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units across the country. That faux reality serves a different purpose than merely informing the public. It serves as political spin—a campaign pitch, as it were–that proudly proclaims the heroic work of our President and of his direct reports in fighting the pandemic. This political propaganda presents statistics on masks, gowns, and ventilators delivered to States, with little or passing reference to what those States need or when. Notably, these staged news briefings ignore the fact that no other infected nation matches America’s failure to respond timely or effectively to this contagion. Besides misrepresenting the Administration’s actions, they audaciously take credit for what others are doing to confront this threat. For example, most State Governors have ordered statewide lockdowns, in lieu of a national lockdown requiring home sequestering of all Americans. Meanwhile, local responders and healthcare workers are scrambling to rescue and treat a growing tide of patients without the equipment required and specified by the Federal Government’s documented plans and studies. Although it is true that those plans did not foresee the role diagnostic testing equipment might play in addressing a novel virus, there was ample time to address this commonsense requirement in America’s preparations for the COVID-19 onslaught. The President ignored warnings from his own staff in January. Further, he lied to the nation—downplaying the threat—even as late as the beginning of March. The Administration, regrettably and culpably, allowed this viral contagion to advance unchecked and exponentially through our population. As a result, it has placed a heavy burden on first responders, doctors, and nurses, too many of whom have died heroically. Even at this writing, America is still playing catchup in its attempt to defeat this pandemic.

While these press briefings address the Administration’s efforts to catchup to an accelerating contagion, they divert attention away from the Administration’s failings. Instead, the President blames his oft-repeated fall guys for hindering the Administration’s “heroic” undertakings. For example, he accuses the previous Administration for depleting FEMA’s stockpile of healthcare equipment, the governors for also failing to stockpile needed medical equipment, the press for reporting facts that highlight the Administration’s failings, and Democrats for falsely criticizing the Administration after its initial attempts to minimize the threat, after its slow response at the outset of contagion, and after its denial of any responsibility to develop or execute a national strategy in response. When confronted with these criticisms, the President boldly attested, “I take no responsibility at all.” Instead, he diverted any personal criticism to his grievances with a few governors, that is, usually Democratic governors. He blamed them for not sufficiently thanking him or crediting him for any success they may have had. He has laid at the feet of the governors his initial failure to divert the resources of the Federal Government or to take charge of the disbursement of medical equipment where needed. His grievance with the governors raises a long-standing political argument concerning federalism where States’ sovereignty is weighed against a strong central government. But he ignores the fact that only the Federal Government can enact the emergency powers needed to address a national crisis. His political argument is not relevant to this pandemic crisis. His accusations are no more than a puerile, though no less culpable, distraction. They do, however, give credence to Party loyalists who refuse to hear the truth and blindly accept this reality distortion. And therein is my dark vision of a human condition where only an ominous sound of silence is present.

What is America’s reality in this moment? Well, it is a five hour wait for admittance to a hospital. It is an 80 hour wait for a bed in an intensive care unit. It is refrigerated trucks packed with more bodies than mortuaries can handle. It is doctors, nurses, and first responders—our frontline troops in this assault—working non-stop 12 hour shifts without a break and dying in the line of duty. It is patients who are promised COVID-19 testing that is mostly unavailable. Further, it is the claim that testing will be free, neglecting the corollary fact that treatment expenses range from $2,000 copays to uninsured costs of $34,000 or more. It is dying alone, without any physical contact with family or friends. It is a field of death no less horrific that witnessed by a soldier in battle. This is the truth we would rather not face. And the Administration is readily complicit in maintaining silence on this reality.

I can remember a time when an American Administration claimed we were winning a war that was unwinnable. It was not speaking the truth but talking without meaning. Also, I lived during periods when Americans so wanted to believe a President that they could ignore the inconsistencies in his policies. They heard his speeches but seemed unable or unwilling to decipher the erroneous content. These are the conditions of a deathlike silence where fact and truth hide behind a façade of willfully complicit ignorance. There are almost always unwelcome consequences when the public provides unquestioned acceptance of any leader’s bold initiative. Trusts may be a cornerstone of the relationship between a republic’s citizens and its elected representatives. But blind trust is also a precursor of a republic’s demise. Our founders recognized this truth and, as a result, passed the 1st Amendment which among other rights guaranteed a free press. In our current crisis, we are witnessing an Administration’s attempt to manipulate the press or, worse, to convince the public that its reporting is partisan diatribe and prejudicial against the President. Therefore, the President is justified in silencing the press with accusations of hoax, bad reporting, “horrid” or “hateful” reporters. “They don’t like me” is a refrain he uses to persuade his listeners they should only believe him. But it is not the press he wants to silence, but the truth. And, yes, his supporters are complicit in this sound of silence.

We know that Donald Trump abhors criticism and demands absolute loyalty from members of his Administration. We also know that he fires any public servant who shows more allegiance to the Constitution or the public he/she vows to serve rather than to Trump. He also belittles or diminishes anyone who offends him by any means available to him, even if he must use the powers of his office to do so. He has stated that his exercise of power is through fear. That admittance places this President outside of the self-government of wisdom and compassion. Some consider it an example of his authenticity, but rather it is a narcissistic self-justification for anti-social and unethical behavior. He follows in the footsteps of a certain class of powerful men (sad to say, overwhelmingly men), whose example reminds us that power can corrupt and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. And how does this exercise of corrupt power display itself? Well, it bends truth to support its self-aggrandizement, demands obeisance to its statements rather than what can be readily seen or heard, and strikes fear in any resistance to its dictum. In other words, it creates a vacuum of silence that no one dare disturb.

But we cannot wait for some future historian to diagnose the shroud of silence that attempts to oppress this generation of Americans. We must speak the truth now. Yes, the President lies. Yes, he covers up his incompetence by blaming others. Yes, he has mishandled the Federal response to this pandemic. And, yes, he has mismanaged an economy by favoring wealth creation in corporate America at the expense of average working folks not invested in stocks. Moreover, trickle-down economics can ignore the fact that productivity is a bottoms-up phenomenon. Tariff wars are paid by purchasers just like taxes. And healthcare costs fall more heavily on low income wage earners than on the wealthy—a fact, bankruptcy records clearly support. The President effectively silences these facts in a verbal blitzkrieg on national news outlets and on twitter in a non-stop barrage of misdirection and falsehoods designed to foment chaos and division. In this manner, he takes airtime away from truth tellers. But, in the face of a pandemic, his chaotic and divisive act is a detriment to the health and welfare of all Americans. We must not allow ourselves to be silenced. If our future is not based upon science, fact, truth, and compassion for each other, then what future will we attain? The history we create now could be what our posterity will be forced to overcome. Beyond the human misery of this pandemic, how will we have prepared future generations for a warming planet and prevent America’s decline into an illiberal democracy run by oligarchs?

The final stanza of Simon and Garfunkel’s lyrics warns us that “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls. And whisper’d in the sounds of silence.” These words mirror a fatalism that crept into the protest movement against the Vietnam war. But the protests of that era were eventually heard. And the country recovered from its depressive mood. We can overcome this pandemic and this Presidency. We can shout over the sounds of silence. But we must stand for the truth and assure history records us so.

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Autobiographical Note: Five years ago, I wrote a blog partially inspired by this same lyric. In it, I also explained who gave me the impetus to write. His name was Father Louis Franz, a man whose life fulfilled the promise of a life well lived. He is now with the angels. But his wisdom and compassion have begot many who have humbly attempted to follow his example. I still remember his reaction to my late submission of my thesis on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Letter.” With a twinkle in his eye, he said, “I have no sympathy for you . . . but I’ve already submitted your grade.” He had graded me for what he knew I had learned, not for the results of my humble handiwork. By acknowledging my priority of substance over grade, he reaffirmed me and my chosen path in life. For that lesson, I am eternally grateful. And, of course, I will continue to disrupt the deafening sound of silence that encompasses America at this pivotal time in our history. Veritas sola sustinet.