I have never made blog entries personal (well, not often!) but I feel like mentioning the fragile state of my ataraxia, better known as peace of mind.

I spent part of my youth studying pre-war nazi and fascist takeovers in the 1920s and 1930’s, and subsequent events. My university tutor warned that, given the right economic and political conditions, similar takeovers by “strongmen” (or weak men with inflated egos), could readily appear again, and that democracy, however imperfect, can be lost if you have huge discrepancies of wealth and poverty, and a “lumpen-proletariat” with abundant grievances and lousy education and job opportunities.

I never thought for a moment that such a thing could happen twice in my life, and certainly not in the US. This time there is no Roosevelt or United States (as it used to be) to rescue democracy – we have offended and disillusioned all other countries except our watchful enemies.

If there is any parallel at all with the past then we have hard times ahead. Let us hope that the momentum is towards support of the Constitution and the law, and that the coddling of the President stops – quickly.