April 30, 2025

We’re at the 100th day of the new presidential administration. The practice of tracking the progress of a presidency from the actions of the first hundred days began with FDR’s first term. As the inaugural was in March, he laid out in July of 1933 what he had accomplished to staunch the pain of the Great Depression and laid the road map which this country has followed, with a few twists and turns, for nearly a century. A vision of a balancing by the state of the power of the haves so that the much greater population of the have nots would have a better chance at bettering themselves and the lives of their descendants. This has, of course, been anathema to the forces of capital and the halves who have played a very long game in terms of collecting and then reasserting power, having found a willing vessel in our current president. Thus the very rapid series of changes over the last hundred days (obviously worked out far in advance by brighter minds than those who gather in the cabinet room) which are working to tilt the balance back towards the haves.

Given my opportunities in life with a prep school education followed by a stint at one of the most elite universities in the country, I’ve always been around people who belong to the upper echelons of wealth. I don’t come from that sort of background. My parents were academics who eventually were smart enough to write a successful textbook which funded a glorious retirement in which they spent several decades traveling the world until my mother’s encroaching genetic dementia kept that from continuing. I have a little money. I earned it. But I’m still not a member of the ruling class. I must still work for my money rather than have my money work for me. When around those with real money, I am always very conscious of my place in their world. As a physician (or as a member of a fine arts board), I am very much the help. I’m a very specialized kind of help that has value but I’ll never be a member of the club. It doesn’t bother me. I’m perfectly happy hanging out with what I call Bohemian Birmingham. They’re much more interesting than those whose behaviors and relationships are constrained by the needs of capital.

A new car appeared this week in my condo parking garage. When I first saw it, my eyes sort of bugged out. I had no idea what it was but I could tell it was a lovingly hand crafted Italian sports car that put the Maseratis and Lamborghinis I’ve seen over my life to shame. It belongs to one of my neighbors and is a Pagani Huayra roadster and is perhaps the most gorgeous piece of machinery I have ever laid eyes on. Pagani only makes about fifty vehicles a year and there are fewer than six hundred in existence and the base price of this model is more than the value of every home I have ever owned added together. I don’t begrudge my neighbor his luxury goods. I have a couple of very nice possessions myself. But I remain bound by the social rule I was raised on – to those whom much is given, much is expected in return. I spend on myself, of course, but I also try to plow significant resources back into my communities – my church family, my theater family, my music family, my adopted city. I believe I can have both: a nice life for myself and a better existence for those around me. Maybe I’m naive but if the vaunted billionaires who are busy reorganizing society for their benefit would strengthen our society and culture just a bit more, maybe we could have a stronger collective. There are a few who have done this – Bill Gates, Mackenzie Scott – and they have been demonized by the right wing as their support for the have nots offends as some sort of communistic enterprise.

I don’t hold out much hope for the current administration actually leading us into a new American golden age. A head of Department of Health and Human Services who doesn’t believe in germ theory but who seems to be trying to return us to medieval thoughts about miasmas. A head of Department of Justice who seems eager to flout the law at every opportunity. A head of Department of Defense who doesn’t understand the need for classified information. A head of Department of Homeland Security more interested in glamor photo ops and Gestapo style raids than obeying law and procedure. Cabinet meetings that are predominantly a chorus of sycophant courtiers praising the king. None of it bodes well. I continue to wait for red state consumers to walk into their local big box store and be confronted with empty shelves and see the mental gymnastics they’ll go through to come up with any reason for it other than the truth.

At least there is more and more organized pushback from the courts, from the Democratic party, from the public who are using social media to quickly put together coordinated demonstrations. It’s still far too diffuse for my taste and requires some unification behind simple ideas and some accepted spokespeople who can wrest media attention away from the administration. J. B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, gave his audition for that sort of position in a significant speech earlier this week. It remains to be seen if it will gather any traction after the next few news cycles. I still love Mayor Pete and how effectively he communicates when allowed but I’m also politically astute enough to know that he will not play to a large enough coalition on a national level. To restore balance, the middle needs to be moved left and that’s going to be a very delicate balancing act and it’s going to require countering many decades of organization on the right. And the first thing the left must do is stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Simple minded purity tests have got to go or they’re going to get nowhere quickly.

I finished editing the script of Shakespeare’s Richard II yesterday. I cut about 550 lines of the 2850 in the play. I think I need to cut another 100-200 to allow it to play at a proper pace to a modern audience but I don’t see where those cuts are yet. That may need to wait for rehearsal and putting scenes up on their feet. If you’re in Birmingham and interested in playing with me and Shakespeare this summer, rehearsals start June 23rd and performances are the weekends of August 7th and 14th. Drop me a line. Given the way I’m conceiving the play, I need all ages and genders so drop me a line if you’re free during that slot and classical theater and language doesn’t scare you. It’s a play about power – it’s use and misuse so expect a lot of parallels to current politics to work their way in.

Before that happens, Second Samuel goes into tech at Bell Tower Players this next week running Mother’s Day weekend and the weekend after. It’s a Southern Fried comedy with a twist and an important message in this day and age. I’m strictly supporting cast and don’t really mind having a princess track with lots of down time. A week after that closes, I get two weeks off. Heading to Ireland – a place I have never been. I went off to REI and bought myself a trek pole this last week. If I’m going to be wandering around the Cliffs of Moher, I figure I better start practicing what I preach regarding fall prevention and third point of balance. My current mantra? FLOOR HARD! FALL BAD!