Unidentified Artist: Social Settlements: United States.
District of Columbia. Washington.
"Noel House": Noel House, Washington, D.C.:
Library and Reading Room (. 1903)

"Beware the land speculator promising to eliminate non-existent swamps."

Contrary to popularly promoted misconceptions, our nation’s Capitol was never a shithole. It did begin life as a swamp, one owned by that era’s most enthusiastic land speculator and so-called founder of our country, none other than General Geo. Washington, esquire. Those promising to “Drain The Swamp” were centuries too late, for the original swamp had long before been drained and filled to allow a truly great city to be built. The result was not, like most of this world’s capitols, some ancient artifact built on ruins, but a testament to a country’s citizens’ dedication to self-governance. They funded and built an odd collection of buildings, some grand and inspiring, others quite the opposite. The boulevards were broad and laid out so that every few ran diagonally. The result seemed absolutely unique in this as well as every other country. Its heritage was that of a swamp, for sure, but its legacy was self-esteem.

Many have noted that perhaps the primary function of government has always been to “Make Sausage.” By this label, they meant that government demands compromise, and that can seem brutal at times. It does nobody any good, however, to disparage their abattoir. Carnivores slaughter. They kill to survive, but no legislatures were ever stood up to merely commit murder. A legislature performs necessary services, some of which should properly upset the squeamish. Every alternative seems worse if the goal remains self-governance. Authoritarians can, of course, come to conclusions without having to resort to public disagreement or perform any but the most cursory and brutal convincing. Self-governance must necessarily be disconcerting.

The Drain The Swamp Lie encourages a subtle but pervasive condition in both citizens and politicians. It requires that each adopt a self-hate perspective rather than self-esteem. To slander the very context within which we craft and administer our civic Decency seems inherently indecent. Of course, there has been documented evidence of corruption in the process, but it’s more than a stretch to be convinced that the whole operation must have been corrupted as a result. We strive for a more perfect union rather than perfection, after all, and calling for simply storming and deconstructing the place where the people’s business occurs stinks to high heaven, and should.

The authoritarian deals in redirection. He seeks to steal whatever affection one might hold for themself so that he might hoard it instead. They continually cast themselves as saviors, and this character requires that others be damned as one of several essential preconditions. Damned is a state beyond grace, distanced from the source of any inherent greatness. It demands that its sufferer first and foremost come to despise themself, since self must ultimately serve as the trustworthy source of self-esteem. Convinced of their inability to reverse this course by themselves, people become easy pickings for conscription into one or another crusade. These always come with specific promises, not one of which was ever necessary or even possible. Once one finds themself divorced from themselves, they’re likely to hook up with anyone, if only out of desperation; even some passing authoritarian whoremonger.

DC already contains more than ample D_e_C_ency. Like everywhere, it has its problems. It never promised to become Valhalla, after all. It remains worthy of each citizen’s admiration, though, even when it finds itself occasionally overrun by carpetbaggers bent on reforming what they do not understand. Beware of those who villify those who serve as stewards, for they’re unlikely to deserve support. They have always tended to be in it for themselves, not for the people they continually tout. They trade in self-hate rather than salvation. They actively seek to instill damnation to burnish their own soiled reputations. Why engage in such indecency? The best explanation that I can imagine insists that the indecent hate themselves, and that they must crave company. They deal in seduction based upon studied misdirection. They describe salvation as a swamp and promise to drain it in what always turns out to be actual damnation. Beware the land speculator promising to eliminate non-existent swamps. They despise themselves.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Decency, #PureSchmaltz