Jan Asselijn: The Threatened Swan (c. 1650)

"Who went too far?"

Precisely because there's so very little to be gained, he engages in the game as if meant something. Sure, it's cruel; for some, that alone would constitute a more than adequate payoff. His thirst seems more of an unquenchable variety. His hunger was never once satisfied by merely consuming anything. Eating seems to sharpen his hunger, leaving him, if anything, even hungrier. He seems insatiable because he most likely is insatiable. Some mistake this for formidable, but it looks more like a vulnerability. He has no sense for enough. Adequacy evades his grasp. He demands excess in all things except moderation. Because he always goes big, he lacks strategic intent. He defaults rather than chooses. In the long run, he cannot conserve his resources. He believes himself all-powerful. This, of course, remains his greatest vulnerability.

Not everyone seems capable of wisely wielding Power. We have been no better than halfway fortunate when choosing Presidents. Because we usually insist upon electing an ordinary citizen, most come into office strangers to great Power. Not all of them proved capable of driving. Many, perhaps most, when assuming office, became almost invisible, as if avoiding exercising the considerable Power of the office. Others set about fiddling with nearly everything, stretching far beyond granted authority to presume more Power than they possessed. Not all of these were redressed by the courts or Congress. Our incumbent clearly never read or understood the job description, for almost everything he's attempted has laid beyond his granted authority. His opposition has won virtually every action they've taken against him. Likely, everything he's done will eventually be undone. He will overstep tolerable bounds one day, probably not today or tomorrow. He will be summarily hounded out of the office he never cared about enough to understand.

It seems the most prescient Power might be that which never gets exercised or even threatened. The greatest strength lies in its potential rather than its execution. As soon as that potential gets directed, its volume starts degrading. To exercise Power is to diminish it. Even threats affect this potential by reducing the possibility into something more finite and tangible. The word not spoken says more than any utterance ever could. It jealously guards its ambiguity, steadfastly refusing to disclose. Our incumbent plays at Power like an infant plays at their car seat's steering wheel, imagining whatever it must be connected to. This lack of understanding safeguards nothing and no one. The greatest dangers are always inadvertent. The question of power always comes down to the wisdom of choosing not to deploy it. Every other choice discloses weakness.

Our incumbent lives within unacknowledged paradoxes. His followers can't see the dimensions necessary to perceive the degree to which they're taken advantage of. They seem suitably impressed by their Emporer's new wardrobe even though it's only his same old clothes. Does consent of the governed extend to become consent of the entranced? The Power of self-delusion exceeds every other sort. To justify is to sanctify, to permit, somehow sacred. To comply is to submit. Submission is always complicity. So, who's guilty? Who's charged? Who went too far?

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

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