THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

Happy Memorial Day, 2026.

Last week I attended a Memorial Day concert at my grandson’s middle school. The kids did a wonderful job performing the familiar patriotic songs. What disturbed me, however, was the behavior during the national anthem. Many of the parents, mostly Generation X, failed to show the respect the anthem and the holiday should command: attention, silence, hats off, hand over the heart. And it’s not just at school events. Watch the behavior during the anthem at many sporting events and you see the same thing.

I have my own thoughts about why this has happened, which would take a much longer discussion, but the reality is visible in plain sight.

This failure to acknowledge the sacrifice of others, or to understand a citizen’s role in governance and our interdependence upon one another matters. Whether people misunderstand it, ignore it, or simply do not care, it affects the quality of their lives and, more importantly, the lives of their children. At my age, the safety and future of children concern me most.

An informed look around the world reveals the consequences of problems our generation mishandled, and the following generation has too often ignored. Our failures have helped fuel the movement toward authoritarian forms of government. The “easy fixes” promoted by strongman politics are ultimately fantasies, like those old Western movie sets that look real and exciting from the outside until you walk through the swinging doors and discover there is nothing there.

“I’ll stop the Ukraine war on day one.”
“I’ll bring prices down immediately.”
“Mexico will pay for the wall.”
“The ballroom won’t cost taxpayers a dime.”
“Cut taxes and lower the national debt.”

The slogans change, but the pattern remains the same: promises built more for applause than reality.

Political parties focus on winning elections. Too often, their platforms resemble those empty Western town facades. Once we walk through one doorway, there is another set behind it, then another, but never a room furnished with the practical necessities of governing. Why? Because many politicians are focused on winning the election, not furnishing the rooms afterward.

And politicians are ultimately products of us.

The same civic disengagement that leads people to ignore the national anthem reflects a broader erosion of responsibility toward the “whole”, the shared obligations necessary to sustain democracy itself.

To date, we have failed badly on climate change and on managing the realities of global economics. Confidence in governments is deteriorating, feeding anger, instability, violence, and poverty. Now the next great challenge, and perhaps opportunity, is Artificial Intelligence.

AI could worsen these crises, or it could help humanity address them.

Pope Leo recently issued an encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” addressing the profound consequences AI may have for humanity. It is a message directed not only to Catholics, but to everyone; political, corporate, and spiritual leaders around the world about AI’s potential for both good and harm within human society.

While I may not agree with every theological or spiritual aspect of the document, its central message is clear, logical, and achievable:

• “When a city is built on pride and the claim to self-sufficiency, communication breaks down, languages are confused and people no longer understand each other. The result is not unity, but dispersion.”

• “The document places the dignity of work and of workers at the forefront of its reflection; affirms the right to a fair wage for oneself and one’s family; recognizes that persons have a fundamental value that takes precedence over capital and profit; defends private property along with its indispensable societal role; esteems workers’ associations; and proposes forms of cooperation between the different components of society as an alternative to the mentality of class struggle.”

The message is not partisan. It does not endorse a political party or focus on winning elections. It focuses on principles. A strategy and path forward intended to fairly and broadly “lift all the boats” in the harbor.

If we are to navigate this critical moment successfully, we must elect people whose reason for being is not simply winning elections but contributing to a future that strengthens America and expands opportunity for all those boats our children occupy and will inherit.

In memory of our founding principles, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”, and in honor of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect them, Memorial Day should remind us not only to remember, but to participate.

Exercise the right they defended.

VOTE!!!

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!