Billy Beck says today:
“The saddest life is that of an aspirant under democracy. His failure is ignominious and his success disgraceful.”
(H.L. Mencken)
There was a time in my life when Col. John Glenn was an indisputable hero to me. I was alive when he did enormous things.
Then; he went and got himself elected to the United States Senate.
~~~~~
I remember a lot. That’s what history is for.
Billy I’m sure will be a little uncomfortable with this. But I can’t help but wonder if his governmental record wouldn’t have been a great deal better if he’d managed to steer clear of the Kennedy family. He could have done a lot of good.
But because he ended up as a Democrat he ended up doing a lot of bad. Defending the Clinton’s for example? Unconscionable. Of course he got paid off rather handsomely for that, at Clinton Whitehouse urging NASA put him back into space at age 77. Remember that one?
Jerry Saperstein notes Glenn’s passing and says;
I lived during the last days when it was possible for the United States to celebrate people as heroes, before the Fascists put their doctrines of political correctness, racism and racial quotas and Balkanization and divisiveness in place.
[1]John Glenn was a hero. Sure, as an “astronaut” he was mostly a manufactured hero, but there was never any doubt of the man’s personal courage, He was a greatly flawed man as all men are, but back then we accepted human frailties without demonizing the man.
John Glenn is now gone at age 95. Undoubtedly public school teachers indoctrinate their innocent victims to believe that the original “Mercury Seven”, all white males, was the product of racism, misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia and who knows what else.
Those of us who came before the Fascists took over will remember John Glenn and the others as brave, patriotic Americans.
Godspeed, John Glenn. You can’t even use that word any more.
All true. Sadly, I suspect and suppose the political correctness that Jerry correctly decries was created in no small part with the help of John Glenn himself as Senator John Glen.
Because of his space exploits John Glenn deserved richly the adulation of a Nation. Because of what he did with it and the power that resulted from it sadly he no longer deserves it… And has not for many years, now.
In short I honor the man he was, not the man he became