Image by Vlad Tchompalov.

The Trump administration has issued a death warrant for science. This kills one of America’s greatest most productive avenues to GDP growth. Simple-minded people are determining the future course of the country. After all, science is foundational to America’s economy.

This legacy for America is destined to be the antithesis of what’s found in the writings of Marcus Aurelius’ world-famous notebooks, filled with words of wisdom about leading an honorable life, Meditations, one of the world’s great pieces of literature by one of the wisest minds of the ancient world Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 CE) the 16th emperor of Rome collected thoughts in notebooks, now considered one of the most important Stoic texts of all time and common text for America’s universities today. Marcus is now stronger than ever as one of the most widely read works of philosophy in the world. Will this administration leave a “notebook” like Marcus’s for history to judge… virtue, honor, respectfulness, pursuit of the common good? Hmm.

Marcus Aurelius was the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world. “More recent leaders such as Bill Clinton have admired Marcus not so much as a philosopher-king but simply as a man who recognized that he had to do his duty as emperor without letting it go this his head and without becoming a tyrant.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditation, The Annotated Edition by Robin Waterfield, Basic Books, 2021).

Marcus’s notebooks are filled with praise for a virtuous lifestyle. He describes the most important virtue as “acting fairly, honestly, and with kindness towards others, thus recognizing one’s duty to the community and the common good.” ICE?

Yet, America is experiencing a feast of political retribution and destruction of value-oriented policies created for the common good. This is destruction via a wrecking ball of indeterminate size because it is so large that it’s difficult to fully comprehend. For example, Trump underlings are halting construction of major offshore wind........

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