Two men are on my mind. They are Yural Noah Harari, a great writer, and President Donald Trump. A quick tip: read anything by Harari.

You will not be disappointed. But Trump takes more than a tip or a trip.

Through much of my adult life I have acquired several friends in Western Europe, and much of our discussions have been about democracy in America.

A small booklet would be necessary to explain the sea change that has taken place in these sometimes intense discussions.

But most often the real thoughts happen like waiting with four or five people for the ferry to an island in Lake Como.

A group of four women, another man and I first talked about Brexit (they were from Manchester) and then Trump and then a list of Trump-ish leaders in Europe.

The views were mixed, but it is clear that short-range desires are dominating long range necessities. Short-range desires opposed to long range needs should be read as nationalism opposed to globalism.

I am in an apartment in Paris, France, thinking of what I see on the morning TV.

History is changed.

And to be by chance in Paris when it happened is mind boggling for little ole’ me.

There were few spots on Earth where the great human idea of social Enlightenment blossomed for the life species homo sapiens less than two centuries ago.

This spot was one of those places. History will mark this day as one of homo sapiens critical moments of saying, “No more!”

With a vote of 51-49 in far off Washington, D.C., the U.S. Senate made a mockery of President Lincoln’s historical words, “A Country divided cannot stand.”

The spirit of the Enlightenment Period died today at the hands of those who call themselves the followers of The Great Emancipator.

Who will now step forward and pick up the baton? Who within Lincoln’s Republican party would dare step forth and try to extract from the ashes of this historical bonfire any noble or enlightening thoughts, goals or aspirations for a noble future?

Perhaps there are more monstrous crises looming on the horizon such as destruction of our life giving climate, or the nuclear weapons, or AI tools so far advanced from those old stone age knives we left behind that the “tools” themselves will think us into oblivion with their analogous mind … but I think not.

As strange as it may seem, I believe those very serious problems are secondary.

Those problems were delivered to us by our scientific and logical thinking process … a process grounded in such ideals as truth, freedom of the press, equality and such rights as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — plus nationalism and globalism.

And let us not quibble over whether they are myths or not. For over 200 years these ideas and rules have worked. Little was achieved without them.

The vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate was a vote for Trump-ism. And I have little hope for those who still do not know what that means.

But as a reminder Trump-ism means “no concern for truth or freedom of the press, no concern for educating the nation, no concern for universal health care for we the people or even a balanced view of nationalism and/or globalism.”

On that day justice drove a spear through the heart of liberty as she lay crying out for equality and fairness in that muddy Republican swamp.

— Ken Cooper lives in Bend.