‘No Class’

From "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior" by George Washington to Kamala Harris - How the mighty have fallen.

It is said that John F. Kennedy, upon learning that Richard Nixon refused to give his concession speech in person on Election Night, mused that “he’s leaving like he came in — no class.”

No two words better describe the person next in line to the Presidency of the United States, Kamala Harris, who spoke these most dignified and exemplary words in public recently:

Kamala Harris Drops F-Bomb While Giving Advice: ‘Kick That F**king Door Down’

Vice President Kamala Harris dropped an f-bomb while dishing out advice during the annual Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Legislative Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, on Monday.

Harris spoke to the crowd about breaking down barriers and handling opportunities and instances in which an individual is the “only one that looks” like themself.

I would embed the video here but the words alone are quite disgusting enough to make the point that we have declined precipitously in the 234 years since the Father of our Country set the standard for “Decent Behavior” in public, and, in my not-at-all humble opinion, this wretched person a perfect metaphor for one of the sleaziest, trashiest, ill-mannered, low-life administrations in American history. Quite possibly the lowest we have ever seen.

That said, another part of that report may be even more distressing than the utterance of one of the most profane words in the English language by a person who got her start in public life by being the (very public) paramour of a highly placed (married) official in San Francisco. What is at least almost as concerning is the fact that the crowd cheered this kind of crudeness coming from a person who could very well — and here I must insert a trigger warning, as the following thought may well be repulsive to many, including this author — have her finger on the nuclear button in the not-so-distant future.

We are witnessing a steady coarsening of American society, which many observers trace back to the 60s, and we seem to be seeing what may best be characterized as a “perfect storm” of incivility and rudeness for the past three years with the Biden-Harris-Garland triumvirate of political hackery; winning at all costs, including using third world tactics to try to eliminate political opposition of any kind.

What follows will be both (a) a brief listing of acts of manners and civility which have been almost entirely lost in our time, as well as (b) proof positive that I am, in the true sense of the word, a product of another time and another era. Here are a few niceties which seem to me to be missing from our current scene; it is not a listing which will be well received by those who may think some of these practices should have gone by the wayside long ago. Some of those thoroughly indoctrinated “wokesters” may be downright offended by them. So be it.

Not so very long ago my generation was taught:

• To always hold the door open for a lady.
• To stand when a lady enters the room. I still do, albeit painfully.
• To insist that a lady, and/or an elderly person, enter a door first.
• To refrain from the use of vulgar language in the presence of ladies.
• To NEVER use the “f” word in polite company.
• To learn the meaning of the phrase “polite company”.
• To refer to gentlemen as Sir and to ladies as Ma’am.
• To make an effort to be well groomed in public.

Disclaimer: I would not publish this without making the following qualifying statements. I am not a perfect gentleman and have been known, on very rare occasions [insert smiley face here] to use vulgar language. I also fully acknowledge, in view of my statements about the Biden gang, that President Trump is also a person of many rough edges and has been known to engage in “edgy” conduct himself.

As I have not given up altogether on the hope that there will be a resurgence of the kind of courtesy and civility we took for granted not so long ago, it might be appropriate to end with a few of President Washington’s Rules of Civility, written when he was sixteen, which seem to be uniquely suited to our current societal breakdown in those areas:

42. Let thy ceremonies in courtesy be proper to the dignity of his place with whom thou converses for it is absurd to act the same with a clown and a prince.

49. Use no reproachful language against any one neither curse nor revile.

59. Never express anything unbecoming, nor act against the rules moral before your inferiors.

Never give up.