A needed Renaissance

Peggy Noonan, the writes about the passing of Tim Russert. "The world of Russert - stability, Catholic school, loving parents, TV shows that attempted only to entertain you and not to create a new moral universe in your head - that’s over, that world is gone." Yet Russert knew that it was not gone entirely. Hope exists. He would have appreciated the contrast between conflicting mores which permeated the the Middle Ages between 1500 and 1550, and those which divided the nation in the 1960's and persist in our American society today. Evil and good, genius and banality live side-by-side. Pope Alexander VI and Lucrezia Borgia contrast with Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Magellan. Sir Thomas More co-existed with Henry VIII. Contrast the liberal judges of the 9th circuit court in California, sexual promiscuity in TV land and the socialist candidate for President, Barack Obama, with a heroic soldier, Marcus Luttrell, an entrepreneur, Bill Gates and a dedicated, well-intentioned President, George W. Bush. The Renaissance hinged upon the triumph of reason over undisputed faith. Russet would agree with me that another rebirth is needed - the rebirth of reason period. Also, we probably concur in the observation that whether in the Middle Ages, the 60's or in 21st century U.S.A., commoners behave like - commoners. Most remain oblivious to the workings of wealth, power or the clergy. Most will ultimately be appraised by God under Plato’s rule of conduct, that "man is the measure of all things." How we live ( above and beyond what we say ) tells all.