How now, Mr. President?

Indulge me, my friends, will you please, on this Inauguration Day 2009, so full of bombast, hoopla, and dewy eyes, in an uncommon exercise of common sense.

We hold, I trust you’ll agree, these truths to be self-evident: That common men and women, of every land, in every age, are mostly people of good will; that is, they demonstrate in their lives and works, most of the time, the virtues of faith, and hope, and charity. And this, as well: That the predominant forces in all societies’ institutions, that rule the lives of the common people, are those of bad faith, mistrust, diffidence, and ill will.

You know there’s something going on here that is not good, but you don’t know what it is, do you?

Even the former President of the United States, George W. Bush, in his farewell address to the nation, reminded us that, “I've often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise.”

Right. So you may say.

I ask then, why is the common good so patently compromised by evil?
Something wicked this way comes, eh? That phrase is to be found in Shakespeare's play “Macbeth.” The speaker is the second witch, who prophesies, "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." The wicked thing is Macbeth himself, by this point in the play a traitor and murderer.

What do I make of this? Well, first of all, the common people are not in charge of society. And those who are in charge obviously do not have the common good in mind. Why? Well, ipso facto, they are not common people.

Those who are in charge are rich and powerful people, a perennial ruling class, and they are enemies of the common good. Thus, Mr. Bush, a scion of ruling class patriarchs, were he at all a reflective man, would do well to consider the tragedy of Macbeth. Even more so, I think, should President Obama, a man surely better equipped for self-reflection, as he assumes authority himself, going henceforth ever amidst a congeries of ruling class plenipotentiaries.

We will all do well to keep in mind that what is going on, in the final analysis, is not a struggle between good and evil; it is everywhere and always an economic class struggle, and we must choose which side we are on. Let us remember the still-relevant words of Frederick Douglass, penned in 1857:

"This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

You are now between a rock and a hard place, Mr. Obama, God help you. I wish I knew which side you are on.