Note: This was written in August, 2015, during the Obama administration. Lamentations about the current state of affairs pertain to an era now past. Hope for the future, though, burns eternal. We yearn for civic character but satisfy ourselves with symbolic gestures and celebrity circuses. We perceive no greatness in our leaders, a new meanness in ourselves. Small wonder that each new election brings a new jolt, its aftermath a new disappointment.