(Jimmy and Dolly’s Montpelier estate in Orange, VA. Photo courtesy Montpelier/Peggy Harrison).
I was going to write about Jimmy and Dolly Madison’s house this morning, but that got derailed by facts. The stop at the legendary Montpelier Estate is worth an extended commentary, particularly with the Constitution so prominently in the news these days.
Jimmy was Father of the Bill of Rights, and much of the work was done in the magnificent first floor office, and the second floor library jam-packed with books. It was nothing short of surreal to stand by the chair by the window in the salon converted to bedchamber where the former president died, and see the vista that was the last thing Madison saw in this world.
So I was going to yammer about that, and how cool it is to have a gem of neo-Palladian architecture just down the road from Refuge Farm, and the amazing nature of the rolling hills and superb views of the Blue Ridge from the upstairs master chamber that Jimmy and Dolly shared before the President’s arthritis got too bad for him to walk up the stairs unassisted.
The reason that story is delayed is fortuitous. An old shipmate’s son is actually a resident archeologist at Montpelier, conducting excavations on the property to identify the places that the history the DuPont family did not wish to showcase. It is frankly amazing that the slave village was so closely located to the main mansion.
Anyway, I have arranged to have a behind-the-scenes look at the estate this Sunday, so I will be back, and there is no point in trying to tell a story that I will shortly know a lot more about than I do at the moment.
I have been reminded that there is nothing new under the sun, and that was painfully true in the short video that visitors are subjected to prior to the tour with the rotund docent with the food flecks on his chin. The slick production reminded us about the greatness and enduring qualities of our Constitution, and the simple, direct and unambiguous nature of the Bill of Rights.
I had to stifle a chuckle. It is always interesting to run into Narratives. This one is similar to those that I have known from boyhood- you know, the onward march of Western Civilization and all that, civilization refined through the wisdom of the Framers into an enduring Constitutional Republic with liberty and justice for all.
I take a certain amount of comfort in that sort of thing, and actually believe some of it. But of course that is not the Narrative that is being jammed into our brains these days. I am not so callow as to think that journalism ever had a golden age of objectivity; the reporters have always had their agendas, naturally, and the most sanctimonious partisans have always had axes to grind.
But these days it appears that even a casual relationship with objective fact appears to have vanished.
You know what I mean, if you pay even a modicum of attention to the continuing media circus, and the tyranny of the news cycle. I don’t have to point out the stories that are running now about college culture, or the relationship between the police and the policed.
I am not going to beat those particular dead horses further, except to note that my favorite publically-funded news outlet featured an earnest talking head who opined, apparently sincerely, that just because the facts were wrong and innocent people slandered, the fabricated story was more important in its higher truth than the actual facts.
I was stunned and amazed, and there are, within easy reach, at least four or five of those manufactured Narratives still playing out on cable television and in the streets.
The one that held my attention- most recently and briefly- was the Senate Report on Enhanced Interrogation. It even got me and Jim riled up at each other at Willow last night. My emotion surprised me, and I think I used my outdoor voice when I said that the people who were abused had just participated in the mass murder of 3,000 of my fellow citizens, and who, given the opportunity, would cheerfully kill me and everyone else I know.
Having been there for some of this, I am absolutely appalled that The Narrative requires that this disturbing and unbalanced report needed to be issued right now, while we still have forces in the field.
But to those who peddle narratives, that little matter is completely irrelevant.
Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303