Loose cannon on ship

Watching our yoyoer-in-chief lately brings to mind a story known as the parable of the gun. The story concerns a young lieutenant in the British navy in the age of wooden warships. He was in charge of one of the cannons on his ship, and during a violent storm his gun came loose from its station. Being very heavy, a cannon rolling around could do lethal damage to a wooden ship (whence the expression “loose cannon”), but through great personal courage and considerable luck, the young officer was able to resecure the gun with manageable damage. After the storm the ship’s captain awarded a medal to the lieutenant for his bravery. He then ordered the officer hanged for allowing the gun to get loose in the first place.

Obviously, the lesson of the parable is that fixing problems of one’s own making is not heroic at all. Not then, and not now. So let’s review recent news. A non-crisis with North Korea, solved by negotiating with a mouse. A crisis with NATO one day, and kissing and making up the next. Same with the G-7 economic consortium. Tariffs that cause real damage to real Americans, followed by debt-financed welfare to make things OK. Putin is to be believed, but America’s intelligence assets are not to be believed. Separating parents from children, followed by reuniting parents and children. And now Iran, threatened by a tweet in ALL CAPS (oh, the horror!) directed to people who can’t read English. What’s next—amnesty for Persian cats?

So, is El Trumpo Grande heroic in solving all these problems, or is he irresponsible for causing them in the first place? My vote, without Russian influence, goes to the latter. Your vote, and those of our congressional delegation, should as well.

DENNIS BARRY

Little Rock