Wheel. Compass. Dam. Lynchpin. Toilet. Dynamite. Roadmap. This list represents a tiny fraction of the inventions that have served to advance civilization throughout history. I’ve selected them for this essay as typically commonplace, unremarkable objects that have assumed a greater significance beyond their everyday usefulness.

These are physical objects that have come to represent abstract ideas, or symbols. The wheel might signify many things, including justice (as in grinding slowly but fine) and the cycle of life. Most importantly, it came to represent American Westward expansion.

The compass brought to earth and into the hands of man the North Star, guiding him across great expanses of unchartered waters. As an idea, it evolved into something more than a detector of physical direction, often signifying a spiritual connection that helps us understand not just North from South, but also Right from Wrong. Our moral compass.

A well is not just a place from which to bring up water. It is a deep, often secretive source of the precious or ingenious. Dynamite, used to blast passageways through mountains, became a cliche for anything sensational. A roadmap is something that ensures one’s successful journey through life’s challenges as well as a trip across the country

One of the most intriguing objects-turned-symbols is the pendulum, and notably in the form of a grandfather clock. Based on scientific principles of Galileo and Newton, the pendulum clock came to represent more than the ingenuity that went into its making. It was also a status symbol and, given its elegant casement, a piece of valuable art.

The idea of pendulum motion – the back and forth, swinging movement driven primarily by gravity and explained in terms of equilibrium – has become a convenient way to describe the predictable changes in political power.

Civil Rights champion Lyndon Johnson gave way to Richard Nixon, who represented the conservative ideology and corporate influence of republicans. After the Watergate scandal, Jimmy Carter, a liberal with a strong moral sense of civic duty, was elected. Deemed too “soft” by the public, Carter lost to the charismatic republican Ronald Regan, who passed the torch to George H.W. Bush, who promised a “kinder, gentler nation” made of “a thousand points of light.” Such eloquent, liberal-sounding rhetoric, however, wouldn’t withstand the momentous left-ward swing, and democrat

Bill Clinton brought his brand of Southern charm to the White House. Eight years later, his own mendacity and promiscuity would bring him down, to be replaced by George W. Bush and the false claim of weapons mass destruction would clear the path eventually for a liberal Barack Obama. Then, for most practical purposes, Obama’s exit opened the door for what we have today.

Like the pendulum, the political parties in charge have switched back and forth. On one hand, it speaks to the never-satisfied nature of human beings. When things in our personal lives aren’t going as well as we want them to go, we blame the people in power and vote them out. On the other hand, and this is really important, it should remind us how our government system is supposed to work: it assumes our vanity and our capricious nature, and implements a checked and balanced system that ensures the kinds of political shifts that are essential to warding off tyranny.

I would argue that the pendulum is broken today. That equilibrium and gravity have somehow been tampered with, as if by an unnatural, abominable force.

Despite our natural inclinations to be self-interested and fickle, the underlying assumption of the founders of democracy was that man is ultimately sensible. Given some degree of education and choices based on truth, as a whole, we will heed our better angels. The present government has ruptured faith in humanity and trust institutions by undermining truth.

The pendulum may never swing back to the middle. That would require an enlightened public and an election process that is not corrupted. We can’t count on either, it seems. Enlightenment depends on understanding the work of Galileo, Kepler, Newton, DaVinci, Copeland, Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jesus. The leader of America today has no idea who these people really were, what they accomplished, or what they stood for. His idea of great art is something gold with his name on it. His idea of science is proclaiming that freezing temperatures in the South is proof that climate change is a hoax by “environmental insurrectionists.” His idea of patriotism is playing with toy versions of awesome modern weapons. His idea of humanitarianism is developing real estate in Gaza.

Defibrillator, thermostat, regulator, shock absorber, stabilizing bar, decompressor. None of these words smacks of new symbolism. Yet each one says something about what might be needed to deal with the chaos that presides over America today.

Musician, writer, house painter Pete Howard lives in Dunkirk. Send comments to odyssmusic20@gmail.com