American Heresy #1: Not the Greatest Nation on Earth

 

Part 2: Goliath Stumbles

In Part I of this essay I briefly described the rise of social movements in America on the right and left of the political spectrum. Now I would like to discuss how these developments have led to the reactionary election of Trump. The sentiments he harnessed were not of course created by him but have been brewing for many years.

Media Megaphones: Fox News and Hate Radio

I'm sure many of you have experienced comments or received emails from conservative relatives and friends that seemed surprisingly angry, accusatory or racist, referring to immigrants or unwed mothers or abortion or persons on welfare. Most recently we've seen the fierce, over-the-top demonization of Hillary Clinton but this goes back much further. Since the end of Reagan's second term Republicans have become successively more extreme and uncompromising. 

In Bill Clinton's time, there was the pursuit of his penis like it was Moby Dick reincarnated, a fervor to convict out of all proportion to events and ultimately damaging to the nation. By the time we get to Barack Obama the new paradigm seemed to be that any Democratic president was not legitimate and that any attack, lie, distortion or twisting of facts and logic was acceptable. Conservatives are currently complaining about the huge but largely peaceful demonstrations against Trump and seem to forget that Obama was greeted by protestors with nooses, flaming effigies, pictures of he and Michelle as apes and all the ugly rest of it.

How was this level of hate and animosity generated? The first driver to push these sentiments in a big way was the Hate Radio wave that swept the country starting in 1987. An example of the conservative fetish "deregulation", the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stopped enforcing the Fairness Doctrine that year. With radio stations no longer required to give politically balanced access and the conglomeration of radio stations into a few large Ownership groups, unfiltered right-wing programming began to flood the market. Rush Limbaugh began to supply the script for ugly, hurtful rants from riled-up uncles and grandparents at family functions.

The rise of Fox News Channel (or "Faux News" as some would have it) kicked all this into overdrive. Under the direction of Roger Ailes there was now a central, coordinated disseminator or the Party Line. Amusingly carrying the motto "Fair and Balanced", the network was anything but, reliably featuring dim but assured male hosts and shiny, long-legged blonde female decorations who deplored anything proposed by Democrats and puffed everything Republican. 

The eventual downfall of Ailes, exposed as a sexual predator and generally loathsome person, was revealing of the hidden corruption and white male privilege that is the true wellspring of the Trump phenomenon. While they have tried to apply a camouflage coat of economic populism, one only has to scratch the surface to find the emotional, irrational, fearful reaction of the dispossessed white working class. 


Party Over Country: "Let me have it or I'll break it"
 
More than just tearing families apart, this new media also began to tear the nation apart. The Gingrich Republicans would rather shut the government down than try and bargain in good faith. The dark Bush years were engulfed in the cloud of 9/11; their go-to tactics were some form of "Us or Them". Any objections or calls for debate were termed "treason", and those speaking out were warned to watch what they said.

Mitch McConnell's plotting for unwavering, uncompromising obstruction of the Obama administration beginning on day one is well documented. This is amazing when taken in context, since this was in the midst of the most severe economic panic since the Great Depression. At a time when all true patriots should have lent their every effort to preventing a full depression, they were intent on making sure Obama failed. It was Party before Country then and even more so now.

 Obama had almost a full year left in office when Justice Scalia died and we witness the never-before seen spectacle of congress refusing to even consider a President's nominee. (From the party that blew a gasket when Democrats simply asked hard questions of  Justice Thomas). We currently see Republican's falling in line with the Trump position that Russia and Putin aren't so bad after all - let's put all that Crimea and Ukraine nastiness behind us and stop the sanctions. (From the party of Ronald "The bombing starts in five minutes" Reagan). We've seen this on so many matters -  the R's rock-ribbed, holier-than-thou absolute moral stands can reverse in an instant depending on who is in power. They don't care who gets hurt or what long-standing norms they break as long as they win and their enemies are utterly destroyed.

Goliath Falls: Not the Greatest
 
Now we see how the Republican party has descended from being a corporate friendly but overall cooperative partner with Democrats in finding the viable compromises required for a functioning democracy to a rabid, angry and uncompromising abuser. The fear and anger Trump played with so dangerously during the campaign has revealed the thirst for anger, punishment and destruction motivating him and many of his most rabid followers. 

This blind rage is like a fire, unthinking and dangerous if not confined and extinguished. This urge to lash out has extended to all things that make it's purveyors feel less-than. Informed opinion, legitimate media, scientific research and those who conduct it, numbers, inconvenient facts. Truth and objective reality are themselves under attack. Displaying their signature knack for projection, they blame liberals for hiding from reality, for being out of touch, not knowing how the world really works. But of course it is they who attack scientific results they don't like or the media for reporting what they said publicly.

All this angry refusal to bargain in good faith or even accept objective reality has severely poisoned the body politic and threatens our ability to respond to the world's many challenges in a rational manner. A new and serious infectious disease (Zika) arises, and congress argues over providing any funds to study it. Congress forbids any funding for research into firearms-related deaths. Climate change isn't even mentioned.

Education has become a political football. First we had "No Child Left Behind", trying to force all students into a one-size-all- teach-to-the-test straight-jacket. Then the rise of the Charter schools, a Trojan horse to destroy public education and turn it over to for-profit players and religious institutions.Finally we Betsy DeVoss, who's family has spread enough money into the right pockets to get her nominated to head the Dept. of Education. She has not attended public school, nor have her children, she is not familiar with major aspects of Public School policy, she has spent her career trying to undercut public schools, so of course she gets the nod. National test scores for American students are behind those of many European and Asian nations and don't seem likely to catch up soon.

So here is where we find ourselves. Where once we could legitimately claim the crown of "Greatest Nation in the World", we are now fooling ourselves if we claim it is still true. The life expectancy for working white people has recently declined for the first time in the modern era. We are not the best educated, our government is not the most functional or most fair, our health care system is not the best or the most efficient. Having dabbled in torture and indefinite imprisonment we are not the most moral or just. 

The great question now is "Who are we"? While not the greatest, we are still extraordinary in many ways. While degraded, we may yet be greater in the future.This theme was appropriated by the Trump campaign with their slogan "Make America Great Again". I am sick of seeing it on those stupid hats because the "Great Again" implied there is not what I am talking about. 

Their slogan is not about a return to working together, to a broad agreement that we are all Americans and it is up to us to manage the difficult task of working together with humility, respect, honesty and good faith. The "Greatness" they hark to is rather about privilege, returning to a time that never existed where WASP values were unquestioned, where white men called the shots and everyone else shut up and fellll in line without any voices of dissent or oppressed minorities striving for equality and freedom.


Even if that time had existed, we could not return to it. The genie is out of the bottle - racial, gender and economic equality has been tasted by the American people and we will not give it up without a fight. The record-breaking national demonstrations this weekend have shown that. Where will we go from here? Can we redeem ourselves in the eyes of the world? Stay tuned - it will be an interesting ride.