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.



  
 

American Heresy #1: Not the Greatest Nation on Earth

 

Part 1: Goliath Rises

There are certain formulas in American politics, certain magic rituals one is expected to repeat in comforting cadence. One of those is that "America" is supposed to be followed by "the greatest nation on earth". I think a case can be made for the truth of this in the latter half of the 20th century but does that stand up today?

In the aftermath of WWII, even if you questioned the moral supremacy of the United States, we were preeminent by default. All the other great powers were on their knees, crippled by 6 years of ruinous war. We did not have battles on our land with bombed, burnt-out cities. We had the A-bomb! And we had, in the few decades after the war, a truly vibrant and advancing middle class. We were indeed the wonder of the world and could be proud of how much was accomplished by shared sacrifice. 

The wave of returning service men & women found ready employment in a post-war economy that promised a decent job if you were willing to work. Unions were strong, as everyone realized that in a mature, functioning society we are all in it together. Companies and employers had a countervailing power that kept them honest in dealing with the blue collar workers. Jobs were seen as long-term commitments with each party assuming its share of responsibility for the success of the entire enterprise. 

This prosperity allowed for the single-working parent family to have a car and a house and a degree of financial security. A growing economy coupled with civic-mindedness led to investment in schools, parks, airports, the interstate highway system, exploration of the moon. We were a confident, outgoing can-do nation.

Movements of Social Change

Rising prosperity allowed people to begin questioning old established orders of power and privilege. Racial integration began in the services and became an accepted idea after the war, ultimately leading to the Civil Rights movement. Today we are celebrating Dr. King both because of his moral courage but also because he was alive at a moment in time that was ready for him.

A parallel but linked phenomenon was the rise of the Counter-Culture spawned in many ways by the Vietnam war. That war marked a turn from the moral clarity of  WWII and even the murkier Korean War. It was no longer so clear that we were on the "right side" and that what we were doing was even in the national interest. The images and stories of slaughtered innocents and shattered soldiers sent shock waves through the conforming, complacent culture of the 1950s. Similar to the racial justice movement, masses of people began to demand cultural justice, ecological justice, economic justice.

The social movements discussed above were primarily from the political Left. The mid-late 1960s were also a period of increasing fervency and activism on the Right. The 1964 Presidential campaign by Barry Goldwater gave the first hint of the coming conservative resurgence of 1980's "Reagan Revolution". The early conservative movement was a small-c conservatism. Individual, grass-roots, small-town, primarily about economics and communism. 


Corporate Hijack

By the time we get to the Reagan and Bush years, the social movement has been bought out and leashed by corporate power and the rise of the serious money. Especially by the start of the Bush II era the post-war attitude of "we're all in this together"  was considered foolish and naive. Now it's every-man-for-himself. Per Michael Douglas in the movie "Wallstreet",  "Greed is good!". Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.

In a bid for a "Permanent Republican Majority", the Gingrich-era Republican party began to seriously integrate the Religious Right as an efficient way to organize and produce voters preached to the approved social and political opinions. 

The price of keeping these devoted voters was to have the Party adopt divisive wedge issues such as abortion and gay marriage. The powers-that-be never really believed these sob stories of chopped babies and men marrying cats, but it sure ginned up the rubes. Plus it provides a most excellent distraction from the real mission of the new corporate order, which is transferring as much of the world's wealth into as few pockets as possible. I will argue that this is one of the key factors driving much of the current social and political instability.

A thread that runs through all of the Right's basic arguments is reaction.  Reaction to the Liberal New-Deal society, reaction to civil rights, reaction to the counter-culture, reaction to change. At our current political low-point, the government set to assume power is also reacting against facts, against science, against common sense, perhaps even against survival. In Part II of this essay I will examine the processes that have brought us to this sorry state.

 Back from the Holidaze

Happy New Year, everyone! The holiday break was a welcome respite from the day-to-day concerns of life in this Brave New World but now January is upon us and it is time to gird ourselves for the challenges ahead. One thing I have resolved to do is think & write more about the important topics of the day, both to develop my thoughts more fully and to foster discussion with a larger community.

A recent exchange on Facebook centered around whether or not  DJT deserves some benefit of the doubt as he starts his term of office which prompted the following:
 
"Trump has had his chance during the post-election period to show that once he is elected, he would "grow up" and become presidential - he even promised this during the election, saying he would act "very presidential" if he won. What have we seen since then? 

He has basically ignored the advice of the government ethics office, refused to actually divest of his conflicting business interests, attacked private citizens who have crossed him, insulted Meryl Streep, John Lewis and a host of other extraordinary people, caused international incidents with China, Israel & Palestinians, fired the head of the DC National Guard (in charge of inaugural security), effective in the middle of the inauguration, demanded all appointed ambassadors resign on his first day in office (without replacements!), refused intelligence briefings, insulted the US intelligence community while praising the Russian government, and he still sends out unhinged tweets about Alec Baldwin on SNL in the middle of the night ...and he's not even in office yet! How many chances are we supposed to give him? 

You realize that as soon as he takes the oath of office he will be committing a crime, don't you? He has refused to give up his lease on the Old Post Office building (new Trump Hotel), and it is specifically forbidden that ANY FEDERAL OFFICE HOLDER may profit from that lease. Mitch McConnell was plotting to undermine Obama on Inauguration Day 2004 - so tell me again how much benefit of the doubt we're supposed to give this buffoon?"

I do generally believe in tolerance and giving people a chance. However, what we are seeing now is something new and malignant. Never in my lifetime have I witnessed such contempt for truth, justice, fairness, due-process, democratic norms, common decency and on and on...I'm sure he's insulted apple pie at some point... (Loser desert - no caviar or gold leaf, not even a truffle... Sad!).

Thus, I believe we are fully justified, nay required, to resist this mess from the very beginning. As Mitch McConnell said of Obama, we must "make sure he is a one-term president". Let us not forget how the Republican establishment treated an honestly-elected, highly-qualified and exceptional man from the moment he assumed office. The current president elect comes with a cloud of financial conflicts, a tainted election and all the instincts of a dictator, conducting himself with a shameful vulgarity and full of belligerent ignorance. No honeymoon for this pretender!