I love September because after Labor Day, the general public starts paying attention to politics as races begin to heat up for November elections. As a political junkie, I see my “fringe” interest take center stage. It’s kind of like being a Star Trek fan and having a two month window in which it’s socially acceptable to debate whether Captain Kirk handled the Klingons appropriately.
As someone who fully accepts that my love of political minutae makes me the person to hide from at a cocktail party unless I button my lip about current events and reference the People magazine I devoured in a waiting room last week, I’m given a temporary pass to speak freely. So- while I feel that that “Changing Lanes” is an innappropriate forum to make political endorsements, I would like to share a growing concern.
Somehow, politics as usual has shifted from “We the people” to “We the Really Angry people”. There is always dissent in the form of different perspectives- that is not what I am talking about. It’s a general tone of rage that simmers beneath the surface as individuals try to get the masses to see it their way.
America is in a bit of a rough spot right now. Despite Obama’s efforts to do all he can to keep the Jumbo Jet of the United States Economy from crashing into a cornfield, he hasn’t reached a place where he can radio air traffic control to say “We have stabilized and are resuming course, over and out...”
There are brilliant talking heads who think that Obama’s stimulus efforts have been lackadasical. Other people who are smarter than I will ever be think Obama has meddled far too much and has sent the country on a downward spiral to socialist hell. As a person who thinks and reads, but certainly considers myself an authority on nothing, (except, perhaps the use of a wet dry vaccum because of the quantities of children and animals living under my roof) this is very troubling.
Everybody talking about politics on TV seems to think that America’s problems are someone elses fault. The economic crisis that is causing the town of Hingham (along with the rest of the nation) to make painful cuts in services is because the other side screwed up. It seems like the everpresent goal of those political commentators is to talk louder and louder until the charge of “bad person who ruined America” sticks to someone who can be stripped of all power and publicly humiliated so the United States can get back to feeling like the preeminent superpower of all things.
Obama’s “Hope and Change” posters have been quietly stored away by smart people who know that they will be worth more on Ebay if they haven’t been defaced. Now, only the parodies of the original posters with the striking red, white and blue graphics and a single word sentiment can be found. When I see these (and they are everywhere) it doesn’t make me think “heh heh heh. Obama’s dumb.” Rather it seems to me that copying someone’s campaign poster and substituting a word like “Loser” in place of “Hope” is best left to campaigns for junior high student council.
But here’s the thing. Political operatives are not in middle school and they know exactly what they are doing. They are employing “It’s someone elses fault” rhetoric that is both seductive and powerful. For anyone looking to explore the psychology of this, I highly recommend Drew Westens’s 2008 book “The Political Brain”. This message is seductive to a nation that can not avoid the messages of low self esteem that maxed out credit card statements are sending. It’s a lot easier to get mad at someone for screwing America up instead of trying to break down a complicated problem rationally.
This rhetoric is powerful because it changes listeners who are paralyzed by a diffuse sense of despair into angry warriors against tyranny. Coalitions of individuals are assembled when they answer yes to the following questions: “Are you unhappy with your lot in life? Are you scared about the future? Do you believe in God?” I will not name names or networks, but ask yourself if you’ve heard something like this as you channel surf.
“America is full of God fearing hard working folks who are being squeezed to death by powerful elites. (then insert some sort of disparaging or sarcastic remark about limosine liberals, Octomom, wall street/main street to break the spell of wounded self pity) The time has come to stand up and TAKE BACK AMERICA!”
My question: Take back America from what? Is there an invisible King Kong going around gobbling up jobs and foreclosing on houses? Is it King Kong that our tax dollars are funding? Is the ultimate solution to form a Lilliputian horde and tackle this great beast, tie him down, and force him to obey the constitution?
The sinking conclusion I have come to as I have watched the Obama administration barely tread water in this political climate is that America has some pretty big structural problems that can not be solved with the quick fix of sending a really handsome truck driving man to Washington. Focusing our rage solely upon incumbent politicians seems about as effective as dropping f bombs to the car next to us while we are both stuck in traffic.
Governing close to 300 million people, fighting multiple wars (please don’t tell me that the Afghanistan war is over despite recent press efforts to make it seem like it is), and figuring out how to come out on top in a complicated global economy are challenges our founding fathers never had to face. I suspect that if we had the privilege of asking them to help us out they would offer us some interesting insights about national character after taking the time to gather a lot of information that would explain how we the people had made such a mess of things.
I have a hard time imagining that they’d grandstand on the steps of national monuments, grow apopleptic with rage at the misdeed of a single politician, and implore America to “stand up against tyranny.” My sense is that if I had the privilege of encountering Thomas Jefferson and getting his take on helping America he’d say something simple about individuals taking responsibility for themselves.
Instead of encouraging a movement of national rage, my hunch is that the founding fathers would encourage a different emotion. Humility. Because only when we take responsibility for the part we personally play in our failing economy, are we capable of deconstructing the complicated moving pieces of a giant machine moving in the wrong direction.
So- God bless America. May we have the courage to face what comes next.
Our tax dollars *are* funding King Kong, now that you mention it. From the day they are stolen out from under your nose (under threat of physical violence should you attempt to keep "your" money) until their product (a drone-borne missile in this case) blows up a wedding somewhere in the Middle East (killing a few and radicalizing a dozen), your tax dollars represent the exact kind of destruction embodied by an uncontrollable, murderous ape (that we brought upon ourselves through self-delusion and greed).
ReplyDeleteJust my two cents, have a lovely day
Josh
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629710863
Geez Josh. I wish it was all that easy. I feel as though we waded into two wars without any plan to pay for them. We allowed our National Guard to assume the burden, while cutting taxes and NOT sharing the difficulties in any way.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was a highly placed Defense Department Purchasing guy during the ramp up to the wars. He saw what was going on. We have immense contracts to provide food, shelter, equipment, even "security" paid to private companies that are charging huge dollars--while our own military folks receive short money and poor benefits after serving and risking their lives. These wars were launched by the modern equivalents of Milo Minderbinder. The companies are making the money and somehow it has been just fine to put the costs on our national credit card.
Now we still "own" the security and ongoing development of Iraq, which we should never have messed with, and we are running out of patience with our fight in Afghanistan, which COULD have been over considerably earlier IF we had used our own elite forces instead of local rentals to try to get at Bin Laden when he was briefly trapped.
We are the ones using robots and mercenaries, as well as trying to pay for someone to betray individuals seen as revolutionary leaders. Our acts, and our own unwillingness to go into that stronghold has left us in the position of every other "conqueror" of Afghanistan. After a while the country breaks the invaders.
ALL of this pool-pah has descended on Barak Obama, who I believe has a good heart but little experience. He chose people he thought had expertise--and got the same old answers, rather than the new ones we all hoped he would find. We put him in to learn on the job, and he has been struggling.
But the poison and vicious attacks are mostly a smokescreen to protect and enhance the tax breaks that wealthy folks got under GWB. We can't afford those tax breaks anymore, if we ever could.
I sincerely hope people can start looking at our situation and begin making more rational and solutions oriented discussions, less angry rhetoric. THANKS Katherine for bringing that possibility forward.