The Lament of a True Patriot
I grieve deeply to see how America has failed to meet the present urgent challenge– indeed the very challenge that our Founders were most concerned that America should be able to meet. These are dark days for any true American patriot.
WHAT MAKES A TRUE PATRIOT
The true patriot is the one who loves the heart and soul of his country. In America –the nation whose essence is said to be an idea– that heart and soul is the system of government given us by our Founders and the democratic spirit embedded in it. It is that system and that spirit that have allowed Americans, for more than two centuries, to live as free people in a society that, by the standards of human history, has been reasonably decent.
The true patriots are not defined by their enthusiasm for the victories of American militarists, but by their devotion to those principles for which —as we declare every Memorial Day— so many Americans have laid down their lives: principles of limited government, human rights, and the rule of law.
The true patriots are not those who wrap themselves in the banner descended from what Betsy Ross sewed, but those who carry forth that “Spirit of ‘76″ enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the spirit that made our forebears willing –in the name of liberty and of the proposition that governments are instituted to serve the people and derive their just powers from the people’s consent–to put their lives on the line.
THIS IS THE VERY THREAT OUR FOUNDERS WARNED US AGAINST
Now there has arisen –from within the American political system– the very kind of threat that our Founders feared most: a lawless and usurpatious presidency systematically assaulting our constitutional system.
The picture of presidential lawlessness could not be clearer. The case has been made powerfully and in detail by responsible and knowledgeable Americans– by people like Bruce Fein, Elizabeth de la Vega, Glenn Greenwald, John Dean. They show the unmistakable pattern of conduct by which the heart of America –”a nation of laws, not of men”– is being destroyed by this Bush regime.
(There’s no point here in going through the litany of lies and crimes and usurpations that are already fully exposed in news accounts, in books, in court findings. Anyone who has been paying attention –and is willing to know this dark truth– must by now not know it. And anyone genuinely seeking such knowledge can readily find it.)
This is the very danger the Constitution was created to counter. The whole structure our Founders gave us was organized to help Americans prevent precisely what this regime has been doing.
And now we can see: at all the levels of the American body politic, America has failed to rouse itself to fight the battle our Founders intended for us to fight.
The people have failed. The free press has failed. And now we can see clearly that the Congress has failed. America has proved itself unworthy of the heritage handed down to us.
THE FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Our Founders knew that we, the people, would need to embody “republican virtue” to be the kind of citizenry required to preserve such a noble experiment as the American democracy. We would need to practice the “eternal vigilance” that is the price of liberty. We would have to be ready, in Jefferson’s words again, to refresh “the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
We the people, in the face of this brazen crimes and lies of this Bush regime, should have been out in the streets in our millions. We should have been raising a deafening hue and cry, demanding our America back.
But, except for a relatively small fringe, the American people have stood by and let our birthright as free Americans be stolen from us. (And nearly a third of us still regards loyalty to this criminal ruling group to be a virtue– enough to hold an entire political party hostage to this evil.)
The American people have failed– failed to understand what a gift the Founders gave us, failed to care enough to rouse ourselves to protect that cherished heritage.
THE FAILURE OF THE FREE PRESS
Our Founders knew that the purpose of the free press was to help the public to protect the integrity of its democracy against the rise of dark and tyrannical powers. Our Founders knew that, if our precious liberty was to be preserved, it would be essential that nothing could stop the people’s being told when the power entrusted to their leaders is being abused.
But, again, except for some individual cases around the edges –like Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, and lately the New York Times editorial page– the media have failed to do their job. They do not help the American people to understand that we are now facing a crisis unprecedented in American history.
This rise of a lawless, fascist power in the White House, is a HUGE story–as important in its way as the crisis of World War II. But the mainstream media do not sound the alarm.
A generation ago, the press treated the lawlessness of Watergate as a big story. Now here we are in a situation that John Dean, who ought to know, called WORSE THAN WATERGATE three years ago, before so much of the criminality of this regime had been so well exposed, and the mainstream media pretend this assault on the rule of law –on our whole democratic culture– is not occurring. They do not trumpet to the American people that the heart of our nation is imperiled like never before in our history.
A decade ago, the media found the question of oral sex in the Oval Office so important as to warrant months of almost round-the-clock coverage. But now, with a list of scandals longer than one’s arm adding up to a pattern of systematic crimes and lies committed by an executive who claims to be above the law and claims to be beyond the reach of Congress and the Courts, the media treat this mortal peril to the soul of America as of less import than was a stain on a blue dress.
The media fail us by ignoring the elephant in the room and allowing falsehood to continue to reign.
THE FAILURE OF THE CONGRESS
Our Founders saw to it that the Congress was given certain powers to enable it to deal with a president who puts himself above the law. Last fall, when the American people turned control of Congress over to the opposition party, it appeared that the necessary confrontation might be in the cards. And until the last couple of months, it was possible to believe that, under that opposition, the Congress might be gathering momentum toward such a meaningful constitutional battle with the usurpatious president.
But now it has become clear, through a series of cave-ins, that the opposition Democrats have no will to fight.
Clearly, this is not what the Founders had in mind. The Constitution is about controlling the play of power, and it sets up the arena where –if the war to preserve the system’s integrity against a lawless president must be fought– the members of Congress are supposed to become warriors.
That this is the most essential, the most inescapable, of Congress’s responsibilities, is demonstrated incontrovertibly by the oath of office the Founders placed –word for word– in our founding document. With that oath, our Founders mandated that everyone holding power in the United States government make one sacred promise: to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
In this, the Congress has failed. The Republicans continue to defer to the president as their leader, treating him as if he –not the Constitution– deserved their loyalty and support. And while the Democrats complain weakly, when the chips are down they repeatedly back down rather than fight.
While the Bushites are making war on the system, the Democrats are pretending that we’re at peace. While this president continues to proclaim precisely the kind of powers that our Founders thought essential to keep out of the executive’s hands, lest the democracy collapse into tyranny, the Democrats have refused to challenge him fully.
The warriors on whom our Founders counted have quailed in the face of this unpopular but combative president. They have proved themselves too weak in message and vision and courage to speak boldly the truth about this crisis. They have shrunk from the necessary combat to save the soul of America.
WHAT WOULD CONSTITUTE SUCCESS
And let us be clear: the criterion for success is not necessarily that the criminals in power be successfully impeached. Perhaps there are good reasons, at this stage in the second term of this presidency, why impeachment is not the best course. Perhaps in any event impeachment could not succeed.
But success at least requires that the crimes of this regime be fully exposed, that the forces that have assaulted our constitutional democracy be discredited and repudiated, that this presidency be stripped of all the moral authority and respect that Americans customarily extend to the office.
Even where the Democrats cannot prevail in terms of a contest of raw political power, every one of these showdowns is an opportunity to further expose the overall pattern of lies, crimes, and blunders that have so damaged this country. At the very least, the Democrats should be winning major moral victories that consistently push this regime deeper into the mire of shame it so richly deserves.
Thus disgraced –even without impeachment– the regime can be drained of its power, and treated as the temporary blotch on American history that it is.
Instead, the failure of the opposition to stand up and fight has led, in recent months, to an increase in the regime’s confidence and in its power to dominate our national affairs. That is clear confirmation of Congress’s –and America’s– major failure, and it is a disgrace.
LAMENTATION
What does it say about what has happened to the spiritual and moral culture of America that we have so far so badly failed this crucial test? What does it mean that at this time of crisis, we have a people that protesteth not, a media that telleth not, and an opposition that fighteth not?
It causes me such pain, such grief, such sadness to see the America I love —that creation on this continent that was one of humankind’s greatest historic achievements—under such assault, and none of the major components of our body politic with enough vision and courage and passion to fight to protect and preserve our sacred birthright.
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:20 am
They have forsaken ME, the fountain of Living Water
and have hewed them out cisterns that can hold no water.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:13 am
There is nothing you wrote (beautifully I might add), that I don’t share as well. Something to reflect on, though, is what actions come out of sadness? I don’t ask because I have the answer, because I don’t, but I do wonder. While it may be an appropriate emotional response I wonder if sadness allows one to effect change. Ray McGovern spoke not too long ago about the Virtue of Anger as the proper response to injustice. When I have time, I’m going to see if I can dig up the video of that. Former CIA analyst aside, I do believe he has the heart of a philosopher and it might be interesting to view again as it relates to your piece here. Know you’re not alone Andy.
Cheryl
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Beautifully written - thanks for this!
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:58 am
Maybe if we strong patriots would’ve acted more swiftly say twenty-five years ago then we wouldn’t be lamenting grandparents right now. We could always start today.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:31 pm
One of the failures that wasn’t mentioned above was the failure of progressive truthers to educate, inform and motivate the American population to get millions of people into the streets. The American people are deluded, sedated and intimidated by American ideology which de-politicizes the population when it does not get them to identfy with oppressive power.
A good example is the Consitution; there is both a Heavenly Constitution bequeathed us by our Founding
Fathers that floats over the heads of the people and is inspired by the American gods. And then there is the earthly Constitution which, so far from being an answer to our prayers, is an intrinisic part of the problem.
The Heavenly Constitution gives Freedom and Justice for all, and insures Our Democracy. The reality, however, is that the public electoral system has been encompassed and superceded by a capitalist plutocracy whose power enables them to increase our already enormous class inequality. This class inequality is a major historical reason why the ruling class has opted for an American police state. But since the earthly Constitution plays only a marginal role even in the public American power system, it has nothing to say about the economic power that is oppressing us. Its Checks and Balances is only for the public power system, which is largely a facade.
And neither do our liberal truthers relate this class inequality to the developing police state, since they favor capitalism while deploring its power effects. But who wish to fight its effects while retaining capitalist power. Might this have some relevance as to why there are not millions of people in the streets? And why the blame falls on the people rather than on their putative leaders.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Federalist 62, Madison:
“It is a misfortune incident to republican government, though in a less degree than to other governments, that those who administer it, may forget their obligations to their constituents, and prove unfaithful to their important trust. In this point of view, a senate, as a second branch of the legislative assembly, distinct from, and dividing the power with, a first, must be in all cases a salutary check on the government. . . . This is a precaution so well understood in the United States, that it would be more than superflous to enlarge upon it.”
The Founders did forsee the circumstances we face today. But, even the ingenius system of government devised by those truly wise men cannot endure the gangrene that is killing our government today and that also poisons our neighborhoods, work places, entertainment, and even our churches. Contrasting our current state of affairs with the true vision of America is unspeakably sad.
In my own small sphere of influence, I am committed to doing what I can to point out the contrasts. Thanks again Andy for lighting yet another candle in the dark.
(Contributed by an authentic patriot.)
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
“Might this have some relevance as to why there are not millions of people in the streets?”
Let’s assume, for our present purposes, that your analysis of the underlying reality is correct, Morley. Still, there’s a strange and inexplicable step in your argument.
It is completely beyond me, Morley, why it is that you think that if us “truthers” told people about the class-based exploitative power system, they’d be more likely to take to the streets than if we articulate the problem in terms of the violation of sacred American norms.
The argument that you think should be added is one against which the American people have long been innoculated by that self-same power system. THose who express this argument are immediately discredited in the eyes of the overwhelming majority of Americans. (You’ve doubtless heard the Republicans accuse Democrats of “class warfare” if the latter object to some arrangements that favor the rich.)
With respect to the Constitution, however, there has not been –up until perhaps now, with the fear-mongers claiming the commander-in-chief has powers beyond any legal restraint– any dispute. There has been no conservative position nor liberal position regarding the supremacy of our Supreme Law. There’s been only an American position and an un-American position.
I can understand why you would want to persuade the public of the rightness of your perspective on the problem of power in America.
I can see no reason whatever, though, why you think that making class-based arguments would increase the chances of getting the millions in the street.
*************
I can imagine your responding that we are once again talking about short-term vs. long-term perspectives. And that what you have in mind is a sustained argument, begun long before the Bushites, that would have prepared the ground for making your case now in the face of this newly arisen fascism.
If that’s the case, my response is this.
Plenty of people have been attempting to make more mild, less revolutionary arguments in that same direction: in favor of worker protections, of getting money out of the campaign process, of better regulation of industrial pollutants, of a health care system that –like that of every other developed industrial democracy– takes care of all the people as a right, etc. etc. THe list would be very long– the list of the battles that have been fought since, say, Ronald Reagan came to office between those who would legislate to help the less powerful vs. those who would wield political power to advance the interests of the more powerful.
Plenty of “truthers” as well as political leaders have been involved in waging that battle from the more liberal side.
And the result? The center of American politics has moved steadily over the past thirty years or so toward the right. The term “liberal” –let alone the kind of term that would be thrown at those who would make your argument– has been rendered into a dirty word. Taxes have been shifted onto the middle class from the very rich and the corporations. Regulation of corporations has atrophied. Anti-trust laws have become increasingly denatured. And so on, and so on.
And as for the public’s views: they have become increasingly persuaded that government is the problem and not the solution. The residue of the post-FDR/New Deal idea of using government as a check on “the malefactors of great wealth” has long since dissipated.
The power of entrenched wealth to propagandize the population through the mass media, through think tanks, and all the other tools that money can by has swamped the power of even arguments that were already widely accepted in America in the post-FDR American political culture.
Why should we believe that if we could not push the corporatist interests back across the fifty yard line during the past generation and more we could somehow, making more extreme arguments for which Americans have been given anti-bodies since the Haymarket bombings in Chicago in the 19th century, push them back into their own end zone?
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Can you say more, Aaron, about this “gangrene” that you see that is in some sense the same infection in other realms as it is in the political?
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Indeed, true patriots above writing of the virtue of seeing clearly in a state of “eternal vigilance” the price of liberty. Why aren’t millions of folk in the streets demanding accountability from all politicos. The BBC’s “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” who wins an election saying, “I will never lie to you.”
Now, the question of where are the true American patriots? They have, I dare to say, been suborned by the Hostile Reactionary Defensive crowd. All the good conscience and deep reading on sites like this will not motivate the victims of this assault on our Constitutional government, which is clear to even a casual observer.
Evidence: Today, Arianna Huffington talks about the total takeover of American media by corporate forces who use the HRD mode to keep the people anesthetized. The FCC last week quietly removed the last regulation that prevents any entity from owning both TV/radio and newspapers in the same market. Consolidation will only increase. We are in the midst of _1984 - 2.0_.
We can now ask again, what is the effect on populace force-fed this vitriol
24/7, many times per hour? One evidence appears in today’s SF Chronicle which says, “75% of Americans report sleep deprivation.” Berkeley’s Sleep Lab conducted the study. “The results show a link between negative thinking and lack of sleep. It can lead to loss of concentration and memory.
Many are drinking much more coffee daily than just 5 years ago.”
In the test, “…volunteers were shown disturbing pictures of graphic violence and gory injuries. Researchers were monitoring brain activity as the images appeared. There was a significant jump in activity of the amygdala (1st brain) the part of the brain which puts the body on alert to protect itself. Those who got a full night’s sleep showed normal brain activity. Those who do not sleep enough are more prone to be argumentative, to give in to road rage. It may make scary movies scarier as the _brain does not do quite as good a job at separating fact from fiction._
We become emotionally deregulated. If a gun is pointed at you in a movie, one normally does not react because the brain _puts in context_. But that function seems to be disconnected in the sleep deprived.”
Here is graphic evidence of the emotional impact of constant threat inputs.
9-11 has long evoked an emotional readiness to deal with crisis. The event on that day was more than symbolic. The constant statement of those numbers is bound to affect the amygdala.
Last night I completed close reading of Ch. 5 in _Parable of the Tribes_ (Psychology and the Evolution of Civilized Man). It contains a wealth historical information to explain how power usurps and uses the Natural elements of human psychology to it further its own purposes. Such background is relevant in the above questions about why we so meekly accept what is happening. We don’t “take it to the streets” any longer because the authorities have learned how to _fence in_ hugh numbers. Those who are not penned are not reported in the next news cycle anyway.
All of the above comments seem to indicate that the absorption of media by power maximizers and their constant drumbeat of hateful vitriol spewed by pundits who have gleefully jumped on the wagon of careening jingoism.
Even the Frost’s boy injuries and medical needs are grist for the mill of
Hostile Reactionary Defensive posturing. There is clear _intent_ to play on the sleep deprived and force them into the HIGH THREAT mode in daily life, constantly “on guard” the amygdala drowning in cortisol, to create a passive mass of victims for their agenda, the literal militarization of America.
This may be a reason all the brave ones Andy mentions cannot get more than a few supportive emails. The truth is being told but folk are too over-burdened with HRD elsewhere in the media saturation of daily life.
75% are not sleeping enough means the stress level is ultra high for most.
Later, I shall try to hobble through pain and dizziness to reflect more carefully on Ch. 5 in _P of the T’s_ The essence of our crisis is lurking there, as it is in _Out of Weakness_ (my copy has disappeared). If you will permit a close reading of that chapter perhaps we can come up with a workable simple antidote to the massive HRD machine, its reach deepening daily.
Michael Lerner’s _Surplus Powerlessness_ is also relevant. We need to organize something that is “out of the loop” of the power maximizers and help these chronically stressed folk to reach a deeper understanding of what is happening to them, and all of us, including cutting coffee intake. Michael organized a “worker’s self-help community center” in the 80’s which was profoundly successful. Then, most of the work went overseas. We need to help each other first.
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Perhaps that is what a true patriot must do now…..
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Thanks you, Lee, for your thoughtful post.
(And thanks, too, for your delving into, and sharing here, the perspective I worked so hard to develop a half a lifetime ago.)
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
“The true patriots are not those who wrap themselves in the banner descended from what Betsy Ross sewed, but those who carry forth that “Spirit of ‘76″ enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the spirit that made our forebears willing –in the name of liberty and of the proposition that governments are instituted to serve the people and derive their just powers from the people’s consent–to put their lives on the line.”
A good idea no doubt but even the most cursory reading of the history of the US proves that its actions from the very start of the experiment were anything but altruistic.
I suggest reading anything by William Blum to take a little of the revisionist gloss from the moth-balled and glass-cased Betsy Ross rag that for most of the rest of humanity smybolizes a pirate nation’s jolly roger.
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
“for most of the rest of humanity smybolizes a pirate nation’s jolly roger”
Do you really believe, Anonymous, that “a pirate nation” comes anywhere close to characterizing how the rest of humanity has perceived the United States over the past 220 years, or even over the past 70 years?
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Referring to our Corporate Media as the “free press” is a mistaken identification. The major networks and newspapers are a key part of the power structure that oppresses us, and as their propaganda arm, and in concert with the mindless TV entertainment fare they dole out, have undermined the ability of our brainwashed public to respond to the crisis now upon us. In our time, the internet, and sites like this, is the closest thing we have to the ‘free’ press. However, part of the conditioning of their propaganda agenda has been to denigrate the integrity of anything on the internet. Most people in the general public have bought that argument. Even my close friends often pass off the many illuminating pieces I send around as being ‘unsubstantiated opinion’ or ‘paranoid politics’, and not to be taken too seriously.
As Michael Moore has pointed out recently, in America the people are too afraid of the government (with some good reasons now, I think) to allow themselves to become too visible in their protestations. Even on the internet, it is interesting to note how most who comment resort to anonymity when airing their views. So to get people to dare to physically come out onto the streets and stand behind their demands(which I have tried to do), they will have to experience much more personal suffering to overcome the carefully designed psy-ops assaults of our capitalist neocon masters. As long as guarding their prosperity and personal freedom are stronger forces in their lives than their desire to drive out these monsters, they will remain cowed, I think. If the blatant criminality of this regime can’t break them loose from their passive assent, it will take a truly massive breakdown in the system that sustains their tenuous prosperity to set them free from the chains of fear and complacency.
With the impacts of Peak Oil, Rapid Climate Change, and a possible financial melt-down bearing down upon us, we may soon get that societal disruption needed to catalyze the emergence of mass resistance against our inept and criminal leaders. However, by then these fascists may have nailed down everything so tight that even the uprising of millions won’t help. Blackwater and their ilk aren’t being cultivated for nothing. NOW is the time for us to stand up, when there is still a short window of limited freedom remaining. However, we are paralyzed by their disinformation propaganda and manufactured fear, and our just hoping that somehow this nightmare might pass us by and we can retain our privileged position in the world. However, we likely will not see our prosperity and freedom remain much longer. One more well-planned ‘terrorist’ attack, escalation of the war into Iran, martial law in America! Goodbye, American Dream.
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I too feel the sadness and longing for what is no more
maybe somewhat like the American Indian with a tear in his eye,
or the Jew at the wailing wall.
The sorrow and sadness is so well well expressed in the last pragraphs of the opening post.
I feel agreement with Morley’s expression : Heavenly Constitution promising Liberty and Justice for all
The Heavenly Constitution that plays over the heads of the people (attempting to quote Morley) inspired by the ‘American gods’ and the earthly constitution that is an intrinsic part of out problem.
The Heavenly Constitution inspires with the concept of Liberty and Justice for all
Such an opening post and our common agreement is maybe now a time, for a few hours, to indulge the sorrow and wait for inspiration . . . wait for inspiration . . . how we will walk into the future of a changed world . . for walk on . . we will . . but inspiration to walk on cherishing the memory . . and never losing the vision . . whatever others may do.
……………………………………………………………………
The time will come for the necessary analysis and honest acknowledgment of the errors and mistakes that have led us to this sad pass.
How we have been divided and distracted and how our ever more diverse desires and expectations clamoring for attention and government action have left us a divided people with primarily The Economy as our only remaining common denominator.
And so we find ourselves largely then in the hands of those who control the material aspects of our lives with ‘The Heavenly Constitution floating over the heads of the people ‘floating’ quite on away.
But tonight I will indulge in the shared sorrow for loss
and wait for the inspiration that will surely come.
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
One antidote to sadness and despair is action. I hope to see many of you Saturday at the peace demonstrations being held in various cities in the U.S. Had it not been for the anti-war movement in the 70s we might still be in Vietnam–letters and emails may not get our public servants’ attention, but mass demonstrations will.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:29 pm
“The center of American politics has moved steadily over the past thirty years or so toward the right.”
In July 2001 I attended a conference at which I met a German journalist and a Dutch computer programmer. After a while the conversation turned to American politics.
The Europeans seemed genuinely puzzled about something and asked me about it.
Their question: “Why don’t a lot more Americans vote for politically moderate candidates like Ralph Nader?”
October 24th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Andy has made two arguments against conceiving the fight against fascism in class-struggle terms. The first is that it is SAFER to conceive the struggle in terms of preserving the Constititution. This is true. Pointing to the relationship between class inequality and fascism will draw the fire of right wing sleazoids which will be echoed in the mass media which serves as an echo chamber for the right wing.
The second argument is that progressive truthers have attempted to fight for the ecomomic rights of the population the past few decades and have been defeated. This is also true. The public American political consensus has moved continuously to the right.
It was true as well in Hitler’s Germany when the Communist and socialist parties were outmanuevered by the German ruling class and their leaders, as well as labor leaders, were imprisoned and killed.
But there is no choice. The American people have been ideologically disarmed to fight the usurpion of power that is now being done by the Gops with Dem assistence. In order to develop the resistence of the masses it is necesary to develop a simple overview of political and social reality that can be put on a bumper sticker or told to a person in an elevator before he reaches his floor.
Such a outline ideology can be fleshed out indefinitely, but it is necessary to unite the population around a simple standard, as the Bushites have done around the War on Terrorism. But, in opposiiton to the Bushite standard it 1. must be true and 2. must be to the interests of the American population and 3. to the interests of the world population. Progressive truthers have failed to develop such an effective outline ideology.
Instead Andy has developed the simple notion of American Constitutionalism. This might serve as a cover ideology, but it cannot get millions of people into the streets. People only mobilize to fight for the their own interests, and it is necessary to continuously emphasize that under liberal fascism we will be working longer and harder for less money, our communities will continue to deteriorate and the food and other consumer goods will be incrreasingly unregulated in the future, and the lawless corruption of the Bushites will continue.
These economic and spiritual effects result from a lack of people power caused by an incrrease in class inequality. To destroy or lessen it, it is necessary to take money and power away from the rich and powerful.
People are afraid to say so at the present time and, indeed, are afraid to think it. Because this is class war on the side of the population instead of just on the side of the ruling class and their agents. It is therefore the function of their leaders and activists to tell the dirty truth to the population when the whole weight of the power system is opposing it. So that the people themselves are not afraid to tell the simple truth about people and power. And until this is done, and done sucessfully the American flag will continue to be a Jolly Roger, as Anonymous as put it, and under its banner the American power system will ravage not only the other people of the world, but the American people as well.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:21 am
The problem is perception and those who promulgates a meaningless left-right/right-left point of view. And one of the major ways they’re able to do this comes from the idea about a specific time in American history when this political dynamic was useful. We’ve brought a lot to the table in the tradition of the electoral party system and it’s served a good purpose. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change how we apply the philosophy that framed this system. This self-same power system that Andy mentions no way resembles human progress today. We have a bifurcated system, which no longer prospers, but nurtures an antiquated mindset for our body politic. Andy even says this propaganda goes back to the “pre-FDR American political culture.â€? It is time to change our thinking and if that entails pulling apart the Constitution to dissect it like a puzzle, then that’s what we must do! The bottom line is that the real Truth is hidden so easily from all of us because we are afraid of losing our “birthrightâ€? as American’s by challenging the efficacy of a rigidly ossified power structure bent on total domination of even our natural thoughts and actions as human beings. Not even all the gold at the Smithsonian should deter us from letting this irresponsible behavior continue to spiral out of control.
P.S. I haven’t read all the posts yet but hope to catch up later. And thx for letting me opine as usual, :).
October 24th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
With shame I watch as my fellow Americans cow before these people who are destroying our Constitution. Without it we are doomed. I have been fighting for five years on the streets trying to wake America up. Maybe we deserve to fail in our republic. Most Americans are too meek to deserve be truly from the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is our republic if we can keep it. But it doesn’t look like it today.
Command Sergeant Major (retired)
October 24th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I just hope that some of you guys who are loudly proclaiming the need for radical change in the American system will remember that component of the long-standing American system that allows you to do so without the jack-boots coming to drag you off to a dungeon.
There are many societies even today where one who does what we are doing here gets “disappeared.”
The Constitution is no more “quaint” than the Geneva Conventions.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
O.K. Andy, here goes: “. . . the gangrene that is killing our government today and that also poisons our neighborhoods, work places, entertainment, and even our churches.”
My own thoughts have been articulated more completely by others, including at NSB. However, the examples I see may be different than those seen by others.
In 1835, Alexis De Tocqueville wrote in his book Democracy in America:
“In some countries, the inhabitants seem unwilling to avail themselves of the political privileges which the law gives them; it would seem that they set too high a value upon their time to spend it on the interests of the community; and they shut themselves up in a narrow selfishness, marked by four sunk fences and a quickset hedge. But if an American were condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence; he would feel an immense void in the life which he is accustomed to lead, and his wretchedness would be unbearable.” (p. 109)
De Tocqueville’s statement reflects the ideal; an ideal that we have regularly ignored. Yet, I believe that generally speaking his point is valid. Unfortunately we appear to be in a stage of social evolution where we are not just cycling from more concern for community to a lesser amount with the expectation of moving upward again. We are experiencing a sustained trend against concern for community.
The “gangrene,” in my view, is a downward spiral of selfishness and egocentrism that is expanding our culture’s disregard for others viewed as incapable of contributing to one’s immediate quest for satisfaction. If this is occuring, and if De Tocqueville was correct, the trend is un-American. Supporting it is unpatriotic.
As selfishness and egocentrism expand, we are seeing the evolution of a culture that favors tribal rather than familial and communal relationships. Tribal associations are characterized by relationships with groupings of perceived equals. Familial and communal relationships are more complex. Dependents are to be expected, including the young, the disabled, and the aged. Those capable of supporting dependents do so as a matter of course, recognizing the honor of their station. The supporters assume that should they become dependent again they also will be supported by others in the family and community. In a tribe, if you can’t keep up with the herd you are left by the side of the trail to die.
What are some symbols of the gangrene that infects our political sphere and every other facet of our cultural life? Here are just a few as I see them:
The workplace: Just earning profit is not enough. Maximum profit must be earned or unemployment is the result. Keep up or die. Health insurance? Why should we contribute to that? “If you are going to die then get on with it so that we can reduce the surplus population.” Tribal. Selfish. Egocentric.
Our neighborhoods: Drug abuse is rampant. Children being raised with drug addicted parents end up being starved, neglected, infected with Hepatitis, and worse. Drug abuse is a classic case of a me-first mentality. The ability to think of other’s needs when the cravings start is next to impossible. My neighborhood, once a quiet little town, is wallowing in drugs. Family connections, based on sacrifice, are fading. Connections with “homeys” are more common. Where is the father? Of yes, he’s in the bar with his tribe (a.k.a. “drinking buddies”). And who needs him anyway when we’ve got a “sugar daddy.” (I apologize for the sarcasm but not for the intensity of my emotions.) Tribal. Selfish. Ecocentric.
In our churches: Bush said, “If you aren’t for us you are against us.” How could he hope to get away with such an ignorant comment? Maybe one reason is because he knew his logic would agree with the logic used by many American churches. They continue to promote the idea that if you aren’t one of them you will certainly fry in hell. They add, with a tone of piety, “Even your little children will burn for eternity.” They inexplicably continue, “Our god is merciful and kind.” Tribal. Selfish. Egocentric. One would think that we’ve grown beyond such foolishness, but instead tribal self-righteousness seems to be as hardened as ever in our churches.
Our recreation: In my area signs are posted on hockey arena walls to regulate the behavior of fans (usually parents) so that they won’t duke it out during the contest. And, why do we care so much about the outcome of professional games that we are willing to pay social deviants millions of dollars a year to go for the win? Yet, we can’t pay our teachers a living wage? Tribal. Selfish. Egocentric.
Our entertainment: I’ve seen television go from the Walton era to the so-called reality t.v. survivor era. In the Walton era we sacrificied for each other; we suffered and rejoiced with one another. In the survivor era if you can’t curry enough favor you get thrown off the island, out of the tribe. Can you imagine the Waltons telling Mary Ellen to take a hike when she went through a rough patch and tested the patience of the others? No way. That’s not how families and strong communities function. That’s how tribes work. Just go die by the roadside and don’t bother the rest of us. Tribal. Selfish. Egocentric.
Our schools: The only way we will be able to collect enough revenue to support our public schools is if we provide a monetary incentive for people to contribute. State-sponsored gambling is the rule now. It’s O.K. though, the argument goes, since a small percentage of the money goes to schools. If we didn’t give people the chance to win big, why would they support schools? In my own little community, an out-of-the-way gas station sold nearly $1 million in pulltabs the first year they were offered. Yet, the local people were too poor to keep their elementary school open. Tribal. Selfish. Egocentric.
Our government: We don’t have a government of the people anymore in large measure because we are well on our way to not being a people anymore. We have a government of the tribes (special interest groups, corporations with lots of money). I maintain that if we want a better government, then we need a better people. That doesn’t fix our immediate needs, I know. Yet, in the long-run if the American people refuse to abandon the tribal mentality in favor of one that is more sustainable and healthy then our government will succumb to a fatal infection. There is no other outcome.
I don’t think we’ve passed the point of no return. I’m determined, not despondent. I have hope, but I don’t expect that conquering the tribal mentality will be an easy task or that the battle will be relegated just to what happens in D.C. or in Fortune 500 board rooms.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Thanks, Aaron. Lots of good thoughts.
(BTW, I don’t think that you might be injustly characterizing “tribal” values.)
Are you willing to indicate anything about where your town/neighborhood/city is?
Your words brought to mind a couple of semi-recent works on the American ethos: Postman’s AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH, and Putnam’s BOWLING ALONE.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Perfect thoughtful consideration, Aaron. “A downward spiral of selfishness and egocentrism.” the “self-esteem movement” in our schools coming home to roost, perfectly symbolized by this administration and the mind-shaping forces so many are glued to…. Would that their efforts were but symbols….
from novelist John Champlin Gardner: We have been crippled by an excessive sense of righteousness. The only virtue therein is tenacity, especially when an idea they cling to is clearly wrong. Our whole culture is a product of the Semitic point of view. We tend to take that side without reflecting. It demands so much, especially that our nature must be repressed, suppressed if necessary. Often, open oppression follows, an irresistible tide.”
Lovely that this subject elicited such thoughtful consideration. Reading them leaves me with some last lines of John C. Gardner:
“How can we learn to be loving and gentle if we are not shown loving gentleness with forgiveness? How can we learn generosity if we are not generous to others?”
It seems that we are in the realms of Quantum Theory and Chaos Dynamics.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Thank you, Andy, for a beautiful article, and thank you, also, everyone, for your comments. I read all of them.
I am now exhausted, but also moved, and re-moved, after a few months of absence from NSB, and the political scene in general.
I think it is just fine to express ’sadness’, and even ‘exhaustion’, and a ’sense of hopelessness’, as Andy has done here.
If we are not allowed to be human, and real, and honest, and express feelings as they come and go, what do we have then at all to give, or show for, or ‘role-model’ to this fake, sterile and ‘unreal facade’ of our country and it’s people.
I appreciate that Andy doesn’t just talk…he ‘role-models’ a genuine realness, and personality that can be trusted…… but as all human beings, even the greatest, every man, and woman needs support, and breathing space, and the right to say “This really sucks, and I am sick and tired”…and trust that this shall pass, as well.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Thank you for the supportive comments. Andy, you asked where I live. It may be symbolic on October 25 to write that I live about four miles from where the late Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash five years ago today. His ideas about community and the power of grassroots politics are some that matter much to me.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Andy
Thanks for a beautiful post. It expresses the sorrow I too feel in my heart. As to the question “where are the millions of protestors” they are not there because they don’t even realize that something beautiful is dying. They fail to make the connections between warrantless surveillance and misuse of information obtained for future oppression. The evil is hidden behind pious masks, which is the central assertion of your entire campaign. And unveiling that evil and convincing others that it is a threat to their survival is the central missing element
December 20th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
The lure of power, influence and security is difficult to resist, even by idealists. We live in a culture which teaches us to hold on at all costs (”stay the course” whatever it is) but has very little to say about letting go. Why else is death such a taboo subject, carefully packaged in euphemism? The confusion of definition by having rather than by being is writ large in the land today. Appeals to the founders get lost (or, perhaps better, “founder”) on the rampant individualism wrought by an increasingly mobile population–which ironically would deny mobility to immigrants or would-be immigrants. A civil society initially developed by many who felt the call of reason in arranging social structures has become obsessed with tearing down all structures that speak of or work towards the odd notion of the common weal.