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Pretty much all of the ugly problems of the world – economic inequality, climate change, domination of our politics by money, and just general crap quality of life – are made worse by the gargantuan scale of our institutions. Bigness may not be the cause of our many problems, but it goes a long way towards preventing any progress in solving them. Government is vast, impersonal and distant; corporations are faceless monoliths that have their own needs and logic. I’ve long believed in the principle of subsidiarity: that institutions should be as close as possible to the people they affect. It’s why I believe in DEVOLUTION rather than revolution per se: revolution would keep our institutional elephantiasis, while devolving to smaller units of government and of business would make progress much, much more possible.
I think collapse of the US, Soviet-style, is not a matter of if but of when… and HOW. Empires crumble, and they’re often messy on the way out. I’d much rather see a planned devolution, rather than the Republic of New England skirmishing with the Union of Great Lakes States over access to the St. Lawrence Watershed, or nuclear war between Texas and California. But history will decide.
Even the Wall Street Journal is positive about the benefits of a breakup, and it’s true that this is one area where the far-left and the hard-right have often met. I think, though, that they envision a US much more like the EU than my own preference of a patchwork of city-states and county-scale governments from sea to shining sea, with a functioning judicial system to arbitrate disputes and ensure civil rights, so that the remnants don’t turn into apartheid states.
I think we’re much more likely to devolve into some Beyond Thunderdome dystopia than an anarchist commonwealth, but the future has a way of surprising you…
“Once affected or conjured up, it reminds one of a pudgy man, wearing a tie that may well have fit him when he was fifty pounds lighter, but which now cuts off somewhere above his navel and makes him look like an idiot.” – Tim Wise, Of National Lies and Racial America
The right-wing outrage about Judge Sotomayor is the kind of thing that used to freak me out, as did paranoid rantings like Frank Gaffney’s jib-jabber about “our first Muslim president.” There are a great many white folks in this country with chips on their shoulders the size of Toyota Tundras, armed with a sense of entitlement and Remington shotguns. So as a bicoastal libertarian socialist, these types naturally make me grab for the oh-shit bar. Moreso even than my left-wing comrades, pale males like these are fond of revolutionary rhetoric – and seem much more likely to carry it out. Urban radicals are too broke to afford firearms, and they have to take the bus to the barricades.
The truth of the matter is, though, outrage is cheap, like box wine, and just as intoxicating. And it’s ludicrous, in this case; as Wise continues:
Indignation doesn’t work for most whites, because having remained sanguine about, silent during, indeed often supportive of so much injustice over the years in this country–the theft of native land and genocide of indigenous persons, and the enslavement of Africans being only two of the best examples–we are just a bit late to get into the game of moral rectitude. And once we enter it, our efforts at righteousness tend to fail the test of sincerity.
However, I think there’s reasons to see hope in white outrage. First off, America is headed inexorably toward being a mestizo nation. As Nezua points out, as much as the ruling system will add more black and brown (and female) faces in an attempt to hold onto power, this country is going to look very different in a generation. Not only our ethnic makeup, though (and I remember how struck I was, when I got back to the Mainland in 2004, by the fact that you hear Spanish everywhere), but also our position in the world is going to undergo massive, epochal change. America on the way down is going to look hella different than America on the way up.
I’m not saying that there’s not going to be real danger for individuals over the next bunch of years. Some of these people are definitely going to go crazy. But I’m less worried about a Turner Diaries-style fascist uprising than I once was. For one thing: they lazy. For another: they may have the guns (for now) but we got the numbers.
“And by “we,” I mean the world.“
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I’m pretty cynical about politics in general, and US power politics in specific, but even I have been surprised at how quickly and completely Obama has moved to make Bush policies his own… and with only sort of a half-nod at putting a friendly face on them.
So far we have
This is why I’ve felt that a liberal President is more dangerous than a conservative one. With a right-winger in the White House, at least there’s the possibility of a challenge from the left. But when the President is one of their own, liberals sit on their hands even if they object. And this benefits neither Obama nor the left.
Obama might be doing a lot of these things because he genuinely believes in them, or he might be responding to what he perceives as political pressure. Either way, though, he’s going to keep making these moves as long as there’s no real resistance to them. That’s just political reality. And that’s exactly what we saw throughout the Bush years: the Leader made a move, and his followers rushed to endorse it.
With so-called progressives in the media praising Obama for his “post-partisan” mindset, and his desire to “look forward, not backward,” Obama is totally empowered to carry on most of the Bush policies while refusing to charge anyone for – or even investigate – the worst abuses.
I can’t see any way it could ever be any different, even if the Democrats nominated a saint for President. The realities of power politics make “change from within” an empty slogan, regardless of what the Imams of Hopeandchange are preaching this weekend.
My feelings about Obama remain the same: in his ceremonial role of Head of State – our constitutional King – I’m still kinda proud of him as our first national leader of color and as an often inspirational speaker. As Head of Government, though, he is perpetrating evil acts, as have all Presidents of the United States. It’s as dangerous as hell for progressives and liberals of whatever stripe to let their regard for the man – or the symbol, whatever – keep them from protesting, and working to reverse, his actions.
Update: add “don’t ask, don’t tell” to the list…
As previously noted on this blog, I don’t have a favored candidate in this election. In all the issues that are important to me, Obama and McCain adhere to the same program: a wildly assertive American imperialism, destruction of the natural environment, and government of big business, by big business and for big business.
I know that I’d be leaving myself open to a charge of gross Naderism even though I live in a state that’s breaking 49% – 37% for Barry O. I’m fine with that, really. Every significant mass movement for change in this country has come to an end when it allowed itself to get subsumed into an electoral strategy. “Vote for So-and-So because he’ll be more likely to support your cause.” History shows, though, when So-and-So gets your vote, he’ll take it and tack to the right to curry favor with the power elite. So, whatever. The Dem’s are 2% less evil, so run out and vote. Have a ball.
The main problem I have with voting is that people are taught that this is the only – or at least the pre-eminent – way for them to express their political will. In Massachusetts, we’re told on numerous signs that “it is our civic duty to vote.” In a healthy democracy, sure: periodic voting for a representative could be one way for an organized people to send a trustworthy representative to the halls of power. As it is, though – with the process soaked in and controlled by money from start to finish – it’s worse than a fruitless exercise: it is quite literally harmful to democracy. Voting is, in the 21st century, the opiate of the masses.
All that works, all that has ever worked, is organized people taking action in a consistent, direct way to influence (and scare the living shit out of) those in power, who then grudgingly, dragging their feet every inch of the way, enact some small change in the direction of the people’s demands. You grab the inch and take a mile. It is, literally, the only thing that is worth a breath of energy.
One thing elections are really good up is stirring up the lowest impulses of the people. We always see the scary Other trotted out at some point during the quadrennial reality show. There was a lot of (IMO appropriate) outrage at the portrayal of mainstream lawyer and U.S. Senator Barack Hussein Khadafi Khomeini Abu-Jamal Osama Obama as some sort of wild-eyed radical, because he’s a man of color with a funny name who did a bit of street work and once maybe read a book by Alinsky.
The response to the persistent, pervasive and vile misogyny directed at consummate Establishment insider Hillary Clinton, though, was remarkably muted in the so-called left blogsphere… when they weren’t actively bitch-baiting her. After that, I know I shouldn’t be surprised to read what I’m seeing, not in the mainstream media, but on the Koses and the Hullaballoos about Sarah “Caribou Barbie” Palin. I guess, since she’s a Republican, she must be fair game, as it seems all tolerance of Vagina-Americans is premised on good behavior.
It’s remarkable how little the left blogosphere seems to want to talk about her governing style, her outright lying, and her clear, unambiguously medieval stances on things like global climate change and a woman’s right to choose. The chatter about her looks and the whole pregnancy scandal seems to have drowned out any semblance of debate, surprise surprise. It’s hard to find a clearer example of people becoming what they hate… I am trying not to hate them, because I really don’t want to be a punk-ass.
I’m a non-voter for a lot of very good reasons… some of them are outlined above, and some of them have to do with being sick of having it rammed down my throat my whole life that voting is my one and only chance to have my voice heard.
If you want to vote – go. I can’t see the point in trying to talk anyone out of it that hasn’t already talked themselves out of it.
Just remember we got to the place we are today – by voting. And maybe, when you have some space in your mind, think about whether or not there might be a better way of getting what we want…
