G
Gandalf Grey
Guest
Our Culture of Fear and Barack Obama
By Intrepid Liberal Journal
Created Feb 15 2008 - 8:24pm
The topic below was originally posted February 14th, on my blog the Intrepid
Liberal Journal [1] and crossposted today at The Wild Wild Left [2],
Independent Bloggers Alliance [3], The Peace Tree [4] and Worldwide Sawdust
[5].
American politics typically reflects our cultural ethos of the moment. Just
consider these questions:
1.. Has our culture promoted community or celebrated greed?
2.. Is our foreign policy based upon cooperation with the community of
nations or the imperatives of empire?
3.. Can individuals live in dignity regardless of their profession,
economic class, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation or is
gentrified wealth valued above character?
Ultimately, the answer to each of those questions is determined by the
answer to this question: are we a culture of fear or confidence? The answer
is America has vacillated between the two and been both at the same time. A
confidence-based culture survived the Great Depression, defeated Nazi
Germany, saved Western Europe with the Marshall Plan, nurtured a growing
middle class, expanded rights and opportunities for minorities and women,
welcomed immigrants that helped build this country, landed on the Moon and
prevailed in the Cold War. It was America's confidence-based culture that
allowed my grandfather to escape Nazi persecution in Poland and comfortably
raise a family as a salaried worker in the garment industry.
A fear-based culture engendered paranoia about Japanese Americans,
communists, black criminals, radical feminists, environmental extremists,
rock music, socialized medicine, Islamic fanatics, foreigners, as well as
government regulation of business, atheists, secularists and social
egalitarianism. It was our fear-based culture that detained the innocent
Muslim brother of a former graduate school classmate of mine in 2002. Sadly
and shamefully, industry, corporate interests, the media and politicians to
ensure profits and maintain power effectively utilize fear.
President Eisenhower presciently warned Americans about the military
industrial complex as the defense industry exploited fear in the name of
national security. Through systematic brainwashing from birth, Americans are
conditioned to fear black men while the correctional industry gorges itself
on their exponential incarceration rate. Overall, the hidden hand of a fear
industrial complex guides Americans.
In response to this pathology, those of us on the political left are
motivated by fear and loathing of fear merchants who champion unjust wars,
gratuitously incarcerate non-violent criminals and demonize unions. People
like me are afraid of global warming, globalization, government officials
that sanction torture in our country's name, the rising cost of living, HMOs
that allow bean counters to overrule doctors, the housing market,
overzealous preachers who denounce evolution, the decline of public
education, our crumbling infrastructure and the systematic erosion of our
civil liberties.
Hence our political dialogue has become the great fear debate. Conservatives
fear people who want to redistribute wealth, promote permissiveness, debase
our white Judeo-Christian identity and surrender America's position as the
world's lone superpower. Liberals like me fear the agents of corporatism and
national security zealots who ignore the environment, steal elections,
exacerbate the widening gap between rich and poor, launch immoral and
ill-conceived wars and claim it's all in the name of God and freedom.
Most Americans have overdosed on fear. I know there remains a fringe that
will never get over their fear addiction. The thirty-percent that still
support George W. Bush on one side as well as far left-wing reactionaries
who regard anyone who ever votes for Democrats as unprincipled compromisers.
The majority of Americans however are exhausted by fear. Seven years of the
Bush/Cheney war mongering crime syndicate and a Democratic Party led by a
self-gelding machine of ineptitude too afraid to stand up to them have
Americans hungering for a fresh politics of confidence and renewal.
How remarkable that at this moment in history, we have a kaleidoscope
candidate for president in Barack Obama with ancestry from Kenya and Kansas.
A growing and diverse movement is projecting its' hopes upon him. Some have
condescendingly taken to referring to this as a cult. Such people are
missing the point.
Across the divide of race and gender, Obama is increasingly viewed as
someone who represents their ideals. I was absorbed by a conversation I
overheard while taking the A-Train back home to Brooklyn today. A young
Hispanic woman wearing an Obama t-shirt and a middle-aged white man in an
expensive business suit, who acknowledged voting for Bush twice were talking
about how they both wanted Obama to become president. What really amazed me
was when the gentleman said, "I don't agree with him but the country needs
him." I almost decided to stay on past my stop just to hear more of the
conversation.
Now Obama is no saint. For example, Paul Krugman has rightfully taken Obama
to task for attacking Senator Clinton's plan for universal health care with
a reprise of the Harry and Louise style propaganda from 1994. As far as
policy is concerned, I believe there are larger considerations then the
differences between Clinton and Obama on healthcare: namely that Obama
opposed the Iraq war while Clinton cowardly supported it out of political
expediency.
Putting that issue aside though, while critics like Krugman dismissively
refer to Obama's support as cultish they're missing a larger point: if
people with very different backgrounds and experiences such as the two I
witnessed on the subway today are projecting their hopes upon Obama, he has
a far better chance of serving the progressive cause then the polarizing
Hillary Clinton.
On the flip side, Obama may also crash and burn either as a candidate or
later as president, leaving the country even more disillusioned and fearful
then before. When you're a human kaleidoscope it's almost inevitable that
some constituencies will become disillusioned.
Nevertheless, I'm hoping Obama can help my country repair the national
imbalance that currently favors fear over confidence. Not with the faux
confidence of George W. Bush that is really fear under the guise of bravado
and leads to the chest thumping and self-defeating pursuit of empire. Or the
fear-based triangulation of Hillary Clinton that seeks to project strength
through political expediency over doing what's right. We need a leader that
can inspire Americans to boldly address challenges as one people instead of
dividing the spoils amongst race and class at home while alienating the
world abroad as an empire in decline.
I had other preferences for president: Russ Feingold, Al Gore and John
Edwards. I'm sure many of you reading this had other preferences as well. If
Hillary Clinton is the nominee I will vote for her because any Republican is
far worse in my opinion. Indeed, a John McCain presidency would be a
calamity. However, in choosing between Clinton and Obama, I ask my fellow
Democrats to chose the candidate that can best strengthen as well as
consolidate institutions that empower the progressive cause of economic and
social justice. Obama isn't merely our best chance to win this November. He
represents America's best opportunity to reject fear and reclaim our future
with confidence.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Intrepid Liberal Journal
Created Feb 15 2008 - 8:24pm
The topic below was originally posted February 14th, on my blog the Intrepid
Liberal Journal [1] and crossposted today at The Wild Wild Left [2],
Independent Bloggers Alliance [3], The Peace Tree [4] and Worldwide Sawdust
[5].
American politics typically reflects our cultural ethos of the moment. Just
consider these questions:
1.. Has our culture promoted community or celebrated greed?
2.. Is our foreign policy based upon cooperation with the community of
nations or the imperatives of empire?
3.. Can individuals live in dignity regardless of their profession,
economic class, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation or is
gentrified wealth valued above character?
Ultimately, the answer to each of those questions is determined by the
answer to this question: are we a culture of fear or confidence? The answer
is America has vacillated between the two and been both at the same time. A
confidence-based culture survived the Great Depression, defeated Nazi
Germany, saved Western Europe with the Marshall Plan, nurtured a growing
middle class, expanded rights and opportunities for minorities and women,
welcomed immigrants that helped build this country, landed on the Moon and
prevailed in the Cold War. It was America's confidence-based culture that
allowed my grandfather to escape Nazi persecution in Poland and comfortably
raise a family as a salaried worker in the garment industry.
A fear-based culture engendered paranoia about Japanese Americans,
communists, black criminals, radical feminists, environmental extremists,
rock music, socialized medicine, Islamic fanatics, foreigners, as well as
government regulation of business, atheists, secularists and social
egalitarianism. It was our fear-based culture that detained the innocent
Muslim brother of a former graduate school classmate of mine in 2002. Sadly
and shamefully, industry, corporate interests, the media and politicians to
ensure profits and maintain power effectively utilize fear.
President Eisenhower presciently warned Americans about the military
industrial complex as the defense industry exploited fear in the name of
national security. Through systematic brainwashing from birth, Americans are
conditioned to fear black men while the correctional industry gorges itself
on their exponential incarceration rate. Overall, the hidden hand of a fear
industrial complex guides Americans.
In response to this pathology, those of us on the political left are
motivated by fear and loathing of fear merchants who champion unjust wars,
gratuitously incarcerate non-violent criminals and demonize unions. People
like me are afraid of global warming, globalization, government officials
that sanction torture in our country's name, the rising cost of living, HMOs
that allow bean counters to overrule doctors, the housing market,
overzealous preachers who denounce evolution, the decline of public
education, our crumbling infrastructure and the systematic erosion of our
civil liberties.
Hence our political dialogue has become the great fear debate. Conservatives
fear people who want to redistribute wealth, promote permissiveness, debase
our white Judeo-Christian identity and surrender America's position as the
world's lone superpower. Liberals like me fear the agents of corporatism and
national security zealots who ignore the environment, steal elections,
exacerbate the widening gap between rich and poor, launch immoral and
ill-conceived wars and claim it's all in the name of God and freedom.
Most Americans have overdosed on fear. I know there remains a fringe that
will never get over their fear addiction. The thirty-percent that still
support George W. Bush on one side as well as far left-wing reactionaries
who regard anyone who ever votes for Democrats as unprincipled compromisers.
The majority of Americans however are exhausted by fear. Seven years of the
Bush/Cheney war mongering crime syndicate and a Democratic Party led by a
self-gelding machine of ineptitude too afraid to stand up to them have
Americans hungering for a fresh politics of confidence and renewal.
How remarkable that at this moment in history, we have a kaleidoscope
candidate for president in Barack Obama with ancestry from Kenya and Kansas.
A growing and diverse movement is projecting its' hopes upon him. Some have
condescendingly taken to referring to this as a cult. Such people are
missing the point.
Across the divide of race and gender, Obama is increasingly viewed as
someone who represents their ideals. I was absorbed by a conversation I
overheard while taking the A-Train back home to Brooklyn today. A young
Hispanic woman wearing an Obama t-shirt and a middle-aged white man in an
expensive business suit, who acknowledged voting for Bush twice were talking
about how they both wanted Obama to become president. What really amazed me
was when the gentleman said, "I don't agree with him but the country needs
him." I almost decided to stay on past my stop just to hear more of the
conversation.
Now Obama is no saint. For example, Paul Krugman has rightfully taken Obama
to task for attacking Senator Clinton's plan for universal health care with
a reprise of the Harry and Louise style propaganda from 1994. As far as
policy is concerned, I believe there are larger considerations then the
differences between Clinton and Obama on healthcare: namely that Obama
opposed the Iraq war while Clinton cowardly supported it out of political
expediency.
Putting that issue aside though, while critics like Krugman dismissively
refer to Obama's support as cultish they're missing a larger point: if
people with very different backgrounds and experiences such as the two I
witnessed on the subway today are projecting their hopes upon Obama, he has
a far better chance of serving the progressive cause then the polarizing
Hillary Clinton.
On the flip side, Obama may also crash and burn either as a candidate or
later as president, leaving the country even more disillusioned and fearful
then before. When you're a human kaleidoscope it's almost inevitable that
some constituencies will become disillusioned.
Nevertheless, I'm hoping Obama can help my country repair the national
imbalance that currently favors fear over confidence. Not with the faux
confidence of George W. Bush that is really fear under the guise of bravado
and leads to the chest thumping and self-defeating pursuit of empire. Or the
fear-based triangulation of Hillary Clinton that seeks to project strength
through political expediency over doing what's right. We need a leader that
can inspire Americans to boldly address challenges as one people instead of
dividing the spoils amongst race and class at home while alienating the
world abroad as an empire in decline.
I had other preferences for president: Russ Feingold, Al Gore and John
Edwards. I'm sure many of you reading this had other preferences as well. If
Hillary Clinton is the nominee I will vote for her because any Republican is
far worse in my opinion. Indeed, a John McCain presidency would be a
calamity. However, in choosing between Clinton and Obama, I ask my fellow
Democrats to chose the candidate that can best strengthen as well as
consolidate institutions that empower the progressive cause of economic and
social justice. Obama isn't merely our best chance to win this November. He
represents America's best opportunity to reject fear and reclaim our future
with confidence.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson