K
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
Guest
Dateline: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
Before you open a door and enter into the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library, a large bronze sculpture of a strapping cowboy greets you,
with the wide-eyed optimisim of the mythic west, a handkerchief
dangling from the back pocket of a pair of jeans, and cowboy hat in
hand.
It's called "After the Ride" and it is a tribute to Ronald Reagan.
Or make that the myth of Ronald Reagan. Reagan, as the fawning
exhibition area that paints a flattering, blemish free portrait of his
life unintentionally reveals, went from a childhood and small college
upbringing in Illinois to a Hollywood "B" film career, to spokesperson
for the GE corporation, to Death Valley Days, to the political life
that led him to the White House.
The key transition, not noted as such by the library narrative, is
when Reagan became the hired front man for GE, hosting a program for
them but also going around the country selling the concept that the
corporation is a benevolent and positive force in our lives, without
any downsides.
Reagan went from a "B" movie career to an "A" career as a political
salesman for corporate wealth and control of the government. In the
turbulent social climate of the '60s, his wealthy backers (who
regarded him as a prize race horse for a right-wing coup for the super
rich and corporate welfare) watched as Reagan won the governorship and
masterfully was guided in the use of wedge issues such as "Guns and
God" to lure the emerging displaced middle class into voting
Republican.
Aside from the "October Surprise," when Reagan negotiators allegedly
convinced the Iranian mullahs to hold onto our hostages until Reagan's
inauguration day (they were literally released after he was sworn in),
the GOP had perfected the selling of a myth about America -- and they
had the hale and hearty actor to sell the product.
The myth of "morning in America" obscured the emerging theft of jobs
from the middle class by creating emotional hot buttons for rural and
working class voters to gravitate toward: Their values were under
attack by liberal extremists, they were repeatedly told. Only the
Republicans could save the nation from further moral degradation, the
myth went -- and only the GOP could guarantee victory in foreign
conflicts (even if the conflicts were often unnecessary and the GOP
failed to achieve "victory," however it might be defined).
Because our perceptions today are so dependent upon television as a
source, how one acts as president or senator has superseded, in large
part, what one does.
Ronald Reagan made many working class and rural voters proud to be
Americans again, but meanwhile, behind the scenes, corporate lobbyists
and Reagan's aides (who were really running the show) went about
dismantling factories in places like central Pennsylvania and moving
them overseas, sometimes -- literally -- in the dark of night.
It was the Republican version of "Let them eat cake." Only, in this
case, it was: "Let them eat God, Guns, and Patriotism."
This process that began with Reagan's election continued through Bush
I -- and to a degree in the Bill Clinton Administration, as he
aggressively pursued NAFTA and followed the neo-liberal economic
agenda of opening up the gates of exporting jobs in return for larger
corporate profits -- and it rocketed ahead in the administration of
Bush II into a juggernaut of betrayal of the middle class.
Hunting and faith are important to many people in rural America and
small towns -- as faith is throughout America -- but there has and
will be no threat to those core "values." There is no gun control
measure with any remote possibility of passing in any state that would
affect hunters -- and Democrats and civil libertarians are ardent
supporters of the right to follow one's religious beliefs without
government interference.
So, Barack Obama's remarks in San Francisco, as borne out by a true
understanding of the Ronald Reagan myth, are ultimately true. His
mistake was that he said what he said in a way that allowed the twin
corporate D.C. insiders -- McCain and Clinton -- to once again
demagogue the issue into one of emotion, rather than fact.
And that is what the attack on Obama is about: demagoguery.
I can't save workers from voting against their own economic interests
when they vote to defend values that no one is going to take away from
them. And I understand that Clinton and McCain are playing on the
pride of such displaced members of the middle class. No one wants to
be told that they have been duped for nearly 30 years by the wealthy
backers of the Republicrats. Rural and small town Pennsylvanians want
to feel proud about America and themselves -- and the uproar from the
McCain and Clinton camps once again presses the hot button of dignity,
while privately believing in (whatever Clinton is saying on the
campaign trail today) policies that will continue to erode the
earnings and standard of living of the very people that they claim to
be championing.
The media owned by corporate elites has a role in this, too. Last
month, the conventional wisdom of the media, for the most part, was
that the deteriorating rust belt of Western Pennsylvania had left many
former decently paid workers angry and bitter. But, on a dime, the new
conventional wisdom, after Obama's remarks, was that it was insulting
to say that these same people are angry and bitter. Nothing says more
about the non-factual based reporting of the mainstream press than
that sudden conversion, because the mainstream media represents the
global corporate interests of its multinational parent companies who
reap the profits of moving jobs overseas.
What Obama said was shorthand for this grim reality: no one is really
threatening the traditions of hunting, or anyone's faith, or
heterosexual marriage. But there are plenty of politicians among the
Republicrats -- usually the Republicans, but Hillary Clinton has
joined with them on this one -- who exploit the fear that
conspiratorial "leftist" forces are conspiring to end hunting and
religious belief in America. This is the heart of being a demagogue,
because it is an appeal to emotion that has no basis in fact. It is
how Republicans have won many an election, and how Senator Clinton is
now trying, in a last gasp, to obtain the office she has compromised
so much of her life pursuing.
As someone who was born and raised in Illinois, and having lived here
my adult life, I was always surprised by how little connection Reagan
appeared as an adult to have with home state. During his presidency,
he rarely returned here, and his persona was tied to the myth of the
cowboy, the triumphant rugged conqueror of the West. Illinois was just
part of his early biography. He seemed to have no strong emotional
attachment to the very Midwest roots that he so championed. It just
didn't fit in with the mythic figure that came out of his films,
Western ranch (which was the inspiration for Rove getting Bush to buy
his Crawford spread and do a Reagan "cut the brush" imitation), and
heroic GI movie roles during WW II (which he never actually fought
in.)
So we understand that some of the working class who buy clothes at Wal-
Mart that they used to make -- because the price is right -- only the
blouses and shirts are made in China now -- we understand that they
feel insulted by some politician telling them that they've been taken
for a ride, that no one is going to stop them from hunting or going to
their church, but that the people who peddle that nonsense to them are
allowing corporations to steal their jobs and wallets from right in
front of their noses. That's a tough pill to swallow, that you've been
swindled for 30 years.
But McCain and Clinton are once again pulling the same Republicrat
tricks of playing on emotional vulnerabilities while ignoring the
truth surrounding the job heist that is occurring in places like
Pennsylvania.
Yes, it is bad political practice to ever say anything that makes a
group of potential voters feel that they are being insulted because
you're making the claim that they've been had.
But if you want to help those same people out to create a positive
future for employment and their standard of living, you can't keep
hiding the truth under a rock.
Obama's statement could have been said more fully, and not so
elliptically, and that would have explained the difference between
respect for traditions and beliefs, and exploitation of those very
same characteristics for political gain by those who are exploiting
the working class.
But, in the end, as he did with race, Obama is touching upon a third
rail of truth that neither party wants to discuss much. The "K Street
Lobbyists" are very pleased with the masquerade and demagoguery that
achieved, and now accelerates, the slide of the middle class towards a
lower class fate.
The working class will have its faith, hunting, and small town
"values," but it can't have them if they don't have jobs.
And after Obama's remarks, they can't say that they weren't warned by
an honest politician.
Before you open a door and enter into the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library, a large bronze sculpture of a strapping cowboy greets you,
with the wide-eyed optimisim of the mythic west, a handkerchief
dangling from the back pocket of a pair of jeans, and cowboy hat in
hand.
It's called "After the Ride" and it is a tribute to Ronald Reagan.
Or make that the myth of Ronald Reagan. Reagan, as the fawning
exhibition area that paints a flattering, blemish free portrait of his
life unintentionally reveals, went from a childhood and small college
upbringing in Illinois to a Hollywood "B" film career, to spokesperson
for the GE corporation, to Death Valley Days, to the political life
that led him to the White House.
The key transition, not noted as such by the library narrative, is
when Reagan became the hired front man for GE, hosting a program for
them but also going around the country selling the concept that the
corporation is a benevolent and positive force in our lives, without
any downsides.
Reagan went from a "B" movie career to an "A" career as a political
salesman for corporate wealth and control of the government. In the
turbulent social climate of the '60s, his wealthy backers (who
regarded him as a prize race horse for a right-wing coup for the super
rich and corporate welfare) watched as Reagan won the governorship and
masterfully was guided in the use of wedge issues such as "Guns and
God" to lure the emerging displaced middle class into voting
Republican.
Aside from the "October Surprise," when Reagan negotiators allegedly
convinced the Iranian mullahs to hold onto our hostages until Reagan's
inauguration day (they were literally released after he was sworn in),
the GOP had perfected the selling of a myth about America -- and they
had the hale and hearty actor to sell the product.
The myth of "morning in America" obscured the emerging theft of jobs
from the middle class by creating emotional hot buttons for rural and
working class voters to gravitate toward: Their values were under
attack by liberal extremists, they were repeatedly told. Only the
Republicans could save the nation from further moral degradation, the
myth went -- and only the GOP could guarantee victory in foreign
conflicts (even if the conflicts were often unnecessary and the GOP
failed to achieve "victory," however it might be defined).
Because our perceptions today are so dependent upon television as a
source, how one acts as president or senator has superseded, in large
part, what one does.
Ronald Reagan made many working class and rural voters proud to be
Americans again, but meanwhile, behind the scenes, corporate lobbyists
and Reagan's aides (who were really running the show) went about
dismantling factories in places like central Pennsylvania and moving
them overseas, sometimes -- literally -- in the dark of night.
It was the Republican version of "Let them eat cake." Only, in this
case, it was: "Let them eat God, Guns, and Patriotism."
This process that began with Reagan's election continued through Bush
I -- and to a degree in the Bill Clinton Administration, as he
aggressively pursued NAFTA and followed the neo-liberal economic
agenda of opening up the gates of exporting jobs in return for larger
corporate profits -- and it rocketed ahead in the administration of
Bush II into a juggernaut of betrayal of the middle class.
Hunting and faith are important to many people in rural America and
small towns -- as faith is throughout America -- but there has and
will be no threat to those core "values." There is no gun control
measure with any remote possibility of passing in any state that would
affect hunters -- and Democrats and civil libertarians are ardent
supporters of the right to follow one's religious beliefs without
government interference.
So, Barack Obama's remarks in San Francisco, as borne out by a true
understanding of the Ronald Reagan myth, are ultimately true. His
mistake was that he said what he said in a way that allowed the twin
corporate D.C. insiders -- McCain and Clinton -- to once again
demagogue the issue into one of emotion, rather than fact.
And that is what the attack on Obama is about: demagoguery.
I can't save workers from voting against their own economic interests
when they vote to defend values that no one is going to take away from
them. And I understand that Clinton and McCain are playing on the
pride of such displaced members of the middle class. No one wants to
be told that they have been duped for nearly 30 years by the wealthy
backers of the Republicrats. Rural and small town Pennsylvanians want
to feel proud about America and themselves -- and the uproar from the
McCain and Clinton camps once again presses the hot button of dignity,
while privately believing in (whatever Clinton is saying on the
campaign trail today) policies that will continue to erode the
earnings and standard of living of the very people that they claim to
be championing.
The media owned by corporate elites has a role in this, too. Last
month, the conventional wisdom of the media, for the most part, was
that the deteriorating rust belt of Western Pennsylvania had left many
former decently paid workers angry and bitter. But, on a dime, the new
conventional wisdom, after Obama's remarks, was that it was insulting
to say that these same people are angry and bitter. Nothing says more
about the non-factual based reporting of the mainstream press than
that sudden conversion, because the mainstream media represents the
global corporate interests of its multinational parent companies who
reap the profits of moving jobs overseas.
What Obama said was shorthand for this grim reality: no one is really
threatening the traditions of hunting, or anyone's faith, or
heterosexual marriage. But there are plenty of politicians among the
Republicrats -- usually the Republicans, but Hillary Clinton has
joined with them on this one -- who exploit the fear that
conspiratorial "leftist" forces are conspiring to end hunting and
religious belief in America. This is the heart of being a demagogue,
because it is an appeal to emotion that has no basis in fact. It is
how Republicans have won many an election, and how Senator Clinton is
now trying, in a last gasp, to obtain the office she has compromised
so much of her life pursuing.
As someone who was born and raised in Illinois, and having lived here
my adult life, I was always surprised by how little connection Reagan
appeared as an adult to have with home state. During his presidency,
he rarely returned here, and his persona was tied to the myth of the
cowboy, the triumphant rugged conqueror of the West. Illinois was just
part of his early biography. He seemed to have no strong emotional
attachment to the very Midwest roots that he so championed. It just
didn't fit in with the mythic figure that came out of his films,
Western ranch (which was the inspiration for Rove getting Bush to buy
his Crawford spread and do a Reagan "cut the brush" imitation), and
heroic GI movie roles during WW II (which he never actually fought
in.)
So we understand that some of the working class who buy clothes at Wal-
Mart that they used to make -- because the price is right -- only the
blouses and shirts are made in China now -- we understand that they
feel insulted by some politician telling them that they've been taken
for a ride, that no one is going to stop them from hunting or going to
their church, but that the people who peddle that nonsense to them are
allowing corporations to steal their jobs and wallets from right in
front of their noses. That's a tough pill to swallow, that you've been
swindled for 30 years.
But McCain and Clinton are once again pulling the same Republicrat
tricks of playing on emotional vulnerabilities while ignoring the
truth surrounding the job heist that is occurring in places like
Pennsylvania.
Yes, it is bad political practice to ever say anything that makes a
group of potential voters feel that they are being insulted because
you're making the claim that they've been had.
But if you want to help those same people out to create a positive
future for employment and their standard of living, you can't keep
hiding the truth under a rock.
Obama's statement could have been said more fully, and not so
elliptically, and that would have explained the difference between
respect for traditions and beliefs, and exploitation of those very
same characteristics for political gain by those who are exploiting
the working class.
But, in the end, as he did with race, Obama is touching upon a third
rail of truth that neither party wants to discuss much. The "K Street
Lobbyists" are very pleased with the masquerade and demagoguery that
achieved, and now accelerates, the slide of the middle class towards a
lower class fate.
The working class will have its faith, hunting, and small town
"values," but it can't have them if they don't have jobs.
And after Obama's remarks, they can't say that they weren't warned by
an honest politician.