There was hardly a mention of Jack Layton’s too early death south of the border, so far as I can tell. The outpouring of grief in Canada didn’t seem to trickle into the traditional American media in any significant way. Not surprising. It was somewhat bigger news in the Huffington Post and The Daily Beast. In the wake of his death, the what-might-have-been that most saddens me is his absence from American awareness.
Canadian Prime Ministers, never mind leaders of the official opposition, don’t get much air time in the States. The U.S., after all, is mostly exposed to “All America, All the Time.” A charismatic left-leaning politician from the Great White North isn’t particularly newsworthy. That said, the potential was there, had he lived, for it to be different.
And I was looking forward to that difference. I’m not sure who speaks compellingly for the left in America’s political class anymore. Dennis Kucinich remains out there, but few would describe him as compelling. Most of us would probably jump up and say John Stewart. Oh, that’s right, he’s in comedy. Paul Krugman? Oops, he’s journalism. No, there’s no one I know, at least not from up here.
I like to think Jack, as the first post-Harper Prime Minister, would have had a salutary effect on the left in America. Imagine a Canadian Prime Minister who is entirely likeable, passionately principled but neither obstinate nor impractical, who wears his idealism on his sleeve and achieved power without resorting to attack ads.
Ah, if only. The American left currently seems unable to find its footing, at least in the current moment. And yet north of their border, Canada had a man from the New Democratic Party sweep into the official opposition. He was destined to bring them into power. And then, by George, you’d have it: a genuine party of the left running the country that shares a 5,525 mile border with America.
I would have loved to have seen him on Fox News, his warm, engaging manner, paired with his passionately principled positions, rendering their news anchors as mean-spirited as they are. He might have even created a crack in the American left for one of their own to rise up and speak truth and stand courageously. America would have found itself wanting what he so winningly embodied (in the same way many of us in the States during the Nixon years looked north, with envy, at Trudeau).
But it’s not to be. And it is a loss to America that America will never know.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Canada Day 2011
Since Canada doesn’t mandate a “State of the Federation Address,” I thought I would use today to report back to the people (or at least to the 8 who say they follow this blog!).
We have a majority conservative government doing very important things. Today we learned that they are mandating the military to have a significant role in Canadian Citizenship ceremonies. A military person will be seated next to the citizenship judge, be able to give a three minute speech (not to be missed!) and shake the hands of the new citizens in a receiving line. Ah yes, the changes a visionary Prime Minister can accomplish!
I regret to say I am only half tongue in cheek. Harper is brilliant at instituting changes that look small but aren’t. He is the politician informed by the butterfly effect—a single salute over at the citizenship ceremony creates a hurricane in the consciousness of Canadians. It may take awhile, but long after he’s left office, we will feel the effects.
And what isn’t a symbolic change often has real substance that never makes it onto the media radar in any meaningful way. Just before the election, the Government gutted the enforcement power of the group that regulates food labels. The legislation still says companies have to label, but the government is now unable to enforce it. Ah yes, the changes an ideological Prime Minister can accomplish!
Of course, the omnibus crime bill will bring in American-style changes to the criminal justice system just as America has realized its system of punishment not only hasn’t been working but is also no longer affordable. But why let that get in the way of Canada moving forward to protect the rights of victims? Harper likes victims, which could be admirable if only he didn't go around imagining more of them than actually exist or work so hard to convince us we're all endanger of becoming one unless he protects us.
Canada's real victims did have an important gathering this past week in Inuvik. Canada’s own Truth and Reconciliation Commission went to the north to give witness to the impact of the residential schools on northern children during the years of forced assimilation. The government created the conditions that lead to so much pain and suffering, and it is now appropriately asking for stories from that sad chapter to be told.
Whether the Canadian postal workers who were just ordered back to work are victims or not depends on one’s politics. To the new official opposition, the New Democratic Party, they clearly are, and therefore the party filibustered to prevent the Government from sending them back to work. Legislating the end of the strike after less than two weeks does seem a bit hasty; then again, if the strike had gone on much longer, Canadians might have had the chance to realize the extent to which effective technology has rendered the postal service less and less relevant. When was the last time I licked an envelope? I think, in an odd turn of events, Harper likely helped the postal workers, whose strike may not have been in their own best interest. Perhaps they should read about the demise of the Pony Express.
Speaking of demise,(what a segue!)the Canadian base in Afghanistan is being transferred over to the Americans, and Canadian soldiers are celebrating their last Canada Day in Kandahar. I am one who believes there never should have been a first day in Kandahar; this last one is long overdue. It was a mistaken deployment. And twenty years from now, if not sooner, we will understand that it was an utterly worthless commitment of lives.(Consider this my 2011 Canada Day prediction.)
And to end in a flurry of good news, let’s not forget that it wasn’t long ago that Arcade Fire won the Grammy for best album, a Canadian who avoided his destiny to be a puck-head was somehow picked 4th in the NBA draft, the rights of gays and lesbians to marry was included in the latest revision to the citizenship guide, and Kate and William are in town on a glorious July day, throwing monarchists and celebrity-watchers into various states of jubilation.
(A unique version of Oh Canada by Asani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqPwjwmDWgQ)
We have a majority conservative government doing very important things. Today we learned that they are mandating the military to have a significant role in Canadian Citizenship ceremonies. A military person will be seated next to the citizenship judge, be able to give a three minute speech (not to be missed!) and shake the hands of the new citizens in a receiving line. Ah yes, the changes a visionary Prime Minister can accomplish!
I regret to say I am only half tongue in cheek. Harper is brilliant at instituting changes that look small but aren’t. He is the politician informed by the butterfly effect—a single salute over at the citizenship ceremony creates a hurricane in the consciousness of Canadians. It may take awhile, but long after he’s left office, we will feel the effects.
And what isn’t a symbolic change often has real substance that never makes it onto the media radar in any meaningful way. Just before the election, the Government gutted the enforcement power of the group that regulates food labels. The legislation still says companies have to label, but the government is now unable to enforce it. Ah yes, the changes an ideological Prime Minister can accomplish!
Of course, the omnibus crime bill will bring in American-style changes to the criminal justice system just as America has realized its system of punishment not only hasn’t been working but is also no longer affordable. But why let that get in the way of Canada moving forward to protect the rights of victims? Harper likes victims, which could be admirable if only he didn't go around imagining more of them than actually exist or work so hard to convince us we're all endanger of becoming one unless he protects us.
Canada's real victims did have an important gathering this past week in Inuvik. Canada’s own Truth and Reconciliation Commission went to the north to give witness to the impact of the residential schools on northern children during the years of forced assimilation. The government created the conditions that lead to so much pain and suffering, and it is now appropriately asking for stories from that sad chapter to be told.
Whether the Canadian postal workers who were just ordered back to work are victims or not depends on one’s politics. To the new official opposition, the New Democratic Party, they clearly are, and therefore the party filibustered to prevent the Government from sending them back to work. Legislating the end of the strike after less than two weeks does seem a bit hasty; then again, if the strike had gone on much longer, Canadians might have had the chance to realize the extent to which effective technology has rendered the postal service less and less relevant. When was the last time I licked an envelope? I think, in an odd turn of events, Harper likely helped the postal workers, whose strike may not have been in their own best interest. Perhaps they should read about the demise of the Pony Express.
Speaking of demise,(what a segue!)the Canadian base in Afghanistan is being transferred over to the Americans, and Canadian soldiers are celebrating their last Canada Day in Kandahar. I am one who believes there never should have been a first day in Kandahar; this last one is long overdue. It was a mistaken deployment. And twenty years from now, if not sooner, we will understand that it was an utterly worthless commitment of lives.(Consider this my 2011 Canada Day prediction.)
And to end in a flurry of good news, let’s not forget that it wasn’t long ago that Arcade Fire won the Grammy for best album, a Canadian who avoided his destiny to be a puck-head was somehow picked 4th in the NBA draft, the rights of gays and lesbians to marry was included in the latest revision to the citizenship guide, and Kate and William are in town on a glorious July day, throwing monarchists and celebrity-watchers into various states of jubilation.
(A unique version of Oh Canada by Asani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqPwjwmDWgQ)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Canadian Election
When I first moved north and experienced a Canadian election, I was bowled over. Short, focused, not breaking the bank, they were an exercise in concision and execution. This one, however, has me rethinking.
I’m not claiming the interminable election cycle of the States is the right model, but there must be some option we could imagine between the two extremes, where candidates aren’t forever campaigning on the one hand or candidates forced, on the other hand, to get their message out in a short six weeks that doesn’t adequately reveal what their made of.
Canada’s election isn’t long enough to smoke out the pretense, to unwind the spin, and give people a chance to understand the implications of what’s being said. The country has no time to catch its breath before voting. Ready, set, go vote. Like in a basketball game (oops, wrong sport), the winning team is the one who has the momentum.
***********************************
I started this blog originally because I was so shocked that Canadians didn’t understand their own system of government. The Prime Minister, who was pro-roguing Parliament to prevent a coalition, had somehow advanced the notion that he’d been directly elected Prime Minister by the people, as if he were a President. Well, now the chickens have come home to roost.
With everyone thinking they are electing a Prime Minister, people are voting for whom they like best, and that seems to be Jack Layton, the avuncular head of the New Democratic Party. The quality of the local candidates hardly seems to matter.
And yet, there’s something to love about this development. For those who see Harper as evil incarnate, he’s now reaping what he’s sown. Having planted the idea that the Prime Minister is really a President and doesn’t serve at the will of Parliament, Harper is discovering that Canadians are now voting that way, and he is suffering for it. Ah yes, what goes around comes around. Act like a President, and maybe you’ll be defeated like one.
************************************
Meanwhile south of the border where its always morning in America, Democracy is on the skids. This from the editorial in the NY Times of April 27:
Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans - groups that typically vote Democratic - to cast a ballot.
Spreading fear of a nonexistent flood of voter fraud, they are demanding that citizens be required to show a government-issued identification before they are allowed to vote. Republicans have been pushing these changes for years, but now more than two-thirds of the states have adopted or are considering such laws.
The ongoing problem for Democracy continues to be that it is difficult to find democrats. After all, once you’re in power, who really wants the headaches of democracy?
I’m not claiming the interminable election cycle of the States is the right model, but there must be some option we could imagine between the two extremes, where candidates aren’t forever campaigning on the one hand or candidates forced, on the other hand, to get their message out in a short six weeks that doesn’t adequately reveal what their made of.
Canada’s election isn’t long enough to smoke out the pretense, to unwind the spin, and give people a chance to understand the implications of what’s being said. The country has no time to catch its breath before voting. Ready, set, go vote. Like in a basketball game (oops, wrong sport), the winning team is the one who has the momentum.
***********************************
I started this blog originally because I was so shocked that Canadians didn’t understand their own system of government. The Prime Minister, who was pro-roguing Parliament to prevent a coalition, had somehow advanced the notion that he’d been directly elected Prime Minister by the people, as if he were a President. Well, now the chickens have come home to roost.
With everyone thinking they are electing a Prime Minister, people are voting for whom they like best, and that seems to be Jack Layton, the avuncular head of the New Democratic Party. The quality of the local candidates hardly seems to matter.
And yet, there’s something to love about this development. For those who see Harper as evil incarnate, he’s now reaping what he’s sown. Having planted the idea that the Prime Minister is really a President and doesn’t serve at the will of Parliament, Harper is discovering that Canadians are now voting that way, and he is suffering for it. Ah yes, what goes around comes around. Act like a President, and maybe you’ll be defeated like one.
************************************
Meanwhile south of the border where its always morning in America, Democracy is on the skids. This from the editorial in the NY Times of April 27:
Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans - groups that typically vote Democratic - to cast a ballot.
Spreading fear of a nonexistent flood of voter fraud, they are demanding that citizens be required to show a government-issued identification before they are allowed to vote. Republicans have been pushing these changes for years, but now more than two-thirds of the states have adopted or are considering such laws.
The ongoing problem for Democracy continues to be that it is difficult to find democrats. After all, once you’re in power, who really wants the headaches of democracy?
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Belief in Climate Change
Could it be that our previous blog entry—about Canadian regulators rejecting efforts to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news—explains the discrepancy between how citizens in the U.S. and Canada view climate change? A poll was recently released (Feb 23) comparing the two countries.
Is there solid evidence that the earth is getting warmer? 80% of Canadians think so. Americans? 58%. Now I’m not saying that the other 42% of Americans are watching too much Fox News (that wasn’t one of the polling questions) but I’m also not willing to say they’re reading the New York Times.
What causal factors determine one’s views on the existence of climate change? In the States, a slew of factors—age, gender, education—all seem to play some part in one’s belief in climate change. In Canada, the belief stays consistent across these variables; young or old, male or female, college educated or not, belief in climate change remains remarkably steady. In fact, a higher percentage of non-college educated Canadians (78%) believe in the existence of climate change compared to college educated Americans(64)%.
However, there IS one causal factor that reveals the most significant difference in one’s belief in climate change: political ideology. Conservatives in Canada and Republicans in the States are far less likely to believe in the existence of climate change compared to Liberals and Democrats.
Now we have come full-circle back to my opening question. Could lax broadcasting standards and a lower belief in climate change be related? Canada’s Prime Minister, an Alberta boy who wants to use the Tar Sands to turn Canada into an energy superpower, apparently thinks so. Who, after all, wants to lower the standards of Canadian news broadcasting? The conservative Prime Minister. On the right end of the political spectrum, it would seem that citizen ignorance is bliss; perhaps it’s even a political strategy.
To read the full report on the poll, go here: http://www.ppforum.ca/sites/default/files/Climate%202011_Report.pdf
Is there solid evidence that the earth is getting warmer? 80% of Canadians think so. Americans? 58%. Now I’m not saying that the other 42% of Americans are watching too much Fox News (that wasn’t one of the polling questions) but I’m also not willing to say they’re reading the New York Times.
What causal factors determine one’s views on the existence of climate change? In the States, a slew of factors—age, gender, education—all seem to play some part in one’s belief in climate change. In Canada, the belief stays consistent across these variables; young or old, male or female, college educated or not, belief in climate change remains remarkably steady. In fact, a higher percentage of non-college educated Canadians (78%) believe in the existence of climate change compared to college educated Americans(64)%.
However, there IS one causal factor that reveals the most significant difference in one’s belief in climate change: political ideology. Conservatives in Canada and Republicans in the States are far less likely to believe in the existence of climate change compared to Liberals and Democrats.
Now we have come full-circle back to my opening question. Could lax broadcasting standards and a lower belief in climate change be related? Canada’s Prime Minister, an Alberta boy who wants to use the Tar Sands to turn Canada into an energy superpower, apparently thinks so. Who, after all, wants to lower the standards of Canadian news broadcasting? The conservative Prime Minister. On the right end of the political spectrum, it would seem that citizen ignorance is bliss; perhaps it’s even a political strategy.
To read the full report on the poll, go here: http://www.ppforum.ca/sites/default/files/Climate%202011_Report.pdf
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Fox News Stopped at the Border
Fox News can't set up shop in Canada. Here's what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote about it on www.readersupportednews.org:
Fox News' Lies Keep Them Out of Canada By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As America's middle class battles for its survival on the Wisconsin barricades - against various Koch Oil surrogates and the corporate toadies at Fox News - fans of enlightenment, democracy and justice can take comfort from a significant victory north of the Wisconsin border. Fox News will not be moving into Canada after all! The reason: Canadian regulators announced last week they would reject efforts by Canada's right-wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news.
Canada's Radio Act requires that "a licenser may not broadcast ... any false or misleading news." The provision has kept Fox News and right-wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom. As a result of that law, Canadians enjoy high quality news coverage, including the kind of foreign affairs and investigative journalism that flourished in this country before Ronald Reagan abolished the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987. Political dialogue in Canada is marked by civility, modesty, honesty, collegiality, and idealism that have pretty much disappeared on the US airwaves. When Stephen Harper moved to abolish the anti-lying provision of the Radio Act, Canadians rose up to oppose him fearing that their tradition of honest non-partisan news would be replaced by the toxic, overtly partisan, biased and dishonest news coverage familiar to American citizens who listen to Fox News and talk radio. Harper's proposal was timed to facilitate the launch of a new right-wing network, "Sun TV News" which Canadians call "Fox News North."
Harper, often referred to as "George W. Bush's Mini Me," is known for having mounted a Bush-like war on government scientists, data collectors, transparency, and enlightenment in general. He is a wizard of all the familiar tools of demagoguery; false patriotism, bigotry, fear, selfishness and belligerent religiosity.
Harper's attempts to make lying legal on Canadian television are a stark admission that right-wing political ideology can only dominate national debate through dishonest propaganda. Since corporate profit-taking is not an attractive vessel for populism, a political party or broadcast network that makes itself the tool of corporate and financial elites must lie to make its agenda popular with the public. In the Unites States, Fox News and talk radio, the sock puppets of billionaires and corporate robber barons, have become the masters of propaganda and distortion on the public airwaves. Fox News' notoriously biased and dishonest coverage of the Wisconsin's protests is a prime example of the brand of news coverage Canada has smartly avoided.
Fox News' Lies Keep Them Out of Canada By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As America's middle class battles for its survival on the Wisconsin barricades - against various Koch Oil surrogates and the corporate toadies at Fox News - fans of enlightenment, democracy and justice can take comfort from a significant victory north of the Wisconsin border. Fox News will not be moving into Canada after all! The reason: Canadian regulators announced last week they would reject efforts by Canada's right-wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news.
Canada's Radio Act requires that "a licenser may not broadcast ... any false or misleading news." The provision has kept Fox News and right-wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom. As a result of that law, Canadians enjoy high quality news coverage, including the kind of foreign affairs and investigative journalism that flourished in this country before Ronald Reagan abolished the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987. Political dialogue in Canada is marked by civility, modesty, honesty, collegiality, and idealism that have pretty much disappeared on the US airwaves. When Stephen Harper moved to abolish the anti-lying provision of the Radio Act, Canadians rose up to oppose him fearing that their tradition of honest non-partisan news would be replaced by the toxic, overtly partisan, biased and dishonest news coverage familiar to American citizens who listen to Fox News and talk radio. Harper's proposal was timed to facilitate the launch of a new right-wing network, "Sun TV News" which Canadians call "Fox News North."
Harper, often referred to as "George W. Bush's Mini Me," is known for having mounted a Bush-like war on government scientists, data collectors, transparency, and enlightenment in general. He is a wizard of all the familiar tools of demagoguery; false patriotism, bigotry, fear, selfishness and belligerent religiosity.
Harper's attempts to make lying legal on Canadian television are a stark admission that right-wing political ideology can only dominate national debate through dishonest propaganda. Since corporate profit-taking is not an attractive vessel for populism, a political party or broadcast network that makes itself the tool of corporate and financial elites must lie to make its agenda popular with the public. In the Unites States, Fox News and talk radio, the sock puppets of billionaires and corporate robber barons, have become the masters of propaganda and distortion on the public airwaves. Fox News' notoriously biased and dishonest coverage of the Wisconsin's protests is a prime example of the brand of news coverage Canada has smartly avoided.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Egypt and The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is over, the winds of change have blown through Egypt, and Canada is snowed in. Let’s reflect.
The U.S. and Canada seemed to be singing from the same song sheet during Egypt’s march to freedom. How about we call it The Orderly Transition Symphony with the Western Stability Choir? I understand that musical selection when it comes to Canada—peace, order and good government aren’t much of a call to bold action, never mind overthrow. But America?
It likes to think of itself as a paeon to democracy. Yes, the zenith of the democractic ideal that started so long ago in the minds of Greek philosphers finally came to full flourish in America. The Super Bowl told me so. The Declaration of Independence was read outloud as prequel to the big pigskin battle in Texas. And remember that riff from the Declaration?
…That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Giddyup Cowboy, if that ain’t a call for what was happening in Tahir Square, what is? The Egyptians simply want to affect their safety and happiness. And what did America do? Hedge its bets for as long as it could.
Meanwhile, the Super Bowl pre-game was convincing us we were a country like no other. Images came at us—Kennedy, King, Ali, Roosevelt, JFK Jr. saluting at his dad’s funeral, Obama, firefighters in the Twin Towers and then--during the singing of the Stars and Stripes, just after we saw George and Laura Bush standing next to Mr. Football, John Madden--we cut to soldiers at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. (Sorry, but I couldn’t help wonder where dwelt the ghost of Pat Tillman, the brave and idealistic NFL player who quit the game to enroll in the army and was killed by friendly fire in an incident the Army tried to cover up. The documentary, by the way, is called The Tillman Story.)
At a certain point, the gap between theory and reality became too wide to bridge. Let’s call the it chasm between how we talk and how we walk. We all knew the Dubya’s claim that we were invading Iraq to create a wave of democracy throughout the Middle East was merely a sales job, but Egypt was the real deal. A bottom-up overthrow of dictatorship. And America—God Bless America—played it safe.
Canada? Well, when the Super Bowl ended, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation had a show on called Make the Politician’s Work featuring Canada’s Minister of Defense, the duplicitous and studly Peter Mackay, undergoing an arduous combat boot camp. “Sir, yes sir, sir!” and more.
Now I can, at last, sleep soundly! The Minister of Defense is ready. He’s all polished boots and disciplined killer. Maybe he can go on a mission in Afghanistan and catch the faint, whispered wisdom from the ghost of Pat Tillman.
The U.S. and Canada seemed to be singing from the same song sheet during Egypt’s march to freedom. How about we call it The Orderly Transition Symphony with the Western Stability Choir? I understand that musical selection when it comes to Canada—peace, order and good government aren’t much of a call to bold action, never mind overthrow. But America?
It likes to think of itself as a paeon to democracy. Yes, the zenith of the democractic ideal that started so long ago in the minds of Greek philosphers finally came to full flourish in America. The Super Bowl told me so. The Declaration of Independence was read outloud as prequel to the big pigskin battle in Texas. And remember that riff from the Declaration?
…That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Giddyup Cowboy, if that ain’t a call for what was happening in Tahir Square, what is? The Egyptians simply want to affect their safety and happiness. And what did America do? Hedge its bets for as long as it could.
Meanwhile, the Super Bowl pre-game was convincing us we were a country like no other. Images came at us—Kennedy, King, Ali, Roosevelt, JFK Jr. saluting at his dad’s funeral, Obama, firefighters in the Twin Towers and then--during the singing of the Stars and Stripes, just after we saw George and Laura Bush standing next to Mr. Football, John Madden--we cut to soldiers at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. (Sorry, but I couldn’t help wonder where dwelt the ghost of Pat Tillman, the brave and idealistic NFL player who quit the game to enroll in the army and was killed by friendly fire in an incident the Army tried to cover up. The documentary, by the way, is called The Tillman Story.)
At a certain point, the gap between theory and reality became too wide to bridge. Let’s call the it chasm between how we talk and how we walk. We all knew the Dubya’s claim that we were invading Iraq to create a wave of democracy throughout the Middle East was merely a sales job, but Egypt was the real deal. A bottom-up overthrow of dictatorship. And America—God Bless America—played it safe.
Canada? Well, when the Super Bowl ended, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation had a show on called Make the Politician’s Work featuring Canada’s Minister of Defense, the duplicitous and studly Peter Mackay, undergoing an arduous combat boot camp. “Sir, yes sir, sir!” and more.
Now I can, at last, sleep soundly! The Minister of Defense is ready. He’s all polished boots and disciplined killer. Maybe he can go on a mission in Afghanistan and catch the faint, whispered wisdom from the ghost of Pat Tillman.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Lament After Lament
I say this with no pride but the United States is done, finished, kaput. It is broken. We have nothing to do but watch its inexorable decline. Watching may not be appropriate, for its demise will not be pretty; it may even be dangerous. A country that is highly armed, romanticizes war(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnCAjAVsM_E), is in steep economic decline, has both an obsession with its own exceptionality and a political system that no longer functions, is ripe for demagogues and tyrants to move in.
Nothing can stop this decline. There is no savior. (Obama’s election healed a national wound and that was a significant gift to the Republic. After that? Yes we can, but only if everyone wants too.) Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—politicians learned that while you speak to the people, you listen to the money. Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—the dumbing down of the citizenry went too far. Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—the role of government stopped being about serving its citizens and became about serving those who run its machinery and grease its wheels. Some time ago the press stopped trying to be a courageous and honest voice, and surrendered. Some time ago conversation and compromise packed up and went home, leaving theatre and spectacle and sound bites to claim center stage. Some time ago the Supreme Court wasn’t politicized, the ads weren’t written by pit bulls and civility had a seat at the table. Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—the United States could still turn things around.
Despite all of this, I have no deeper hope than being proven entirely wrong.
And here’s an equally cheery lament from Christopher Hedges author of Death of the Liberal Class:
The lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, which looks set to make sweeping gains in the midterm elections, is the direct result of a collapse of liberalism. It is the product of bankrupt liberal institutions, including the press, the church, universities, labor unions, the arts and the Democratic Party. The legitimate rage being expressed by disenfranchised workers toward the college-educated liberal elite, who abetted or did nothing to halt the corporate assault on the poor and the working class of the last 30 years, is not misplaced. The liberal class is guilty. The liberal class, which continues to speak in the prim and obsolete language of policies and issues, refused to act. It failed to defend traditional liberal values during the long night of corporate assault in exchange for its position of privilege and comfort in the corporate state. The virulent right-wing backlash we now experience is an expression of the liberal class’ flagrant betrayal of the citizenry.
The liberal class, which once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible, functioned traditionally as a safety valve. During the Great Depression, with the collapse of capitalism, it made possible the New Deal. During the turmoil of the 1960s, it provided legitimate channels within the system to express the discontent of African-Americans and the anti-war movement. But the liberal class, in our age of neo-feudalism, is now powerless. It offers nothing but empty rhetoric. It refuses to concede that power has been wrested so efficiently from the hands of citizens by corporations that the Constitution and its guarantees of personal liberty are irrelevant. It does not act to mitigate the suffering of tens of millions of Americans who now make up a growing and desperate permanent underclass. And the disparity between the rhetoric of liberal values and the rapacious system of inverted totalitarianism the liberal class serves makes liberal elites, including Barack Obama, a legitimate source of public ridicule. The liberal class, whether in universities, the press or the Democratic Party, insists on clinging to its privileges and comforts even if this forces it to serve as an apologist for the expanding cruelty and exploitation carried out by the corporate state.
Populations will endure repression from tyrants as long as these rulers continue to effectively manage and wield power. But human history has amply demonstrated that once those in positions of power become redundant and impotent, yet retain the trappings and privileges of power, they are swiftly and brutally discarded. Tocqueville observed that the French, on the eve of their revolution, hated the aristocrats about to lose their power far more than they had ever hated them before. The increased hatred directed at the aristocratic class occurred because as the aristocracy lost real power there was no decline in their fortunes. As long as the liberal class had even limited influence, whether through the press or the legislative process, liberals were tolerated and even respected. But once the liberal class lost all influence it became a class of parasites. The liberal class, like the déclassé French aristocracy, has no real function within the power elite. And the rising right-wing populists, correctly, ask why liberals should be tolerated when their rhetoric bears no relation to reality and their presence has no influence on power.
The death of the liberal class, however, is catastrophic for our democracy. It means there is no longer any check to a corporate apparatus designed to further enrich the power elite. It means we cannot halt the plundering of the nation by Wall Street speculators and corporations. An ineffectual liberal class, in short, means there is no hope, however remote, of a correction or a reversal through the political system and electoral politics. The liberals’ disintegration ensures that the frustration and anger among the working and the middle class will find expression in a rejection of traditional liberal institutions and the civilities of a liberal democracy. The very forces that co-opted the liberal class and are responsible for the impoverishment of the state will, ironically, reap benefits from the collapse. These corporate manipulators are busy channeling rage away from the corporate and military forces hollowing out the nation from the inside and are turning that anger toward the weak remnants of liberalism. It does not help our cause that liberals indeed turned their backs on the working and middle class.
To read the rest of it: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_world_liberal_opportunists_made_20101025/P100/
Nothing can stop this decline. There is no savior. (Obama’s election healed a national wound and that was a significant gift to the Republic. After that? Yes we can, but only if everyone wants too.) Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—politicians learned that while you speak to the people, you listen to the money. Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—the dumbing down of the citizenry went too far. Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—the role of government stopped being about serving its citizens and became about serving those who run its machinery and grease its wheels. Some time ago the press stopped trying to be a courageous and honest voice, and surrendered. Some time ago conversation and compromise packed up and went home, leaving theatre and spectacle and sound bites to claim center stage. Some time ago the Supreme Court wasn’t politicized, the ads weren’t written by pit bulls and civility had a seat at the table. Some time ago—who knows exactly when?—the United States could still turn things around.
Despite all of this, I have no deeper hope than being proven entirely wrong.
And here’s an equally cheery lament from Christopher Hedges author of Death of the Liberal Class:
The lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, which looks set to make sweeping gains in the midterm elections, is the direct result of a collapse of liberalism. It is the product of bankrupt liberal institutions, including the press, the church, universities, labor unions, the arts and the Democratic Party. The legitimate rage being expressed by disenfranchised workers toward the college-educated liberal elite, who abetted or did nothing to halt the corporate assault on the poor and the working class of the last 30 years, is not misplaced. The liberal class is guilty. The liberal class, which continues to speak in the prim and obsolete language of policies and issues, refused to act. It failed to defend traditional liberal values during the long night of corporate assault in exchange for its position of privilege and comfort in the corporate state. The virulent right-wing backlash we now experience is an expression of the liberal class’ flagrant betrayal of the citizenry.
The liberal class, which once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible, functioned traditionally as a safety valve. During the Great Depression, with the collapse of capitalism, it made possible the New Deal. During the turmoil of the 1960s, it provided legitimate channels within the system to express the discontent of African-Americans and the anti-war movement. But the liberal class, in our age of neo-feudalism, is now powerless. It offers nothing but empty rhetoric. It refuses to concede that power has been wrested so efficiently from the hands of citizens by corporations that the Constitution and its guarantees of personal liberty are irrelevant. It does not act to mitigate the suffering of tens of millions of Americans who now make up a growing and desperate permanent underclass. And the disparity between the rhetoric of liberal values and the rapacious system of inverted totalitarianism the liberal class serves makes liberal elites, including Barack Obama, a legitimate source of public ridicule. The liberal class, whether in universities, the press or the Democratic Party, insists on clinging to its privileges and comforts even if this forces it to serve as an apologist for the expanding cruelty and exploitation carried out by the corporate state.
Populations will endure repression from tyrants as long as these rulers continue to effectively manage and wield power. But human history has amply demonstrated that once those in positions of power become redundant and impotent, yet retain the trappings and privileges of power, they are swiftly and brutally discarded. Tocqueville observed that the French, on the eve of their revolution, hated the aristocrats about to lose their power far more than they had ever hated them before. The increased hatred directed at the aristocratic class occurred because as the aristocracy lost real power there was no decline in their fortunes. As long as the liberal class had even limited influence, whether through the press or the legislative process, liberals were tolerated and even respected. But once the liberal class lost all influence it became a class of parasites. The liberal class, like the déclassé French aristocracy, has no real function within the power elite. And the rising right-wing populists, correctly, ask why liberals should be tolerated when their rhetoric bears no relation to reality and their presence has no influence on power.
The death of the liberal class, however, is catastrophic for our democracy. It means there is no longer any check to a corporate apparatus designed to further enrich the power elite. It means we cannot halt the plundering of the nation by Wall Street speculators and corporations. An ineffectual liberal class, in short, means there is no hope, however remote, of a correction or a reversal through the political system and electoral politics. The liberals’ disintegration ensures that the frustration and anger among the working and the middle class will find expression in a rejection of traditional liberal institutions and the civilities of a liberal democracy. The very forces that co-opted the liberal class and are responsible for the impoverishment of the state will, ironically, reap benefits from the collapse. These corporate manipulators are busy channeling rage away from the corporate and military forces hollowing out the nation from the inside and are turning that anger toward the weak remnants of liberalism. It does not help our cause that liberals indeed turned their backs on the working and middle class.
To read the rest of it: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_world_liberal_opportunists_made_20101025/P100/
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