American politics has always been pocked with wrong action; still — with its great Constitution — it became the greatest nation of all time by painfully rectifying injustice through initiatives of monumental sacrifice and courage, along with definitive legal decisions by the courts. From the moment George Washington sensed the authoritarian mentality of the people and consequently discouraged resurrection of royalty to the extraordinary civil movements of the ‘60sdecrying war and prejudice, the foothold of totalitarianism of power-sectors was ever knee-deep in harassment. Yet at the same time the egalitarian spirit was never allowed to truly gain momentum because of the metamorphosis of atavistic individualism rather than societally enlightened individuality.

That there are more examples of sociopathic behaviors from the right does not preclude the left from the same branding. Unfortunately, gross behaviors — usually from rubber lips — always steal the headlines from those, who as a rule are tight-lipped and dismissive. Jerry Falwell’s unkindest cuts rank equally with Jane Fonda’s irrational exuberance rivaling Tokyo Rose. Both support their remarks by the emotional distortions of their respective times — an avenging God and an avenging dictator, respectively. Michael Moore is no more outrageous than Ann Coulter.

Since JFK’s assassination, there has been an outcry against guns. The boy on a farm who uses a shotgun to defend the cornfield from crows does not see the connection and he would be right. On the other hand, the licensed hunter who nevertheless defies the law by using an assault weapon against deer fails to connect this defiance is as equal to the terrorist procurement of an assault weapon, in spite of the fact that the former would never aim it at humans. The short of it is that assault weapons belong to the armed services and that sidearms should be registered. Pathology over the second amendment is totally bogus.

The irony of an ex-president of the Actors Guild exercising anti-unionism as President of the United States is lost owing to defective memory chips that would have kept on the screen the legitimacy of a hundred years of unionism protecting the rights of workers. Not to be forgotten is the indiscretion of traffic controllers acting in a time of conservatism when the brotherhood of workers were pathetically weak having been bombarded with charges of crime and corruption even though ninety-percent of unions were innocent. Twenty years later this eventuated in the largest — thanks to the demise of an industrial base — employer of the nation still unscathed by unions. The rights of workers have been stripped because of another irony by consumers who in themselves are also workers, and is indicative of the prevailing myopic mentality of “what’s in it for ME.”

Because the nation is at war, anti-war sentiment is perceived by authoritarian misgivings as not giving a damn for the troops, rather than — and, yes, in the Fonda sense — to save lives in behalf of those who are pro-war! “To go to war as a last resort” is now considered a coward’s way of saying there should be no further “defensive” engagements and a stain on the advocate’s ability to make decisions. When there is doubt, goose-step to the front. This frightening growth of authoritarianism is shown in all aspects of America’s society:

Kick ass is the only diplomacy.

Is better to engage in wrong action than no action at all.

Wal-Mart and McDonald’s are the good heart of the nation.

Riley, Hannity and Limbaugh are the new fireside chatters of the nation.

Almost all of Hollywood marches to Streisand’s tunes.

Liberals are relegated to the exclusive ilk of Kennedy, Moore and Dean. Abortion is the death penalty—in this and the right to die, unacceptable.

Thank the Lord our fighting men and women are mostly Republican.

The point of this war was not WMD but Saddam who masterminded 9/ 11.

GM is no longer the largest employer because it rightfully outsourced to avoid health care negotiated by unions.

Because all dream, hope and work to be millionaires, high taxes on the wealthy is an affront to the individual’s initiative.

Social Security is no longer perceived as a safety net for the agéd, widowed and disabled, but as a pyramid scheme.

Democrats are seen as champions for the shiftless poor and intellectuals.

Republicans are for the return of the six-pack-rugged individual, ostensibly sensitized by religion, together with resurgence of laissez-faire.

The Office of President is grounded in the Pentagon.

The ultimate aim of Congress is to unravel remnants of the New Deal.

 

     On the other hand, egalitarianism is losing the battle to:

Regain the prestige of the public education system.

Enact a single payer health care system for the benefit of all, including business under the burden.

Reasonably redistribute runaway wealth for the general happiness of all citizens.

Curb outsourcing and multinational corporations at the expense of American workers.

Accede to drilling in ANWR but with vigilant EPA oversight.

Reduce “right to bear unlicensed arms except if kept on farm land; prohibit the sale of military weaponry to civilians.

Exhibit real concern for the downtrodden and initiate action in their behalf.

Restore aggressive initiatives to the anti-trust laws.

Reclaim leadership in foreign affairs and national defense.

Build a strong UN alliance among democratic nations from all corners of the world.

Reassure that the separation clause does not preclude moderate religious values in shaping the right to vote.

Fear tactics plays into the hands of authoritarianism which is prone to absorb simplification rather than enlightened analysis. This is the cause of why Bush was re-elected — the fear of 9/11 was played out to the hilt to the point that a war unrelated to this horrendous event, was treated as an acceptable non sequitur. That religion is more and more playing a role in political thinking is not in itself frightening, but that it is exploited through broad strokes of misinterpretation and lead to deadly imposition on others. The Ten Commandments, for instance, had nothing to do with the formation of this nation other than in some of its behavioral codes out of some twenty-five — surely half of the first ten is founded on arguable faith.

Though most agree, including pro-choicers, that abortion is a nasty process, and one who decides on it, however, is not violating life as we know it; to this woman it is the consequence that a new life would have on her who honestly feels she is not capable of facing. No other is in a position to call her flat out a murderer, but this does not rule out a pro-lifer from attempting to gently persuade the woman to do otherwise — but there it ends — even though in the final analysis the woman may suffer remorse. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for pro-lifers to infringe on others the right to condoms and preventive drugs as though all thus engaged are promiscuous villains. Abstinence is an ideal; sex is reality.

That ninety percent of Americans are worshipers do not give them the right to unravel the fibre of politics which since the age of enlightenment — Islam, too, until it shut down its philosophers — has always been secular predicated on humanism. It is worth noting here that the coarse individualist is no longer the captain of his soul as is an enlightened humanist, but rather open to cronyism, peer pressures, and radical authority bereft of reason. In this regard, it is imperative to keep in check encroaching cultism and decrepit cultural values that undermine the general will of secular laws hinged on pragmatic wisdom. There is no question that homosexuality runs across the grain of nature because it defies the law of propagation and in this sense must by reason be assessed as irrational. Yet at the same time, reason must recognize the reality of this aberration without venom and accept it for what it is without, however, encouraging such orientation. By the same token the Catholic Church, too, must give up the ghost of celibacy serving as an impetus for homosexuality within its walls. Evangelism, too must be kept in a box as it is self -evident that Jesus is not on the Supreme Court, nor did he write the Constitution.

It is clear, then, that America is under threat of impulsive value judgments and ludicrous trends that serve no utilitarian values to lift this nation toward a more just society.

 

Copyright © 2005 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: April 17, 2005.

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