The measure of success they have achieved has only become readily
apparent in the last few years. We find ourselves on the precipice of
catastrophe after financial collapse, thousands having been killed, a
city lying in ruins. (These things have been a long time coming and
there's plenty of blame to go around [3]).
And yet it didn't take just a bad administration or poor policy
decisions for people to notice the issues. The populace didn't notice
until the point at which we can now argue about how far off the cliff
we are.
And it is still not entirely clear that the population at large
understands why they find themselves at this point.
The Republican party has waged a successful war to equate taxation
with moral evil, to equate liberals with dictators, fairness with
interference, and tyranny with order.
In the last election, Republicans accused the middle classes of
irresponsibly voting to enrich themselves at the expense of the upper
classes.
But in order to get elected, this is precisely the path Republicans
have traveled. They have promised low taxes, easy riches, and no
regulation to the upper classes, all the while telling people that
this was compatible with the continuation of America as we have known
it. Not only that, but they have convinced many in the middle class
that these actions are beneficial to them and that they are just an
asset bubble away from joining the ranks of the ultra-rich.
They have essentially waged war on America's historic values.
It is easy to see how one might be misled. As a kid my family often
took long car trips across the country on the Interstates. As far as
i could understand, the Interstate system had always been there. And
as far as i could tell it would always be there. It was after all
built out of earth, gravel, and concrete.
But it turns out the Interstate system did not magically appear, and
will not last indefinitely after having been built. It was a
substantial investment made to foster defense and commerce. Even if
one never sets tire on an Interstate, one benefits from it
whenever buying practically any good or using any service. [1]
The fact that most of the Interstates are not toll roads has insulated
the direct costs from us. That they have existed for all if not the
majority of many's lifetime has insulated us from the fact that it had
not always been this way.
I would assert that this has been happening to a larger extent
over a greater period of time with regards to our way of life. Our
country and indeed our civilization is not the result of our
generation, nor the previous generation. It is the sum of 200 plus
years of work, and another 1000 or more years even before that to
lay the ground work of ideas of rights and civil justice.
In short, like so many things, we have taken our civilization for
granted. We may pay lip service to our founding on the Fourth of July,
but it seems like people understand our civilization as having been
created out of whole-cloth after WWII.
So where we find ourselves now is at the end of a historic aberration
and at the beginning of the consequences of that aberration.
To combat this i would propose another branding campaign. Not one
that says that the Democrat Party is the source of all good,
and the Republik Party is the source of all evil. But one that
promotes a little historic understanding:
-
That Liberal Democracy ensures a government which is limited,
that guarantees rights of speech and assembly. That private property
and individual freedoms are rights derived from liberalism. That
those liberals, the Founding Fathers set up our liberal
government. That liberalism ensures that we can worship (or
not) as we please.
Again we are not trying to say Democrats are the embodiment of these
things or that all good things issue from there. What we should
attempt to do is underline the fact liberalism brought us our way of
life and that it is a superlative of excellence and not an insult.
That we should recognize we are all liberals and we should use
the term with respect to the benefits we derive from it.
-
That labor unions have brought us many things which we take for
granted, like having a fighting chance of not dying at work, getting
vacations, working hard for 5 days a week (and not 7), for working
hard for 8 hours a day and not 15. (I'm talking to you all you fat
cat lazy, commie bums who only work 8 hours 5 days a week).
-
That feminism is why women can vote, own land, and enter into
contracts. It's why they can go on TV and talk about the evils of
feminism instead of being told to go home and find themselves a man.
-
That taxes are what funded the construction of our nation.
That taxes today are historically low. That civilization costs money
and does not happen by itself. (If it did, then you could maybe
justify saying taxes were immoral). That taxes have ensured the
progress of our society through research, oversight, law enforcement,
and many other things it funds[4].
-
That intellectualism is what made possible better health, longer
life, the Internet, transportation, radio, TV, phones, ....
-
etc, etc, etc.
In many of these cases, we would find many Republicans who agree. I'm
sure lots would say that they only dislike the excesses of these
things.
The problem is that they have based their entire political
fortune on demonizing them. And while it wins them elections, it is
having the unintended(!?) consequence of making people hate the very
foundations of our civilization.[2]
[1] Leaving aside comparisons to railroads, and negative effects like
pollution, etc.
[2] Not unlike the unintended consequences of demonizing people and groups of
people leading to violence.
[3] Again to underline: i'm not saying these things were Republican's
fault or that a Democratic administration would have prevented them.
I'm saying that even after these quite extraordinary events, people
are only now beginning to ask questions about their government's (and
its policies) effectiveness.
[4] I still hate paying them.
]]>
Obama prostrates himself before Mexico's president and dog (not shown Adolph Hitler (holding dog), Mrs. Obama)
