Be careful what you wish for. How long ago was it when I and the rest of the Hope-a-Dopes truly expected the beginnings of a US social democracy? -- the End of Everything Reagan and everything that absurd devil brought to the "spirit" of the country: psychopathic materialism and the belief that life is all about kicking those beneath you and kissing the rear ends of those above you; self-regard and the resulting self-delusion; historical stupidity; boorishness; easy and cheap cynicism; condescension toward all things earnest and passionate.
It would all be turned. Even as recently as one-year ago (in spite of the horror of the appointments, the turgid Inaugural, the already evident backsliding), the feeling was still alive that principle would matter, that the "weak" would have priority again over the "strong." How could we not think that? As Spring follows Winter, surely the fine and honorable part of our spirit would begin again to dominate, after 30 years of moral vomit.
But experience does tell. Two generations have been told little but buck up, keep your powder dry, and care only about yourself. What was it Adam Smith wrote: "All for ourselves, and nothing for others." So the honor, the caring for others, the humility, compassion, patience, modesty, self-mocking wit, yes the bleeding heart, what Simone Weil called "the tender germ of embrace" -- is not here.
"The world for which I was made, is not here" - Thoreau. The world this country was ready for, its only salvation from the darkness of collapse and terror, could not be made. There was much too much of the other stuff. In fact, it would be difficult to find what was not "the other stuff." Like a child beaten and deprived of all chance to use the sympathetic, empathic part of her heart, when we had to show it, we had nothing left to show.
Hence health reform. What this sickening and dispiriting process has exposed is that there is nothing (on an establishment level) left of "the tender germ of embrace." What we have seen is a war between fascist haters and greasy pole climbers. Sarah Palin vs. Commander KOS, Cheney vs. Biden, the Tea Party vs. the Coffee Party, Fox News vs. MSNBC. What has been exposed is that both sides are the same: my foot on your throat.
We now see that the main problem "liberals" were suffering since 2000 was merely being out of power. And now the main priority is staying in power, now matter how much principle is flushed or how many weasel legislative tricks need to be used. (And oh! how these precedents will lead to a 1933 post-Reichstag Fire-type Enabling Act under Palin, Petraeus, or Heinrich McChrystal. Their day will come.)
The Weasel-in-Chief, it turns out, is not some liberatory or revolutionary spirit. Nope, just a dime-a-dozen liar and hustler, and so the very appropriate role model for two generations of dick-swinging mediocrities and turncoats. And so the assumption that "pwogs" were just waiting for their turn at the trough proved to be true. What a disgrace.
Glenn Greenwald with a very important read.
