The most disturbing trend in American politics is the embrace of the average Joe as a leader. I'm not only talking about the sitting president—a disaster by anyone's measure—but Sarah Palin as well. After suffering through eight years of incompetency, how could the Republicans, and perhaps the country, embrace yet another know-nothing?
The answer, of course, is childhood anger at people like myself who think we know more than they do. The fact that we do is immaterial. As they used to say about dictators around the world, "He may be a bastard, but at least he's our bastard!" In the case of Bush and Pallin, that should read, "They may be airheads, but at least they're our airheads!"
Image:
Pende, Brad. (2008, August 11). President Bush prepares to 'tap that.'" (flickr: cc-by bpende, August 11, 2008). Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpende/2753981194/
John McCain has disqualified himself with the public by letting his anger show so much on the campaign trail. That's not the kind of person we want running the country, no matter how angry we ourselves may be. The result is a collapsing profile in the electoral college.
Unfortunately, his anger is not limited to the campaign trail. Listen to the testimony of some of his fellow senators:
McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him." —Bob Smith, former Republican senator from New Hampshire
I don't "want this guy anywhere near a trigger." —Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico
"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded." —Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi
That's not to say he won't be elected. Racism runs deep in our society and may still put him office, but it will be because he's seen as the lesser of two evils....
ESNEAD. (2008, October 20). Why is John McCain so angry? Grrrrr! (The Los Angeles Times: The Dish Rag by Elizabeth Snead). Retrieved October 27, 2008 from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2008/10/why-is-john-mcc.html
Politics spring from family! That's the unifying message in this blog. Both Republican and Democratic positions spring from childhood pain and the anger it stimulated.
In the case of Democrats, however, the basic position is less a victim than as an observer of victims—in my case my Mom. Having suffered through fifteen years of screaming fights as a child between Mom and Dad, I swore I'd never allow that to happen again. Thus was born a Democrat!
I was a victim as well, of course, and reserve a well of hatred to this day for the stupid and cruel everywhere, but that's still unlike the basic Republican position in which hatred is reserved for the smart and cruel—those people who told them they weren't good enough!
The fundamental difference is success in school. Being smart and therefore successful in school, I resented schoolyard bullies, not bullying teachers. Thus the Democratic way: protecting the underdog!
We both hate bullies, but of different stripes. Unfortunately, we end up projecting that resentment on each other! That's why both bases—Democratic and Republican—hate each other so much. We recognize too many of each other's traits from childhood. They're the traits of bullies who made our lives miserable back then!
Image:
Eddie~S. (2008, May 17). Bully Free Zone. (flickr: cc-by Eddie~S, May 17, 2008). Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pointshoot/2500644518/
To understand this country, you have to understand the mind of uneducated, Southern whites. These are the same people who owned slaves in the nineteenth century and then used lynching to enforce Jim Crow laws in the first half of the twentieth century. Since then, they've exercised their pernicious influence through Republican politics.
Here's a typical example of their reasoning:
Think about this for a minute or two!
Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed.
Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling booze? Don't you love our country?
The most shocking thing about this quote is that it was published in late October—a month after the economic crisis of 2008 began. Even on the verge of utter collapse for the brand of laissez-faire capitalism they champion, blue-collar conservatives still can't see the problem. All they see is the prospect of losing power! That's what scares them, not economic collapse (as long as they're still on top, that is).
The quote only looks like humor. It's not. Having heard a lifetime of it, I can assure you this is the equivalent of a carefully reasoned argument in more educated circles.The technique has been around forever, but was perfected by Ronald Reagan—the Patron Saint of the Uninformed!
Yesterday I was sitting in the waiting room at Honda of Lake Norman trying to prepare for an upcoming e-commerce seminar. The plasma-screen TV, however, was turned to the Fox channel where a beautiful, young female announcer was screaming denunciations of the Democrats for questioning the credibility of "Joe the Plumber"—the main character in the presidential debates Wednesday night—instead of focusing on Joe's question.
The problem was that Joe had created a fictional identity for himself to score political points in a conversation with Barrack Obama. Nothing about the story he created was true. He wasn't planning on buying a plumbing business. He couldn't even pay past taxes of some $1,500, much less buy a company that would have to be worth over a million dollars to generate the kinds of profits he describes.
Yet he claimed to be worrying about paying taxes on income over $250,000 for a company that only made $100,000 last year (his boss's company). Because his salary was only $40,000, the whole proposition was patently fictional. Joe was not even a licensed plumber. Even his name was fraudulent. He was called Sam by people who knew him.
Even if the premise were true, however, the chances were very slim that he'd have to pay any taxes next year. He'd be more likely to receive credits for new hires and other perks Obama promises small businesses to stimulate the economy.
The most surprising thing about the whole episode, however, was that when he later discovered he'd get a $5,000 refund on his taxes next year, he said he'd refuse to accept it...even though he's in arrears on his existing taxes!
How is all this possible? How can anyone make sense of it? The answer, of course, is that both Joe and the announcer are Republicans promoting an agenda. That doesn't really answer the question, however.
The real question has to do with the incredible emotion involved. Where does that come from? When you can answer that, you'll understand the American political system.
Fortunately, the answer is not only easy, but fairly obvious. It almost always starts with childhood bullying of one sort or another. In this case, it probably involved teachers and teacher's pets who were continually critical and perhaps even made fun of the people who were "slower." This kind of thing, when it goes deep into the soul over a long period of time, packs a powder keg of hatred and emotion toward similar people that can quickly be ignited by similar confrontations in the future.
That's almost certainly what happened in the case of the announcer. Even if she was putting on a show of emotion for the audience, she clearly thought that was what they wanted to hear, i.e. what they wanted to say if they could. "Joe," of course, was much calmer, but he was playing an elaborate game of Gotcha based on a tissue of lies.
His hope was to turn the tables on snotty teacher types and embarrass them the way he'd been embarrassed as a child. Unfortunately, he hadn't done his research. Even his fictional question turned out to have not one, but two embarrassing answers. Not only would his fictional persona receive government aid, but so would his real personna. Sam would receive a $5,000 refund check next year.
The proof of this analysis is suggested by Sam's reaction: "I won't take it!" Hear the voice of the petulant child inside? It's completely irrational. This is the actual basis of American politics!
I'm a monk at heart, a therapist by training, and a designer by chance! That's why I became a writer!
My passion is for change—in religion and politics as well as art. Design is only the medium; a second Renaissance...The Dream!
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