tRump’s grotesque occupancy of the American Presidency ‘woke’ us all up to the need to choose a side, and fight like hell to win, and overlook anything that might stand in the way of winning. The last election and its (January 6th) aftermath was a struggle for survival in several senses of the word, and now, it seems like we are having a brief respite, a chance to lick our wounds, and return to our lives.
Really? No, sorry, it ain’t over, now we have to prepare for the next round.
It is a difficult prospect to face. But look around - the whole world is battling for its political future. There are many reasons to be scared. Maybe this state of affairs has always existed, and we just didn’t know it, or could not see it. But the domestic political battle lines are certainly more sharply divided than any time in living memory. Every society is in the throes of political civil strife, even if in some cases it is hidden below the surface.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall, and the awakening of China from its Maoist isolation perhaps brought the issues into light. Previous to the late 80s, we were able to hide from our divisions behind the Cold War. But then Communism surrendered and we danced on its grave while Russia shivered and went hungry and built up resentment against the West. Nationalism, chauvinism, tribalism, Fundamentalism etc. all revived there and in other former Soviet States, and in China too, albeit in a different form. This authoritarian virus started infecting the West too, and the source, like the recent Coronavirus, is difficult to exactly pinpoint. Liberalism was suddenly seen as weak, even though it had won the Cold War while maintaining peace and prosperity. It was seen as bloated, corrupt, and perhaps worse, “neo-liberal” and racist. We thought we still had a functioning system of justice, but cell phone cameras captured a different story. While some say this snapped a distorted picture, justice is very much about appearances, and it only works if the public image of it appears fair.
And the rise of the mostly American tech oligarchs put a spotlight on economic inequality.
So Liberalism lost its luster on both the left and the right. The hypocrisy and historical blindness of much of “woke” culture makes it worse. And add the mind-numbing repetitive “super hero” fetish of big budget mass entertainment along with the ubiquitous social media addiction added to the isolation and uneasiness among much of the Urban “intellectual” class. For those and other reasons, Liberalism no longer commands much loyalty among the majorities in the West.
I still see myself as a liberal, because I believe that the technical transformations of the last 20-30 years have or will soon create a vast human economic redundancy. It is not just robots on the factory floor, but throughout our entire economy. Legal Zoom is putting lawyers out of work, to name just one example. But at the same time, this tech revolution has potentially solved the greatest economic problem that society has faced since it started planting crops - production and distribution. We now have the means to produce enough of almost everything and get it to almost everyone. Computer technology (look out your window - see the Amazon Delivery Truck?) has largely solved the logistical issues. If that technological revolution is intelligently combined with science and a renewed respect for nature can keep us going for at least another generation.
The population is shrinking worldwide, so this is all happening just in time, as we are going to have fewer workers in absolute numbers. I believe all of the above is making “Atlas Shrugged” style capitalism inefficient by comparison, and efficiency was capitalism's hole card. Can capitalism be harnessed for the job? Look how inefficient our capitalist health care system is. We will need to phase it in and bid out the work, but for the most part we can cut out the middle man. The only outcome foreseeable if Capitalism remains is hacienda-like societies, with the Super-Haves living on Islands of immense wealth, the Haves living in gated communities and the Have-Nots - the dispossessed 90% - living in dilapidated inescapable poverty... What Bernie Sanders has been preaching about is coming to pass and it is out in the open where everyone can see it. I optimistically think we can now solve the fundamental economic problem. We can shelter, feed, educate everyone. Companies, and people can make money getting this done, but because the goal - better living conditions - is a societal goal and not a corporate goal, the government will have to control the purse strings.
The labor market will exist for those who can work and want more, and economic inequality will certainly continue. Talent can rise, and live brilliantly, but nobody needs to be a billionaire. We can rebuild infrastructure and neighborhoods, and use economic incentives to bring a higher quality of life to people in both urban and rural neighborhoods. It is not “pie in the sky” anymore. We can afford wealth redistribution - it will not break us. Inflation, the great fear, is not what it used to be, because it is caused when too much money is chasing too few goods. But we can produce the goods cheaply, (except for occasional structure constraints) so prices need not rise.
There is a real problem with this though. Bureaucratic inertia, self satisfaction of the managerial class, loss of visionary purpose, and eventually corruption and nepotism always seems to set in. It always happens. The Chinese have understood it for thousands of years. It is the Dynastic Cycle, (朝代循環), the rise and fall of governments. In the beginning of a new regime, it really doesn’t matter what form or structure government takes, monarchism, socialism, New Dealism, or Islamic Theocracy, the youthful human energy of a new beginning can make things happen. But eventually, it all turns, and complacency dooms it. They lose the Mandate of Heaven (天命）and the next revolution begins to build to take its place.
We can perhaps avoid that by building in an expiry date into the reforms. Try it for ten years, then all the laws and regulations lapse, and this intrusion into capitalism will require a thorough re-examination and house cleaning. Nothing lasts forever and we should recognize that up front. But we will need more than one or even two terms of an Administration and therein lies the problem; our built-in inability to affect even a mid-range plan of action, much less a long term plan.
So all this will be seemingly impossible in the current political climate, which is largely caused by a ginned up and phony mistrust of elites that is instigated by the (here I lapse into a tired Marxist trope) “lackeys of the plutocrats”. In other words FOX News and its fellow travelers. To explain why this plan will work would require a degree of analytical thought to which our mass culture can not fathom. This new economic situation of mass unemployment combined with unparalleled wealth that has been created by exponential increases in marginal productivity goes against all ‘common sense’. It will be easy for the Rs, (Republicans, or the Right) to convince their base to allow them to kill it. We on the ‘Left’ will first try and explain it, using Robert Reich’s charts and emojis, but that of course will get nowhere, so we will have to try and use our narrow majority to get about 1/10 done of what is needed, but that probably won’t work and this “failure” will be used to overturn our narrow majority in 18 months. We will lose Congress. When you throw in tRump to this situation, you can see how it is easy to be pessimistic. (yes I know I was optimistic a couple of paragraphs or so ago…)
In frustration many try to blame this political climate on a “fascist retrenchment”, but that is perhaps overkill, based on faulty historical analysis and a failure of imagination. The Situation today is different than when the old style fascism rose. Post-WW1 right wing dictatorial regimes came to power when people were mostly only one generation away from peasantry. But post-WW2 had seen the rise in material prosperity, and, except “on the periphery”, 50 years of peace. (Yes, I know that is a cruel oversimplification to the millions who live on the periphery). This new US-based, faux-populist authoritarianism is being born out of completely different conditions from Post-WW1. We have been raised comfortably with a lifetime to enjoy the political freedom the last Great War provided. In addition, we have a historical rear view mirror which warns us how bad fascism can actually get. So if it really comes, it's not likely to repeat in exactly the same way. I am just saying we will need a different word to describe it.
All that is clearly apparent to “the opposition”, but they still justify their abandonment of democracy to themselves. I guess they say to themselves we liberals are overreacting, that tRumpism wasn’t that bad. But I think we are not reacting enough. As an American who was raised in the same society as tRumpists, this disconnect is what scares me the most. To call them “enemy” serves no useful purpose, and as I said above, it is not really accurate, at least not yet. But I oppose them, and because I know them, and am bewildered by all that, the situation is more than deeply concerning to me. I am aware this weak armchair opposition of mine might show my age, and approaching irrelevance. And it might be typical of American liberals too.
But first and foremost, I remain committed to the liberal values as a moral imperative, in addition to the technical reasons I explained above. Government by definition should serve the needs of the people, not the rich who can and do buy politicians. At the same time I am aware that the 18th century grab bag of ideas that a few Western philosophers called the "Enlightenment” just might be an ideology that has lost its muscle tone. The Chinese certainly think so.
But I dither and digress. Here we are, seeing the outlines of the next fight. So my advice to myself and anyone else is forget about the long term for now. As long as tRump is in the fight it makes it easy for us to find our purpose. His continued presence is a monumental insult to the nation. tRump recently said he likes the idea of simply taking over as Speaker of the House if the Rs win six or so more seats next year. Unlike his “reinstated by August” comment, that is not totally batshit. We know what cowards and moral hypocrites the Rs are now. tRump wouldn’t even have to run for Congress to do it. There is no Constitutional provision that requires the Speaker to be elected to anything. He just needs a majority of the House to vote for him. And who could doubt he could get it from the Rs?
From there it would be a short (two year) limo ride back to the White House.
So this is why we have to stay in the fight. He is a monster, that that is all the reason we need. Until that monster is put down, politically or legally or both, we have to stay engaged and united. The right is ignorant, morally wrong, legally wacko, and oh yeah, definitely in the minority. But they are united. And dangerous. We have to stay united, and defeat the tRumpian plutocracy. And that means continuing to fight, not letting FOX News get the upper hand, and that means steeling the Biden Administration to not bend to the Rs. And sometimes, it will mean cheering for our overly ‘woke’ allies who we might otherwise disagree with.
After that - well somebody smarter, and perhaps even more evil, might rise in tRump’s place. That will probably be the next generation’s war to fight.
But it is just as likely that we might somehow discover a Lincoln-like figure among ourselves to keep the flame alive and give us a new purpose to believe that we can keep our liberal values alive. It’s a tough way for us boomers to spend our retirement, but let’s face it we owe it to the kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment