Their Biggest Fear

Republican orthodoxy for the last four decades has been primarily about ruining government for the average citizen while simultaneously strengthening it for big business. Every crazy utterance, every insane action taken by prominent Republicans in and out of office is meant to further this goal. What happens after they decide the process is complete is anyone's guess, fascism, theocracy, some combination? Who knows, but where the balancing act has taken place is in demonizing the alternative. Democrats and the existence of an opposition party serve a great function in Republican ideology as the scapegoat for every ill and the cleanup crew for each catastrophe. And the Democratic Party serves this function well, especially at the Presidential level. The evil minds coordinating this strategy have one problem however; and that is that ordinary citizens will shake off their cynicism and remember that honest government that can solve problems; and is actually possible despite 100% propaganda to the contrary. Thus, the potential for some citizen(s) to campaign and lobby for actual democracy and good, old-fashioned American pragmatism is their biggest fear.

The name of this blog not withstanding, I keep looking for signs of this renaissance. It is a thin reed for sure, weak tea to settle the anxiety of big money ruining everything. But the alternative is utter despair for our republic. A running theme here as well is the largely futile attempt to repair ideological definitions, i.e. what conservatism and liberalism are supposed to mean. And the distinction between party and ideology, public good and private interests, or simply how to make society work better for lack of more precise terms. To put it bluntly, the GOP is the party of business but a regressive kind of big business that sees profit over everything and relentless class warfare to be the only path. Sometimes this path is guided by a kind of liberalism where business is running away from government and tradition; i.e. the 19th Century formative period for capitalism when medieval vestiges of guilds and royal regulation of industry had to be crushed. Sometimes the path is conservative, such as business' attempts to slow down New Deal reforms. And sometimes it is parasitic towards government, where successful businesses today have lodged themselves in government through lobbyists and the like. It is always about private or special interests though, and how to make those special interests seem like the public interest. Hence the aphorism that what is good for GM is good for America. Once upon a time there could be some truth to that assertion, today however it should be seen as a sick joke.

Then there is health care, or more specifically health insurance. And the heart of the matter, Obamacare and its ramifications. The United States does have excellent health care available, largely due to the New Deal and its legacy, the problem is one of access as we all know because the gates are guarded by for profit insurance companies. Again, once upon a time most Americans had their insurance through the company they worked for, and their families enjoyed that coverage as well. As part of the negotiations between workers, business, and government a system emerged where big companies provided health insurance for employees with some government regulation and tax subsidies. Universal, single-payer health insurance was always an unspoken assumption as the other half of the New Deal but fixing capitalism and winning World War II put it on the back burner until the reform energy was all but spent. Then the American Medical Association was able to tar the idea as "socialized medicine" during the Truman years, thus derailing the United States actually developing the kind of health care system that Europeans already enjoyed. Medicare and Medicaid was as close as we got during the second burst of reform in the 1960s but the slapped together system of group insurance functioned more or less adequately for more than a generation.

After the Cold War there was less pressure on business elites to keep the peace in the eternal struggle for American hearts and minds, no propaganda battles to wage, no alternative to capitalism that radicals or reformers could look to. Therefore, profits and class warfare reemerged as business' primary goal and to hell with the public good. Reagan put a nice veneer on selfishness and greed while dismantling the system and simultaneously looking the other way while business wrecked havoc on civil society. Many of our lifetimes have been marked by the Reaganesque misdirection that government is bad, incompetent, and a barrier to prosperity. The Democrats all but abdicated their role as conservative defenders of the New Deal status quo, especially after Bill Clinton declared the era of big government was over. Thus, there was really no one to defend the role of government as referee between business and society, and as a positive force in our lives. We played right into the hands of oligarchs and libertarian villains.

So when Raw Story posted the You Tube video of a big tea partier from Texas who took a break from prattling on about guns and gays to record his extinction burst about the goodness of his tribe, I was shocked. Here was a guy openly stating that he was questioning everything he thought he knew about politics and who the good guys really are. Never mind that he looks, sounds, and speaks like everything that is wrong with our country, he actually reflected on the true state of affairs, accepted new information, and (possibly) changed his mind. Never mind that most of Obamacare is based on the "conservative" Heritage Foundation's plan, or that it is barely functioning in half of the country because of Republican intransigence. This bubba openly told his audience of like-minded dumkopfs that maybe, just maybe, they have been wrong all this time.

This is the kind of guy who believes the lies, who marches in lockstep behind the authoritarian wrecking crew, who spreads the gospel of fascism and the "true American" way everywhere he goes. If a guy who cares so much about getting his message out can pause for a moment and let in some doubt, it is possible that seed of doubt can be planted in some of his audience. And despite all the money, all of the media they control to spread fear and hate, and all of the power to control elections; the oligarchy does not have a plurality of votes. This is their biggest fear, that some of the brainwashed market fundamentalists out there who click their heels and vote time and again against their best interests will take a moment and really ask "who has done more for me?" Government at all levels is potentially democratic and can put the basic needs of people ahead of greed and destruction if not controlled by the corporate elite.

I have read several comments from liberals who saw this video of James Webb dismiss him because "it's all about him, his healthcare, his needs." While true, that is irrelevant. Expecting the average citizen to act and think beyond his/her own self-interest is one reason why people like Mr. Webb hate liberals so much. Indeed, thinkers like Reinhold Niebuhr understood that you cannot rally people around the public good and solve problems if you cannot explain how the program or platform or idea is primarily in their own self-interest. Much as the racist who realizes that far more white people have wronged him than any minority, Mr. Webb realized that it was a Democratic President who made it possible for him to live out his dream of retiring early. And that he will have the healthcare that made it possible taken away if his party wins the White House. This kind of doubt is the key to unlocking the stranglehold of authoritarian thinking in your average Fox robot. The 24 hour fearfest aired by right wing media requires true believers for its control, if even one member of Mr. Webb's audience experiences a measure of doubt the next time some fantastic lie reaches his ears then spending time analyzing Webb's video will be worth it. The billionaire oligarchs can spend themselves to the poorhouse on scary campaign ads in the next election but if their followers have even slight doubt about their claims it will be for nothing.

This is the oligarch's biggest fear, that the elaborate network of lies built up over multiple decades will come crashing down because the sheep experience some doubt and start questioning the awfulness being sold to them like so many McDonald's hamburgers.