The War Declared…On Us
Possessing no talent of my own, I find it necessary read and synthesize the writings of others who do. While there are times when I derive joyous epiphanies from this process, now is not one of them. As I hope you will come to realize, we have had war declared upon us.
That statement begs the following question: Who is us? Well, basically, anyone who sits, stands, or runs in the left end of the spectrum in this country. This has been a long time in coming and like so many things, success is always about timing and circumstance. Forgive me, I am getting ahead of myself. Who are these warlike forces and when was this declaration of war made. They are many and varied and their existence. The Koch brothers are an obvious and well documented, well moneyed duo who fit the bill. Jane Mayer’s book, “Dark Money” goes into great detail about the lurid, yet ingenious lengths this pair has and will go to subvert representative democracy. Personally, like many books, I am more of a listener than a reader. I must admit, three-quarters of the way through the book I had to declare, “No More, I get it!” The hideous and appalling examples were just piling on to the obvious summation that the Koch brothers, and their acolytes were enemies of democratic ideals. Throughout the entirety of the Koch’s existence, it seems as if they were bent on blowing up the social safety net and dismantling the political system designed to check their growing power.
While Jane Mayer’s book was about the bankrolling of this terrifying movement, Nancy MacLean’s book, “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” delved into the intellectual, and philosophical underpinnings what the Koch movement rests upon. The focus of Maclean’s book was on James McGill Buchanan and his efforts at various universities, “to save capitalism from democracy.” Buchanan’s efforts served larger conservative causes and think tanks by providing academic cover to them. This group’s academic research was perceived as legitimate regardless of the fact that much of it was based upon what could be best described as, “sketchy” methods and processes. As further evidence of the intents of these political war mongers, one only has to look at the constitution that Buchanan designed for the Pinochet government in Chile. Buchanan’s Chilean efforts leave little doubt that they would like to do the same thing here in the United States
As bad as the battlefield looks, with its well-funded extreme libertarians propping themselves up on intellectual fallacies, it gets worse. Our society gets that there have been and always will be oppositional forces engaged in constant struggle for power and temporary supremacy. This expectation is built into our political institutions. But what happens when one of these oppositional forces basically,… checks out? Or worse, as has happened now, been paid off by the moneyed interests to operate in ways that run counter to the interests of society’s populous? How vigorous and effective will the defense of the lower classes be if the opposition force is owned by Corporatist america? As we’ve learned and experienced…not very.
That brings us to consideration of the question of the oppositional force. Who takes up the question of, “Who has our back?” Well, there are two works that keep reminding me of how feckless and ineffective the Democratic Party…the party that is supposed to align with and defend our principles…has been bumbling along for almost 30 years. In Thomas Frank’s, “Listen Liberal” Frank excoriates the forces that have brought the Democratic Party to the state of mediocrity where they now stand. Starting with Carter and traveling through the Clinton years into the shining ascendency of the professional classes during Obama’s presidency, this book shows how the Democratic party hollowed itself out in pursuit of the meritocratic middle ground. The party turned its back on the constituents who brought it success, namely the poor, the working-class, and minorities. The upper echelons of the Democratic party pursued the “Ascendents” because they were the ones they most identified with: ivy league educated elites who had no desire to come within ten miles of the lower-class rabble, let alone rub elbows with them. And in so doing, these neoliberal centrist compromisers lost the foundation of the Democratic party: the working class voter. Frank exquisitely details the Clinton’s sellout via Prison sentencing reform…via Welfare reform, and Clinton and Gingrich would have reformed Social Security out of existence if a Blue dress hadn’t distracted everyone away from that endeavor. Read it. You’ll be appalled.
Finally, we go from the grand sweep of the decline and sellout of the Democratic party to the meticulous 17 pages of footnotes that sprang forth from David Daley’s, “Ratfucked: Why Your Voted DOESN’T COUNT.” This book among other things, details Project REDMAP. REDMAP was the Republican’s concerted and coordinated effort to gain and retain control of the legislatures through redistricting and thusly, redraw the congressional seats to favor their party. In many ways, it was a contributing factor the “Blue Wall” of Midwest states breaking for Trump during the 2016 general election. The Republican efforts in this also lead to the loss of almost 1000 legislative seats and control of a majority of statehouses. Daley’s book reveals the seemingly anti-democratic machinations of the Republican party in state after state where, through redistricting, Republicans won a disproportionate number of legislative and congressional seats compared to the percentage of popular vote they received. One’s first reaction one might be frustration and anger at the tactics of the Republicans, but in essence, they were only doing their job. Chris Jankowski and Ed Gillespie, the architect and overseer of REDMAP, saw their stars align, they took their shot and it paid off…handsomely. One can diametrically oppose pretty much everything they stand for, yet appreciate, perhaps even admire the adroitness of their pulling off this feat. No. The true disgust and loathing rage will envelope you in chapter 7 of Daley’s book. That’s where we are told of the sad tale of former Congressional Representative Steve Israel. You see, the representative from the New York’s 3rd district was given the unenviable task of trying to recruit credible candidates to run in unwinnable districts. Good luck with. It did take a toll. One final note: if you are going to read this book, please read the more current paperback version. The epilogue of the book provides a very telling and accurate portrayal of the current political landscape.
Before I conclude, I would be remiss to not mention anything written by Michelle Alexander or Ta-Nehisi Coates, because while we believe that this moment we are going through is an existential crisis…and it is, it has always been that way if you were a person of color. And it’s important and relevant to acknowledge and embrace that fact.
Admittedly, that’s quite a reading list. If you don’t read these books…listen to them. If you don’t listen to them…listen to the interviews with the authors. It is not the academic exercise of reading these books where their power lies, but in the ideas and stories which they espouse and relate.
Every individual can view the Constitution of the United States in their own way interpreting their own meaning to its many strands. To me, I see as a document that lays out the rules of engagement for our country. We need to acknowledge that while we might have warring factions, hopefully, this document allows us to engage in these conflicts without going to war with each other, and in turn, destroying this nation in the process. As a liberal, as a progressive, we got to this point in history by relying on leaders who were not up to the challenge of leading us in these battles. There is no “Better Deal” in believing that the individuals who got this country into this existential crisis are going to be the ones who will lead us out.
