Swirling, Dangerous Waters

Our local newspaper today contained news of difficulties for Pres. Barack Obama. These difficulties could have been predicted, unfortunately. There are falling poll numbers, for one thing. And there is turmoil on Capitol Hill over the health care bill. And in a column of David Brooks', the sky appears to be falling for Democrats.

There is much to be said about all this, and I plan to try to fill out some of the details in days ahead.

For now, my warning is to the American people. Those who are responding to problems in Washington with statements to pollsters that they will vote Republican in the next election are, to put it gently, amnesiac. Do these voters not remember the disaster of trickle-down economics in the '80's with the resultant high unemployment and ballooning budget deficits? And do we not remember so recently the catastrophe that befell us with G. W. Bush, his economic depression of 2008, and his authoritarian surveillance state?

Today's Republican Party is something like the early fascist movement in Italy which featured an alliance of disgruntled farmers and opportunistic small-town businessmen. This proto-fascist movement was later exploited by Mussolini with disastrous results.

While no one is expecting black-shirted thugs to begin roaming the streets of, say, Kansas City, the fascist element in America is stronger than many have cared to believe. The 2009 election was a vast repudiation of the zanier tendencies of those on the far right. However, it was as much about seeking better economic times as anything else.

So if Obama and the Democrats fail, where will America turn? David Brooks, and Rush Limbaugh, and others would say the Republicans can gain strength. While this is not automatic, America does have a history of swinging back and forth between what are essentially two capitalist parties. Is it not time, finally, to break with a politics which seeks either to give free reign to capitalism, or merely to channel it? Don't we deserve an economic system which is neither capitalist nor communist? Don't we deserve a just economy, one in which everyone is supported with the opportunity for a self-supporting job and by a health care system which will not rob him of his hard-earned wages, leaving him destitute?

In one sense, the choice is that simple. Things have been made too complex. If the Scandinavian countries can create what can be called a mixed system, why not America? In many ways we already have such a system, just an inefficient one.

Let us not go back to the trickle-down economics of the past. Let us, instead, be about the business of a true democracy.

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For a reference, I strongly recommend two recent books by Naomi Wolf, often referenced here: The End of America and Give Me Liberty. The first book sets out a useful history of repressive movements and their tactics. The second gives practical suggestions for citizens living in a democracy.