America Used To Be Really Goddamn Awesome
I've been captivated by Ken Burns' The War this week and it struck me how awesome America used to be.
The prevailing attitude of the ladies and gentlemen featured in Burns' film, and by proxy all Americans of that era, was that if we had to fight a war, we had better do it right. Clearly and with little dissent, we had to fight that war, and without fail, Americans rallied together to do it really damn well.
People from every corner of the nation selflessly pooled their resources for the great cause of World War II, and I'm not sure about this one, but I don't think President Roosevelt ever once asked the country to sacrifice by going to the mall. And I'm pretty sure he didn't outsource the construction of tanks, Flying Fortresses, Hellcats and Thunderbolts to Mexico and China. That's a hell of a thing by today's standards, isn't it?
We've fallen so far from what we used to be, even as recently as thirty years ago when the comparatively liberal president Richard Nixon opened a dialogue with Red China, whilst Mao supplied arms to North Vietnam. One day long ago, it was okay to wish for an end to a war, without being accused of hating the soldiers who were fighting it. It was once a given that socialized public education, police, fire departments, roads, parks, national defense and the constitutionally mandated General Welfare & Domestic Tranquility were simply a part of the American way of life and would always be there.
And when our nation had to go to war, we would be there for her.
Conversely, when we crumble to the pressure of our reactionary and authoritarian elements, we get Japanese internment camps, the rise of the military industrial complex, and men turned away from service due to the color of their skin. Some of our greatest failures have been conceived when our irrationality, fear and lust for power overrule our traditional American ideals -- even during our finest hours as a nation.
And now, 50 years later, in our lives and times, we get President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney.
The Bush Years have been a monumental, cataclysmic failure on most fronts due to its inattention to what has, historically, made American great. The president and his thinning ranks of fawn-eyed Hannities don't understand this yet. They don't understand it mostly because they're too ignorant -- blinded by sloganeering -- to the very basic reality that Bush Republican style government, in practice, is about as successful and practical as a paper condom. It always has been.
Nowhere is this more apparent than when they compare the Bush Wars to World War II. It's a desperate notion, one that seeks to conflate our current president with greatness he doesn't deserve and an historical legacy he will never achieve. It's also meant to inflate our current "enemies" to Hitler status, and thus proving the case for war.
The comparison is pure horseshit. (Say nothing of the fact that it elevates Bin Laden or the late Saddam or the present Ahmadinejad to a level of villainy they also don't deserve. It's like saying a doofus villain like Solomon Grundy is the next Lex Luthor. I'm sure they appreciate being granted superpowers enough to take over the world, though.)
If it's so fucking important to stay in Iraq, and if it's so fucking important to invade Iran -- and if it's so fucking important to wiretap your phones and read your mail, and to shit all over your constitutional rights and the Geneva Conventions -- and all of it is part of a larger World War II style conflict, then why aren't the Bushies taking their metaphors seriously by demanding the sacrifices of World War II?
Did President Roosevelt cut taxes or ask veterans to pay higher deductibles? Did President Roosevelt outsource the army by hiring no-bid corporate mercenaries?
From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan, automobile manufacturers stopped making cars in lieu of manufacturing hardware for the war effort. Can you imagine, among all of the scrap metal drives -- the rationing of everything from gasoline to frying pan fat -- if Roosevelt had allowed SUV drivers to receive tax breaks in which sheer vehicular tonnage was rewarded at the peril of even one American G.I.?
If the quintessential symbol of the American character in World War II was Rosie The Riveter, the poster for the Bush Wars has to be that of an SUV driver receiving a tax break while sucking down enough Saudi oil to drive to a mall where he's expected to buy lead-tainted crapola manufactured overseas -- a yellow ribbon hypocrite magnet dangling just above his exhaust pipe and several inches from a fading W04 sticker. The caption: "The Bush Patriot Says: 'I'm On It, Mr. President!'"
The Bushies can't possibly take their own World War II metaphor seriously because they don't truly believe in the comparison.
They know, as you and I do, that these wars have little to do with stopping a new Hitler. If we peel back the layers -- if you look at what truly drives little childish men like Hannity and Cheney and Kristol, you'll find that it has little to do with liberating nations from an occupying Nazi force and ending a brutal holocaust. Beneath the pasty white surface of a typical Bush Republican you'll find greed, fear, ignorance, anger and a basic lack of understanding of America's place on the world stage. They're traits that drive nations into unnecessary wars. They're also traits that often breed cowardice.
To wit... Those of you demanding a war in Iran, I have one question for you. And no, I'm not going to employ the tired military service argument, but I must ask you this: what is the very minimum you're doing right now to prepare for your war? Are you refusing to support further tax cuts or pumping less "Islamofascist" oil into your SUV tank?
You're probably not doing anything because all you're expected to do is to say that you support the troops (what does that mean in practice?). And as long as you don't oppose the president as he dismantles the Constitution in favor of a corporate police state, then you've contributed to your president's war effort. That's the Bush Republican way. Oh, and to shop. You have go to Disneyland and buy shit you don't need at the mall (what the fuck is a Webkinz?).
How will the Ken Burns of the future portray the Bush Wars? I imagine that a large part of a future documentary about these times will detail what Rick Perlstein sublimely referred to this week as the destruction of America's character.
Whoever the future Ken Burns might be (hopefully, it'll be Ken Burns), he or she will have to dig deep into the destruction of our national character and detail the stories of torture and secret detention facilities; outsourced corporate thugs murdering foreign civilians; government scare tactics without substance -- it'll be a documentary in part about your non-military friends and family who supported this president's war but who sacrificed nothing in its execution.
So here we are in late 2007. The president believes that history will vindicate his efforts to destroy the American character and to bring about the ascendancy of neo-conservatism. After all, he fancies himself the new McKinley -- or is it George Washington? Is he Lincoln this week or Truman? Is he still fighting the Vietnam War or is it World War II? Korea or the Civil War? Goddamn him and his marble-mouthed horseshit. That's exactly why it has to be up to you and me to write the history -- the truth -- now. It won't be a proud endeavor because there has been little to be proud of, but we have to make sure that future Americans know exactly what happened in the Bush Years and in the Bush Wars.
The pendulum keeps swinging further to the right and seldom in our generation has it swung all the way back. When a president can look you in the eye and say he's going to veto healthcare for children, and his people are fine with that; and when the same sales pitch for Iraq is being employed for Iran -- and it's working, what else can you say about that fucking pendulum?
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Germany 1939: The deutshe mark is in the toilet, Germany's invaded Poland, everyone's supporting the troops.
America 2009: The dollar is in the toilet, America's invaded Iran, everyone's supporting the troops.
THIS IS A HELL OF A CHILLING COMMENT (and unfortunately it's accurate).
It is very accurate.
America will bear the stain of Bush for centuries
just as Germany has been shamed for Hitler's maniacal actions.
We will suffer the disdain of the world for a long time.
Well, you are there but the dates are off just a bit.
In 1930 the Deutsche Mark was in the toilet and the German People prime for any leader that offered dignity and the restoration of the economy.
Later, with the help of Prescott Bush and many other financers, Hitler and his anti-communist henchmen were financed to the hilt.
Like Saddam, we backed the wrong man. By 1939, the Deutsche Mark was doing fine, the economy BOOMING, the ruling elite, traveling the world. They spent money like there was no tomorrow. They were buying vacation homes and ALL their factories were staffed with FORCED LABOR.
The Mental hospitals empted, occupants murdered, all entitlements were reduced, the elderly forced to work, pension plans were confiscated or bankrupt. Working for the State was the only way to get FOOD!. The Police were corrupt and warrentless arrests and imprisonments were commonplace and without Court action.
Prisons hade been privatized and prisoners moved out to concentration camps and put to work on bread and water and a cup of spoiled milk. Phones were taped and all but the most Party loyal could not obtain Passports,
Air Ports, Rail Stations held random searches, if detained, you were forced to spend hours explaining guards where you were going and why. If you only had a one-way ticket, you were immediately taken aside, bags searched and your papers examined and your name checked against LIST showing those restricted from traveling. Phones were unlawfully taped, if you spoke out against the Government or Generals, were subject to having your News Paper sanctioned and attacked by the authorities and State Backed radio propaganda News reporters and publicly denounced, named and shamed.
Show trials were the order of the day. Bogus charges made up, embezzlement, homosexuality, molestation, crimes against the State and just being the wrong religion.
ALL THE WHILE, the ruling Party was filled with molesters homosexuals, and corrupt officials and embezzlers.
If you were PARTY LOYAL, in 1939, you were RICH with a wonderful appointment to a great JOB.
All the best
Knute (Neo-LIB)
Sorry Bob, I grew up on a farm 60 or so years ago and in that time 'Merka' has never been awesome except in the minds of the bedumbed merkan citizens who cannot grasp how deficient they are.
I feel sorry for America but there just might be some hope, given the comments I have read on this thread today!
Before bush took over the country we used to be an American!(God damn it!)
Now we are God damn americans.
God damn america her oil soaked shore,
God damn america she's halladburtons whore.
From the gas pump
to the pay off
to the oceans red with blood
etc.
(God save America from pimps like Bush.)
I would like to direct readers attention to Naomi Klein's 'Shock Doctrine' (underline
But, but...Reag
you're right! Naomi's book allows We The People to understand the "science" behind this madness.
Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, the Bushies et al., studied the "science" of Milton Friedman and implemented the shock treatment. Like throwing a toaster into the pool. As we all stumble to regain our orientation, they strip us of our civil liberties.
Can you imagine the folks in those days worrying more about some infentesimal harm to caribou, the "sight" of oil platforms offshore, or in a wilderness area in the inter-mountain west, than the US being dependent on foreign oil controlled by folks that support our enemies?
I thought our enemies were in DC.
Dear Bob,
you are right with every single word.
How put it the actor John Cusack lately?
"Worse than Nixon." And this is the truth.
I have interesting news: Germans are as much concerned about the almost criminal behaviour of your President as you are. Thats why there is a German grassroot organisation which supports a decent,upright and straightforward candidate: Al Gore.
See: www.algore
Al will run and he will win. The rest of the current administration will remain as a big blot in the history books.
Best wishes from Munich, Bavaria
Simon
Bob, I love your outrage. And I love Ken Burns for showing us the real war. The one where 56 million soldiers and civilians died (and that's not counting the genocide of 11 million people in concentration camps because of ethnic, racial and political reasons).
The tragedy of war, any war is the atrocities that are committed at the behest of a handful of people who want power at any cost. You could put the real perpetrators of any war, even the ones that waged WWII into one building. Actually you could put all the warmongers in the last century into the Pentagon and probably have plenty of rooms left for the warmongers who waged their power wars during the rest of recorded history. That is truly tragic, and will only stop when those they send to kill and die refuse to go.
Our family is relocating to London, England in the spring (for my husband's job). We will be moving over for good, as my husband is British, my son is American/British, and I have a British passport.
After much discussion, my husband and I decided that we would raise our son in the UK, because we (unfortunately) don't see a happy future for him in America. (I mean what kind of country doesn't allow for 10 million children to have health insurance, and where the hell is the outrage from the Dems!!!).
This morning I turned on the tv. for my son to watch his favorite program on Noggin, and it is off the air, because they are promoting some sort of National Play
Day for all kids. For some reason it made me really angry, because I thought of all these kids in Iraq, who are terrified to go out to school, let alone play, for fear of being blown up or shot.
Yes, what the hell has happened to this country!!!
Bob, brilliant post, I certainly hope some of these Congressmen/ women read it, they could use a little eye opener!
One wonders at what point the dwindling support for the Republican party simply disappears. Hilary proposes a health plan which mandates that each and every American hand over a check to private corporations so they can take a slice out of the check and give the diminished check back to you in the form of health care. Hilary calls it "choice" in health care and "access" to insurance for everybody. Sean Hannity calls it socialized medicine.
When GM closes down every plant it operates in America because they can't afford the "free enterprise" health care system that the Hanities keep telling us are so efficient, and open those plants again after the unions have agreed to assume all responsibility for their members' health care, what do the Hannities say? Nothing. Suddenly socialized medicine is ok because GM wants it.
Can you believe anything that comes out of their mouths? Will they ever actually support something because it is profitable for the average American? I don't think so.
I think your analysis is correct, and I write to add a bit more grist for your mill. What I think we're beginning to observe is a propaganda setup that is akin to how certain German politicians (Hitler mostly) reacted after WW1. During the war German citizens were regularly told how well things were going ("We're kicking ass."). Then things fell apart: Armistice, Treaty of Versailles, economic collapse, etc.
Fascism was helped along with the "Stabbed in the Back Theory" that homegrown politicians (Commies, pinkos, upper class, Jews, etc) let down the heroic military that was doing so well and thus guaranteed ignominious defeat. This, of course, greatly simplified WW1's complex cause and effect of imperial clashing
and pent-up military aggressiveness. But no matter. The simple framing worked best for a society that was fractured. Thus the inevitable Act 2 of fascism that was the next war.
I believe the right wing and its media organs have a plan for the next Administration (especially if Dem.) to suffer similar structured attacks when the end game in Iraq proves tough. Bush has admitted that the next Pres. has to do the heavy lifting of the pullout. That's the best reason for him to not have any pullout strategy. It gives him a chance to avoid full blame for a botched policy & execution. And if a Dem. Admin. proves spineless, they will compromise to avoid the propaganda attack. I think the Repubs. would be content to let a Dem president suffer this way for 4yrs then attempt to roar back into power with their brand of fascism 'carrying a cross and wrapped in a flag,' as predicted by Sinclair Lewis.
Indeed, they are already shameless on so many levels. Are there enough checks & balances to stop such right-wing excess from metastisizing over the next few years? I would hope that society can be forewarned and immunized sooner rather than later.
nice.
but let's be honest here - this is not an american government - this is a
military junta.
p.s. no more references to "bushies."
war criminals don't deserve cute nicknames.
Bob Cesca, you have it right. Very good writing, I applaud you. We have drifted too far away from the American values that made us great and are seemingly headed for something darker.
I personally believe that all of the chaos, wars, killing and corporate rape of our country are planned, in order for something greater, such as regional and world governing by corporations.
I also believe Bush is not a religious man. He represents everything amoral, unethical, and illegal. He seems to gain support from his handlers when he kills more people. Those who support his views and actions are the same. Period.
Great f*cking post. My sentiments exactly.
In the 1948 movie, All My Sons, which was based on a play by Arthur Miller, Edward G. Robinson plays a manufacturer of parts for World War II airplanes. Amid allegations that he had delivered defective parts to the war effort, his son (played by Burt Lancaster)discovers the awful truth that his father's corrupt practices were responsible for the deaths of 21 pilots. The movie ends with a bitter and tragic confrontation that drives home the message that we are all our brother's keepers, and we cannot push aside that responsibility for personal gain.
Contrast that moral to what we see now. This administration has so corporatized and privatized this effort to ensure the personal gain of Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, et al. It is something they aspire to promote. War profiteering is not despicable, it is not even something we should be questioning. Greed is good as far as these people are concerned and the Corporate bottom line is really all that matters.
There has been no call for sacrifice and you are right ..our American character is damaged by it. If this is our the World war II as they try to allude to this fiasco..in
Hopefully, Americans will wake up and see the stark contrasts Ken Burns' The War so lucidly points out.
A striking contrast between what is portrayed in Ken Burns documentary, 'The War,' and the America of today was the comment of a Marine general on 'The News Hour' that the US DOES NOT HAVE THE INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY to produce the new vehicles armored against IEDs in sufficient numbers to meet our troops' needs.
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