By pretty universal agreement, this midterm election has been the worst, the stupidest in memory. "I am not a witch," the campaign ad starring Delaware's tea-partying Christine O'Donnell, states it for jaw-dropping inanity.
Rather than itemize the inanities once again---we have the media for that---let's stay with the phenomenon itself. Appalled at the campaign spectacle, and super-mindful that our many crises grow worse despite President Obama's best efforts---a wheezing economy, a Wall Street still more casino than utility, two wars at impasse, a collapsing infrastructure---conscientious Americans, from across the political spectrum, have got to be wondering:
Is this a culture that can save itself?
Right now, to judge by the inane brawl one week from the day we elect the lawmakers who presumably will pilot us the next two years through these crises, the answer has to be: No. We seem not to be a culture that can save itself---or even want to.
Of course, the most egregious evidence that ours is a culture that may want even to accelerate its self-destruction is the very fact that, as polls show, half the electorate will vote to return us to the (Republican) policies that brought us to our present ruination!
How'd we get here? Anger---legitimate anger grown white-hot, thus grown irrational and manipulable. Americans, never a patient lot, scared and hurting in this awful economy, and coming to perceive Obama-hope as hollow, grew vocal in their anger---which Democrats did not manage well and Republicans moved in to manipulate. Thus the stupid politics of the present moment. (I blogged earlier about harnessing that anger.)
What to do "going forward"? (This phrase, used by both parties, is clichéd but resonates deeply in Americans, reflecting us as a dynamic people.) For now, to save ourselves in this particular moment, Democrats must vote---and not be manipulated into sitting out this election. Happily, polls show the "enthusiasm gap" reducing; Democrats are waking up and smelling the peril.
But how to go forward after the election? No doubt columnist Frank Rich is right in predicting that, win big or small next Tuesday, the Republicans will continue stoking the public's anger all the way through 2012---in which case, forget forward motion. In a continuing gale of anger and inanity, with "liberal" and "conservative" already bashed into meaninglessness, who's up for more "debate"? Politically, we will be at impasse.
Perhaps if we stepped back, way-y-y back, and took the Olympian view, to ask the vital question---"Is this a culture that wants to save itself?"---we might help (and indeed save) ourselves. Instead of inserting more invective into the mix over the next two years, or doubling down on the bashing, all of which can only make impasse truly impossible, more useful would be to insert a new lens through which to view the mix.
In this way, we'd gain the distance to critique our actions, to see ourselves, as it were, as players on a stage---saving ourselves and our enterprise. The media, for example, viewing itself through this lens, might understand it's been acting more like a parrot than a watchdog. Lawmakers, the ones in place and the ones we're about to elect, might better consider the common good and see areas for bipartisan cooperation. And through this lens all of us (artists and entertainers included) can better see the damage that anger and inanity have inflicted---and move to repair it, by invoking our cultural capacities for (to name two) pragmatism and reinvention.
Meanwhile, back at the (political) impasse, pressing the question of how serious we are about saving ourselves gives the lie to Republican obstructionism and chaos-making.
So, rather than continuing to wonder the question, conscientious citizens from across the political spectrum should start asking it out loud, over and over, in whatever venue that needs to hear it: "Is this a culture that wants to save itself?"
Here's looking at you, my fellow Americans---through a new lens.
Carla Seaquist is author of "Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character," a collection of op-eds, essays, and dialogues. Also a playwright, she is at work on a play titled "Prodigal" (www.carlaseaquist.com).
And in reality, most people do not dismiss these insane fear-tactics as just that. Even if they may realize they are generally false, they may still partially believe it. I was told that the healthcare bill (The Reid-Pelosi Obamacare bill as the ad called it) would cause $500 billion in new taxes, end up killing my grandparents, end Medicare and medicade, and force me to drop my insurance and pay a $650 fine to the IRS if I didn't concede to the government death panel healthcare.
To me it was ridiculous, but to some it is convincing. And until we change the culture so people will recognize it as ridiculous our society will continue in its downward spiral.
Great article as always.
Your piece bristles with hope and faith. It reminds me of the Socialist Jarers, on the eve of World War I, when he offered a flower of peace to the leaders of the European nations in the hopes of averting all-out war, after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The intelligentsia of the nations wouldn't listen to reason, they let pride and prejudice lead their decision making. I see a parallel in today's situation in America's state of being: America's intelligentsia, our supposedly educated class, has put its head in the sand. It's from this class that we expect wisdom, intelligence, true leadership, and maturity, but from it we only get blunt arrogance, miscalculation, foolhardy pride in decision-making, and conceit. So, instead of the intelligentsia being a source of "intelligence," it is actually hindering America. This makes one wonder about the goal of higher education, or the purpose of higher education, in the scheme of how if affects and serves the individual and critical thinking skills.
The question is to WHOM does the culture at large look to for guidance?
You are making the mistake of trying to frame in absolute, black-and-white terms, what is in reality a continuum. We don't need to be a culture of Gandhis, to make decisions that are more patient and more wise than what we are collectively doing right now. We don't have to be a nation of Buddhas to demand that our leaders provide real answers rather behave like pretty, small-souled sorority girls with a chip on their shoulder (Sarah Palin). We don't have to be a nation of people with the courage to charge a machine gun nest across open ground...to handle our human fears in a healthier, less destructive manner.
In other words, we don't have to be perfect (as a culture) to reap the benefits of acting (collectively) with greater maturity.
BeCK, Hnannity, Rush etc and then the local parroting hosts o 95 percent of our airwaves get away scot free with their lies, propaganda, conspiracy theories, inciting hatred while Always protecting the big industries that own the stations. We sold our 4th estate, repealed Fairness and now look at the mess they are making to our democracy.
The problem is that we've become a society that has POINTEDLY dis-invested in our communities, and sees indvidual license as a birthright.
Until we finally come to our senses, and finally (once again) start to talk about our RESPONSIBILITIES to one another (in terms other than empty buzzwords) this crisis will only get worse....because we will continue to selfishly refuse to do what is necessary to genuinely repair it.
Democrats keep learning the wrong lessons from the GOPers electoral successes. The thing that brings votes to the GOP is not their policy ideas, it's their determination and style. If the Democrats could learn less right-leaning compromise and more whup-ass they would not only have more legislative success but more people (their base and the squishy middle) would come out to vote for them.
They fail to realize that Republicans are masters at manipulating people's emotions in order to win elections....but are HORRIBLE at actually governing the nation effectively.
They are an example of what NOT to do. They are a major reason why this culture is in a position that it now requires saving (from itself). Follow their example...and all you will do is run the nation off the road and into the same ditch on the OTHER side of the road. Like it was at the end of the 1970s.
Instead they have become a crusading army that is committed to imposing a historically mis-informed and misguided notion of "American traditionalism" upon the rest of the nation. In essence, to repeal the 20th Century, and drag us all back to The Gilded Age.
They'd rather rule over a broken, shell of a nation...a romantic 19th Century anachronism....than allow anyone else to turn us into a healthy 21st Century nation.
2. Hell, no. Burn, baby, burn, while I fiddle.
3. I think an equally interesting question is: "Does our culture DESERVE to be saved?" Again, my answer is "Hell, no."
Ooh, give us one more try before you give up on US
Mark my words and pay attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40vsjBHq7XI
I fear for my child who is 31 and for what is to come due to the gluttony of some of my generation.
There are some of us who are concerned about our planet, saving to help our children when the shit hits the fan very soon here.
I am not wealthy, but I do have a need to provide at least a safety net for my son when the depression hits---if money will even be worth anything.
Stock up on canned goods---they'll be more valuable than money.