Goodbye, Cruel World

The world would be a better place if the American right wing had never existed. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis would still be alive, tens of thousands or Iraqis would still be living in their own homes. The American economy would not have hopped from bubble to bubble if the right wing had not put all of their faith in deregulation, and American jobs would not have been sent abroad. Our tax dollars would not have flowed upward into the coffers of the rich, and the war machine would not comprise such a large part of our economy. We would have retained the respect of other nations, and not aroused the absolute hatred of those we have attempted to bomb into submission. We would get along better with one another if the right wing had not used tribal hatreds to arouse their base against black people, immigrants, liberals, and the well-educated. Our infrastructure, health care, and schools would be better if the billions spent on futile wars had been spent on domestic needs. The planet would be a better place if our addiction to oil had been broken 25 years ago.

But the issue goes deeper even that these practical matters. We would, in fact, be happier people if the right wing had not terrorized us with their horror-filled systems of belief. The Friedmanites are bad enough -- in their world, there are only winners and losers. Everyone deserves what they get, and if a child who gets melamine in his milk is a victim of "creative destruction", well, too bad, because some rich person is getting a little bit more money. In the capitalist world, you are not just supposed to starve, you are supposed to deserve starving -- insult added to injury, humiliation added pain. Of course, as Naomi Klein has shown, the "free market" is never free at all, it is fixed, by dictators and armies and oligarchs. But the thrust of the propaganda stands. We may call this the "Phil Gramm Position".

As bad as this is, far worse has been the effect of religious fundamentalism on the individual spirit and the national mood. By now, we all know some child (or former child) who has been terrorized by "the Rapture" -- who has come home after school to an empty house, only to panic because he or she is convinced that everyone else has been "raptured up." The left behind one has to reckon with the idea that not only is everyone he or she loves gone, he or she has done something wrong according to Jesus, and failed to deserve salvation. I call this child abuse. The religious right has been determined to enforce the unhappiness of others, no doubt so that that unhappiness will match their own. After all, they want to make sure that gay people understand that no matter how much they pay in taxes, they are second class citizens. They also want to make sure that every woman in the world understands that her interests are secondary to those of any embryo, any man, even, indeed, any sperm cell. This would be the "James Dobson Position".

The God of the right wing, and of the Bible, is a pretty arbitrary guy. He lays down the rules, but you can get those boils or those locusts even if you didn't knowingly do anything wrong, in fact, even if you didn't do anything wrong at all. Your personal God could punish you for something someone else did, as in the Bible he frequently punishes the enemies of Israel, men, women, children, dogs, cats, goats, etc., just for being the enemies of Israel. I love how right wing preachers pray away hurricanes, sending them to places like Bermuda. If your God is arbitrary, then of course you are always anxious and depressed -- your adrenaline is always pumping. And you are never motivated to understand how the world works. But locusts and boils and hurricanes have causes -- physical, medical, and ecological. Society can avoid locusts and boils and even mitigate the effects of hurricanes if it understands cause and effect, but if your God is an arbitrary authoritarian, and your father was an arbitrary authoritarian, then you never truly understand cause and effect in the world we live in. As we all know, no religion has ever successfully answered the problems raised by the issue of an omnipotent God. The best they offer is to forbid questioning, and to punish those who do. Because the right wing experiences the world as cruel and arbitrary, they have no inhibitions about enhancing that cruelty -- as in "Hurricane Katrina", as in "Iraq War", and in "Abu Ghraib".

This is the world we have been living in for the past thirty years.

In a week, we have a chance to leave this world behind. If we look at our two candidates, the differences between them are stark. John McCain, who was raised by and accepts the authoritarian model, is evidently never at peace. He is hot-headed, erratic, and has been remarkably cruel. He claims to have principles, but his principles change every time he loses his cool. The more he is pushed, the more it becomes evident that he lives by his own selfish desires -- for money, for power, for women. He's is a classic avoider, who can't even answer the simplest question -- if something "unpleasant" comes up, he changes the subject. Barack Obama rarely changes the subject, because he is fully capable of looking at an issue and considering it. He seems to have been reared in a non-authoritarian household, by a loving mother and loving grandparents. He thinks that the world is a rational place that can be understood and modified. His own family seems happy and loving. Right wingers think he is shallow, but he isn't shallow -- he's well-adjusted. And we've had two whole years to poke him and prod him and discover this. Obama has grown through campaigning because he has learned from it. McCain gets ever smaller and more weird as he campaigns because he doesn't understand what is happening to him. When we choose between these two men, we are choosing between two worlds -- the world of ignorance, fear, manipulation, and cruelty, and the world of rational investigation, weighing of options, and planning. This world is a world where sexual preference is not such a big deal, salvation is not an eternal mystery, and life goes on. It's a world where bad things happen, but there is no malign Godly intention behind them. It is world that understands the temptations of human nature and attempts to deal with them rationally and systematically. Some of these attempts will fail, but on balance, not as many as have failed in the last twenty-five years.

Most of my friends see the coming election as the most important we have known. The right wing has damaged our country, our livelihoods, our national honor, and our planet, but not yet fatally. If McCain gets elected, that could change.

Comments

[ProfessorDuh]

Brilliant, as always, Jane. I just hope Diebold lets us make that choice.

[MPCarr]

And the help of ACORN.

[csavage]

ACORN is a drop in the bucket compared with voter roll purges and voter caging-neither reported in the MSM

[Likipedia]

Yeah, wouldn't want any more registered voters, huh?

[TeriLyn]

I have an ever-increasing bad feeling that it won't. Unfortunately, most people are completely unaware of this issue, and the MSM doesn't have the spine to report it.

[nosecretwhoiam]

Thanks for voicing what many of us believe is true.

[karebarron]

Beautifully put!

Obama/Biden '08

[bavb63]

amen sister!

[iyamchazz]

I just fell in love with Jane Smiley!

[dwt]

Jane Smiley, you are a brilliant novelist and an eloquent commentator. Bravo for this perfect synopsis.

P.S. I've been a fan since Duplicate Keys.

[ForRichardorPoorer]

Excellent writing Jane, excellent!

[noncit]

I just hope that everyone here as lived for sometime in a socialist country. It really is'nt as nice as Obama/Biden make it sound. This website will be gone or at least the freedom on it. I cannot vote but I am watching this election closely.

[ScooterLiddy]

You are a goofy one.

[diamondgirl9]

I have never heard of a tax cut,or a tax hike referred to as socialism. Why is this different from the other tax cuts that have happened? I'm assuming all these people screaming socialism have opted out of social security and medicare-and wouldn't dream of getting unemployment if they lose their jobs.

I know no one from Alaska is posting this garbage since that is the closest thing we have tro a socialist state. Last time I checked they still have their rights.

[BBDisk]

Diamondgirl:

You are still buying the Obama "line" that he is offering a "tax cut" ... he is not.

What he is offering is a "tax credit" ... people who are not now paying taxes will receive a check from the government. That check will be funded by an increase in taxes to people who are already paying taxes.

When you take money from a one person and give it to another person who didn't earn it, that's a form of socialism. You are "spreading the wealth" through redistribution.

I and others think this is a very dangerous preamble to other socialist ideas, ones that come with class-warfare taglines such as "economic justice" ... a concept that can only make sense in the context of the socialist/communist vernacular.

I truly do understand that Obama has created a charismatic personality onto which he hangs a message of hope and change, a peaceful revolution to up-end the entrenched republicans and give power back to the people.

So many people have been hoodwinked by this messianic message, this charismatic actor that people like myself ... looking to call attention to imminent danger ... spend the time to post in places like this, in the hope that - somewhere along the line - a few independents will consider that Obama is too good to be true.

If you are voting for Obama simply because you want to vote against Republicans ... reconsider. You may be causing more damage to your own future for simple

[iyamchazz]

I am living in Finland and have lived in France. I'm a Canadian and if free health care, not being turned away from a hospital, great roads and infrastructure, excellent public service and seeing what your taxes are actually doing makes it socialist, then so be it. Government should be responsible for at least three areas of life; Health, Education and Security. A healthy, educated and secure population makes for a strong and productive country. Government money after all is the taxes people pay.

[tomas0808]

I hear ya. I spent quite a bit of time in Norway and was amazed. That is a gov't that actually cares about its citizens. All of them. They have radical religious groups and other assorted wackos but they are relegated to the fringe because people are educated

[M Razz]

I am a citizen of a liberal progressive European country (what you would consider socialist) and I have been in the USA.

Well lets see: we have democracy, free market capitalism, freedom of speech, human rights, etc..

The big differences between us and the US are: we have universal health care, good educational system, up to date infrastructure, (and some things i wouldn't want to scare you with like gay marriages)­..

What we don't have are: guns, organized religious bigotry, the death penalty, real poverty, (and some other negative sounding things)

You make your own pick.. I rather live in European 'socialism'.

[Lane]

I am still amazed at the people who think that the war in Iraq had anything to do with 911. As I talk to my "red" friends I am stunned that they think Sadam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, that there were WMD's (we just couldn't find them) and that all the brave soldiers who have died in Iraq were right to give up their lives so that we can continue to enjoy our freedom and that we have done "so much good for the people of Iraq".

I am scared to death that these people will be voting for our next president and marking their ballots for "bomb, bomb Iran" McCain. I am tired of being scared to death!!!!!!!!!

[donndublin]

These are the last words of a devoted socialist. You should read a little history about the socialist communist coutries you admire. After the communists took power, they rounded up the self proclaimed intellectuals and journalists and put them in work camps to keep sociey from knowing the truth about their authoritorian practices.

[joe2891]

Yes, and lets all study up on the gulags in Sweden and Denmark.

Oh wait, I mean their free hospitals and universities, their heavily unionized industries, and their overall satisfaction with their lives, which is far higher than Americans.

[arnray]

And which party in this country is the one that disparages intellectual curiousity and academic acheivement as "elitist" and criticizes the press every time they ask a relevent question?

[sunsethill]

Anyone who believes that socialism or communism will be the result of a Democratic victory proves that far too many people are being brainwashed. Its absolute nonsense and I feel sorry for anyone who truly believes that kind of BS.

I'll bet that 90% of the people using the word "socialism" have no freakin' clue what it means. Certainly that is the case for McCain and Palin...

[Savojah]

Thank you for your statement. If Obama is a socialist, we're already living in a socialist country. And President Bush is a socialist president.

[tomas0808]

A social democracy is very different from a communist state.

[dakotawoman]

HatingSocialism,
You're confusing "socialist" with "totalitarian". Yeah, some of the worst dictatorships in history (Stalin, Pol Pot) called themselves socialist, but were really totalitarian dictatorships. Were you aware that Hitler also called himself socialist, but was in reality a totalitarian FASCIST dictator, who took from the people, not for other people, but for the benefit of Big Business?

Sound familiar? If it's totalitarian rule you fear, then throw out your own dictators first. Rove, Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh, Dobson, et. al. have tried to foist a totalitarian, fascist THEOCRACY on the USA for years, based upon an outmoded, unscientific, bigoted and cruel religous belief. As a Christian I abominate such a perversion of Jesus' message of love, forgiveness and brotherhood. Remember who the Pharisee were?

If one really looks and listens to those who live under a democratic socialism such as Denmark Norway and Britian (in some ways), most are happy with the conditions. And those who want to pursue wealth are still free to do so. Kinda like the early Christians lived, come to think of it.

And, I also believe that many Americans are not aware of any of the above information (especially about the very religion many THINK they follow) because American education has been deliberately sabotaged for the very reason of keeping us ignorant of logical thinking, science, history, geography and world affairs. An ignorant, provincial and zenophobic populous is much easier to pacify with "bread" (trickle down economics) and "circuses" (spectator sports & reality TV).

x

[Spitfire67]

Imagine how many people would have died if Saddam Hussein was still alive.

[LHoney]

As Joe Biden would say, "Is this a joke?"

[Sunnyd1965]

Well that is one ignorant statement Spitfire67

Seriously do some research before posting your fox news points which have no basis in facts or go post on fox's site.

[mayzebra]

We don't have to imagine. We can compare the last five years with the previous five. But I'm sure the facts would not interest spitfire67.

[herbkornfeld]

Imagine how many more would be alive if Bush 41 hadn't given him nerve gas and then propped him up and supported him.

You lie with dogs, you get up with fleas.

9-11 was just the start of the chickens coming home to roost.

[Zenith1959]

Saddam probably would have killed many less than have died so far because of our war. Oh, and by the way, lets not confuse socialism with dictatorships and communism, which is what right-wingers "mean" when they say it.

[oncethere]

"Everyone deserves what they get." What a powerful phrase, describes right-wing capitalism to the tea. One qualifier--Bush seems to have some sort of empathy for the young people who have died in his phony wars. It's not really empathy, I don't know what the word for it is.

It is very true that right-wingers see the world as "arbitrary" and that is pointless to try to understand it in any meaningful way. I see this viewpoint as a projection of their own inability to understand themselves or the feelings of others. They always seem to be surprised by others' reactions to them and by events, in general.

The choice for Americans is between not only "ignorance" and "rational investigation," but also between reality and delusion, maturity and the world of the adolescent and a developed man and a small-minded, impulsive man.

[MossyOak]

It's not empathy Bush feels for the young people who have died in his phony war, it's guilt.

[oncethere]

Possibly guilt, but that assumes he has the capacity to feel guilt. People who exhibit cruelty towards other don't experience a great deal of guilt. I wonder if he is thinking, "Wow, this guy died for me, I must be something special."

[Overd0g]

You need to get off that IV drip of DNC coolade.

[jobecky20]

All Obama needs is 270 EVs...does anyone honestly believe that Obama will do the same or worse than Kerry? If he goes the way of Kerry with so many states in play, then it's clear the election will have been stolen. The polls cannot ALL BE WRONG. The enthusiasm for Obama's candidacy is unpreceden­ted...if McCain wins, even the media won't believe it. There is no such thing as the Bradley Effect....­one of the reasons Obama is popular is because he's black in addition to being incredibly intelligent!

[saibotchilizm]

I agree. But the Republicans are pushing hard for a stealing..­. And it's precedented. The 2000 election was stolen, no matter how you look at it.

Public reaction to a McCain victory would be interesting. I will swear off voting forever if such is the case.

[Willa17]

I love your article. I see life as a learning experience and cannot comprehend people whose beliefs are set in stone. Religious fundamentalists represent everything I think is wrong in this world. They cannot make the world progress, they cannot invent or tolerate differences and therefore adapt. I hope by not adapting they would diseappear but what worries me is that we might very well end up disappearing with them. Our biggest threat is global warming and all the people who voted for Bush twice in the past 8 years are responsible for the deterioration of our planet because of their shortness of views. Nature will get back at us for these mistakes and disrespect of our environment, not God. And by the way, if this is God's nature and they love God so much, they don't have any problems destroying the environment. It shows that these people in their sterile mega-osten­tatious-ch­urches are completely disconnected from the world and should not decide anymore who should lead the country.

[Overd0g]

Ditto for global warming fundamentalists.