There's something weird in the air. Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona, who generally supports extensions of police power, has shut down a program where automated cameras enforce speed regulations on the state's highways. This was in response to vigorous protests, which included attacks on the cameras with pickaxes and Silly String, a guy accumulating dozens of tickets while wearing a monkey mask, and even killing someone who was operating one of the mobile setups. I recognize that the law was seen as annoying and intrusive, but somehow this seems a tad excessive. A traffic ticket doesn't normally warrant murder, as far as I can tell.
Yes, there is a lot of rage in America today. It's hard to believe it's over fiscal matters, given that these folks didn't seem at all irked when Reagan drove the deficit to vast new heights. And there also weren't any right wing protest groups formed when George Bush financed an entire war by running trillions in "emergency" expenditures. Another plausible explanation for this anger, also based on economic conditions, is the terrible, high jobless rate; people are out of work, hurting and angry. But the favored political organization of the Tea Party, the Republicans, has lately adopted the position that the unemployed are lazy, don't respect honest labor, and are getting fat off of tax dollars. Go figure.
So I'm forced to move to a cultural explanation. It seems like the country is changing, in so many ways--big and small--and some folks are awfully put out about it.
What kinds of shifts are Americans having to deal with? Let's start with the most obvious: there's a black guy in the White House with a funny name (as President Obama used to say on the campaign trail). I have a feeling a whole lot of people grumbled about that two autumns ago, then woke up in November with their worst nightmare no longer just a bad dream. And they still haven't gotten over it, and probably never will.
Then there's immigration. A number of cities and states now have minority-white populations, with more on the way. Forget the fact that these new majorities consist of a multitude of ethnic, national, and religious groups, who often don't get along--remember blacks and Koreans during the last LA riot?--the salient factor for some folks is that they're no longer dominant. It's not like they necessarily did anything to demonstrate that before (although some did), but it was a hell of a nice feeling. And now it's gone.
And ethnics aren't the only former minority reversing status. There has been a wave of right-wing fears over the possibility of Elena Kagan joining the Supreme Court, despite the fact that from what little we know of her, she seems somewhat mainstream. But her ascension to the Court means that one-third of that body will be women, for the first time in American history. Along with a whole bunch of female candidates across the land, from different parties: all that might just make a feller uneasy.
After that the hits keep on coming. The government is attacking and regulating business, not what the last administration did. So what if we have one of the worst oil spills in our history, destroying jobs and businesses. That's no reason to change; just ask Representative Joe Barton.
This week we are also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which made folks with wheelchairs more visible, and forced every-day changes in our lives. There are also more and more performers with disabilities in our entertainment, the stuff we watch every day, players who are no longer tanned and tall; watch Glee, for example, but dozens of other shows and films, too. It's kind of like how Americans had to get used to non-white faces on their tvs, in their movies...everywhere.
And we are having to recognize that there are gays all around us, and that they are entitled to equal rights and equal recognition. Forget courts or the legislature; an article in the New York Times recently pointed out how business is way ahead of the politicians. Seventy percent of the daily newspapers in this country now accept same-sex wedding announcements, and there are major pushes by airlines, boat cruises, and tour services for their business. To compete with Brides, an online publication called Equally Wed offers tips and ideas to lesbian and gay couples heading for the alter. And it's published from a state where same sex marriage is banned! Katherine Sender, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, observed, "The market doesn't wait for politics to catch up." So Americans--the ultimate consumers--now have to confront sales pitches to gays, whether they want to see them or not. For some people, that's a lot to accept. And worse yet, the military--the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, even the Marines, are dropping "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and will soon be accepting people with various sexual orientations into the ranks (where they've been for centuries). What's a guy seeking a testosterone career to do?
Some people are overwhelmed by all these changes; it's just too much to deal with, all at one time. A lot of Americans today seem to be feeling like the right wing spokespersons who boldly and loudly declare, "I Want My Country Back!"
The problem is that it has never been "your" country. It has always been "our" country. All of us, not just one segment. And if we add new faces to that "e pluribus unum", we may just be stronger for it. Plus, if the makeup of that vast American collection shifts, and if other folks become a majority, and take power--restrained by the same laws that applied to "you" when "you" held the reins--then that is called, simply and basically...democracy. You remember what that is, don't you? It's the idea immortalized by the Founding Fathers.
For once I agree with the Tea Party Movement about returning to original intent.