A specter is haunting the opinion writers of the United States and its name is “Despair”. From George Will:
Viewing 2016 in retrospect — doing so is unpleasant, but less so than was living through it — the year resembles a china shop after a visit from an especially maladroit bull. Because a law says “the state of California may not sell or display the Battle Flag of the Confederacy . . . or any similar image,†a painting of the 1864 Siege of Atlanta was banned from display at the Fresno County fair. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services churned out a 25-page policy statementabout “the systematic inclusion of families in activities and programs that promote children’s development, learning, and wellness. †That is, government should provide, as an act of grace — systematic grace — a role for parents in raising their children.
to Fareed Zakaria:
In the West, these two traditions — liberty and law on the one hand, and popular participation on the other — became intertwined, creating what we call liberal democracy. It was noticeable when I wrote the essay, and even clearer now, that in a number of countries — including Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Iraq and the Philippines — the two strands have come apart. Democracy persists (in many cases), but liberty is under siege. In these countries, the rich and varied inner stuffing of liberal democracy is vanishing, leaving just the outer, democratic shell.
What stunned me as this process unfolded was that laws and rules did little to stop this descent. Many countries had adopted fine constitutions, put in place elaborate checks and balances, and followed best practices from the advanced world. But in the end, liberal democracy was eroded anyway. It turns out that what sustains democracy is not simply legal safeguards and rules, but norms and practices — democratic behavior. This culture of liberal democracy is waning in the United States today.
to the editors of the Wall Street Journal:
Turkey and Russia announced Thursday that they have brokered a cease-fire between the Syrian regime and the non-radical opposition, with a peace conference to follow next month in Kazakhstan. This is a vultures’ peace, with the two authoritarian powers and Iran preparing to negotiate over the bloody carcass of Syria as they advance their strategic interests in the Middle East.
the tenor of their commentary has overwhelmingly turned to one of despair.
It is not anger or righteous indignation—those would call one to action and there are no exhortations in their writing.
I’m reminded of Robert Bolt’s words in A Man for All Seasons:
And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned around on you–where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast–man’s laws, not God’s–and if you cut them down…d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.â€
or Hosea 8:
They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.
God bless us every one.
It’s despair not anger because the problem is not primarily with the government but with the people. It is the cruelty, racism, misogyny and sheer stupidity of Trump voters that is depressing. I thought better of the American people. As a column I’m too lazy to look up pointed out, what’s happened is that white liberals have come to realize just how right groups like Black Lives Matter are about this country. The sickness and the weakness in the hearts and minds of so-called ‘good people’ is why it’s despair.
No law can protect us against the citizenry. This is the fundamental weakness inherent in democracy – sometimes the voters lose their tiny minds. The law most at fault here is an absurd system that places in office the loser of the election, the people’s second choice, elevating instead the first choice of a foreign authoritarian thug. The American people will be ruled for four years at least by the candidate of the KGB, Big Oil, Goldman Sachs, the KKK and the American Nazi Party. Because 46% of the American electorate are fools.
I am not really sure things are all that much worse, aside from the possibility of Trump being uniquely awful. When has the Philippines ever been well governed? When has the ME not been in chaos for an extended period of time? Russia was communist 30 years ago. Now it has an authoritarian strongman government. Why is that surprising? When has the country ever been run well?
The only semi-unique problem I see in the international area is Islamic based terrorism, but that is hardly an existential threat. In the US, we followed an economic ideology for over 30 years which believed that making rich people richer would make us all better off. Instead, the wealthy shipped out jobs to make themselves even wealthier. They imported foreign workers so they could pay them lower wages. For some reason economists, and everyone else, is surprised that the wealthy people in our country acted in their own self interests, not that of the country. Then, we respond to this by putting some rich guy who has never shown interest in anyone but himself in office, thinking he will suddenly cater to the interests of the non-wealthy. I guess we can all hope he will change, but I wouldn’t count on it. However, even with this, it basically just means that the wealthy can now run the country directly.
Steve
The two liberal commentaries above seem to be brimming with fingers pointing at either Republicans or “the rich,” as the primary reasons for all of societal’s despair and failings. Soaked in beliefs that rich people are all ” Uncle Scrooge’s” in their behavior, and Republicans comprise rich people, they merrily reposition reality to fit their own narratives.
Somehow, missing from these dialogues is how many leftists are rich, have sent their money and operations overseas, and when in power seem to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. D.C. , per capita the richest district in the nation, is a prime example of how goverment rewards their own. Also, the socially progressive left tech industry, Hollywood celebrities, make a lion’s share of the money, along with Wall Street who seems to affiliate itself with anyone in power over any particular party.
And yet, in this past election, there are those who cry foul, cite epithets and claims that it was society’s unwashed, unfit (middle class) who turned the election away from their own candidate. Somehow, the fact that the man who won, did so by defeating his opponent in 2600 counties, out of around 3100 in total (85% to 15%) seems not to be relevant. The fact that if you take CA out of the mix, HRC would have also lost the popular vote, while the electoral vote would have been scaled down to 177 to 306, before the Dec. 19th final tally, is not even under consideration. Then you have the ground game implications, where the Dem candidate concentrated aggressive efforts in dense, metropolitan areas, giving glitzy concerts, busing people to easily vote, spending tons on negative ad copy (versus ideas), a myriad of offices in targeted areas, and she still lost. Her opponent’s strategy was to take his campaign to the people, have a non-existant ground game, few and far between campaign offices, hardly any dependence on negative ad copy, relying solely on people’s own enthusiasm to take their own feet to vote. But, rather than give credence to these kind of independently motivated people, they are demeaned and charicaturized as the worst of the worst.
BTW, one of the best ways to make everyone’s life experience better is to grow the economy with more, higher paying, FULL TIME jobs. The current president failed to do this, even with all the rich elites supporting him and his presidency. The future president is also surrounded by rich supporters, filling his cabinet with successful, wealthy business people. However, rather than wait and see how these people accomplish the job they are being tasked to do, they are being derided before the new administration even gets started.
“The fact that if you take CA out of the mix,”
Take Texas out of the mix and Trump loses.
“The current president failed to do this, even with all the rich elites supporting him and his presidency.”
Actually, many of them opposed Obama’s efforts that hurt them, especially on Dodd-Frank. Your overall tenor is very wrong as you are repeating GOP talking points. The fact is that the wealthy seek to control whoever is in office. That often involves tactical donations to both sides. There is no shortage of rich people who have worked to make sure that Democratic policies are a lot closer to GOP policies than they used to be. The Dems used to at least nominally support the middle class, but they mostly gave that up, so they deserve some blame. The GOP, OTOH, never has. Now Trump comes in and says he will be their hero, by putting a bunch of rich people in charge. Might work, but mostly looks like we just put a bunch of foxes in charge of the chicken coop.
Finally, the assertion that I am trying to depict the wealthy as Uncle Scrooges is just stupid. There is no moral judgement here, or attempt to make them seem evil. What I, and others, are claiming is they just acted in their own self interest. That is, they acted just as we should expect people in a capitalist economy to behave. They further optimized their returns. What was wrong was the belief that this would somehow benefit everyone else. Make rich people, regardless of their political affiliation, richer does not guarantee we will prosper, and it particularly does not mean that if there is growth, that it will be shared by all.
Steve
The five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost – grief.com
Will acceptance be next?
“The two liberal commentaries above seem to be brimming with fingers pointing at either Republicans or “the rich,†as the primary reasons for all of societal’s despair and failings. ”
It’s easier than looking in the mirror and questioning your belief system or your party’s performance.
It just means jan has reading comprehension issues. I didn’t use the word Republican or GOP in my first comment. Only used GOP in response in next comment, and to note that Dem policies are now mostly the same as GOP in many areas, and deserve blame for that.
You never know, if the dems had asked me for my vote, instead of calling me names, they may have gotten it.
Signed, working class WHITE, (EVIL), male.
Trump, I hope, will upset the gravy train for all of those secure Federal make work jobs, that Obama expanded at my expense.
No, Trump won’t give me free stuff like Obama promised his voters, but then Obama never delivered for anyone but himself anyway.