The public tends to look at politicians these days as lying, stealing, cheating pricks that believe in nothing more than whatever they are told to believe in by their highest campaign contributors. I wouldn't contest the idea that this is likely the case for many politicians in Congress; however, I do not believe that it represents all of them. We the People are going to have to realize that the consequence of living in an America so ideologically divided is common legislative deadlock and stalemate and the consequential perception of a government that can't do anything at all.
The truth is, America is actually totally divided. That we are divided over social issues such as abortion, contraception, gay rights goes without saying. The real divisions that are being seen in politics today are the divisions over absolute political philosophy. The interesting thing to me is where exactly those divisions are found. The Left and the Right are not only divided on policy, or the means by which they intend to effect change in America, but are instead divided along the lines of what it is that they want to see America become.
The Left Wing in America values equality, whether that equality be civic or monetary in nature. Civic equality refers to equality under the law. It is under this banner that gay rights has become a cause of the left. Monetary equality on the hand refers to equality of our purses. It is an idea that is socialist in nature (and that isn't a bad thing, in my opinion, though that may seem anathema to the America Right), but also philosophical. In order to understand our actions, we have to have to follow them to a logical conclusion. What do liberals, at heart, want to see? If you go down the road of public education, public transportation, the New Deal and the Great Society, wealth redistribution through high income taxation, and the such, what you find at the end of this long path is a society in which all the people are equal. Putting aside race, ethnicity, religion, where you work, where you live, all of the categories we put ourselves in, the future for a modern left-winger is a land of true equality, where everyone is more or less in the middle class. Those who make a lot more are taxed until they make (probably still a lot more but) closer to what the median income of the nation is. Those whose labor is worth less than the median income will find that they have to pay less taxes and such. It is not "fair" in most senses of the word, but the social outcome is promising (from a liberal's perspective).
The fact that we speak of the creation of an universal middle class is more or less what makes this a legitimate American vision. America has always been the middle class nation, partly because of its history of having infinite shares of land to give out. Lefties saw their middle class nation disappear with the oncoming effects of the industrial revolution and decided to act. The effects of this change in opinion were the populist movement, progressive movement, the New Deal, and the liberal consensus. Then all of a sudden, everyone realized that the rules that were put in place were not working out so well and were actually causing the economy that powered the middle class to stagnate. Thus began the next revolution: The Reagan Revolution. Once again, individuality and freedom was more important than equality. The interesting paradox is in the fact that what was freedom was also debilitating to the middle class.
The Right wing tries to make itself for the working man, for the American Middle Class, but in reality it is not. The American Right wing cares not for equality, even at the expense of the Middle Class, but rather cares about Liberty and tradition (which by the way is something of a paradox, though no right winger seems to acknowledge that fact). One can look at the American Right as being, to some extent (at least on the liberty side), children of the teachings of author Ayn Rand. Rand's novels and writings espouse a vision of reality in which all men are not at all created equal. Human beings come in all shapes and sizes, all amounts of intelligence, all amounts of skill. The strong, in her view, whether they be strong in will, in intelligence, in creativity, in whatever, deserve to have all of the money and power that they can possibly build up. In other words, the CEOs on Wall Street are smarter than everyone else. They power the economy with their financial innovation. They deserve to make $120 million dollars! And those who do not share in their intelligence or their power do not deserve a part of their income. There is no space for equality in a world where every human being gets what he deserves for what he can do. If they can't do anything, they are worthless and deserve nothing. This doesn't sound very different from the views of say Sharron Angle, Republican senate nominee in Nevada, who recently said that once she is in the Senate she would first fight to make sure she ended unemployment benefits for the jobless... because, you know, they couldn't keep their jobs, so they must be worthless. Maybe if they must keep themselves from starving to death, they'll find a job quicker - no, they'll probably end up stealing or starving, but great idea Sharron.
The logical conclusion of the American Right wing is a world in which there is true liberty, at its best and worst. Those who are strong in mind or body (or in connections of course) will get ahead, and the government won't get in their way. The government won't be their to take away any of the millions that they make. Any of the billions, perhaps, that they make. Those who are unsuccessful will starve and then will no longer be in the American Gene Pool. Oh, no! The American government will not be a welfare state for the weak! Let them all starve! If we feed them they will procreate!
Does that sound too extreme? It should; however, it is more or less what South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer was saying when he spoke of his view on free public school meals for hungry children. He said that feeding the children would be analogous to feeding stray animals and watching them procreate....nicely done, sir!
On the other hand, the American Right has absolutely nothing to do with Ayn Rand (and this is where that great paradox comes into play!) As i said before, the American right is all about BOTH Liberty and Tradition. Ayn Rand hated everything about tradition and in fact hated religion itself. Her favorite symbol was $, her religion, capitalism. She acknowledged that her views were anti-christian morality - because they were! It is true that calvinist thought (which greatly influenced America) puts much importance on hard work, and predestination comes hand in hand with success; however, it is still unchristian at least in my opinion to let the poor and the needy starve. How can any self-proclaimed Christian allow themselves to get rich while they watch the poor wither away and die? How can any Christian take away unemployment benefits to the jobless in a time when there is 1 job for every 5 job applicants???
I apologize. I did not mean for that last part to become a liberal rant :)
I don't assume that everyone would find the left wing future i projected an exaggeration. I don't assume most people will find it very attractive either (nope, it's too socialist - which is funny because it is really just the 1950s in many ways). But i do hope that they don't find the Right Wing future attractive either. The Right Wing future is one where a middle class, as we consider it, no longer exists. It is one of extreme economic freedom and growth, no doubt. But it is also one of vast inequality. Where one man can make as much as 2 billion other people if he is just smart or connected enough to steal it from them.
to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment