By Octopus
(This post started as a comment in response to three fine articles by our esteemed colleagues, Sheria, Nameless Cynic, and Shaw Kenawe. The subject is important enough to merit more commentary.)Three decades ago, political scientist Theodore J. Lowi authored a ‘themed’ textbook titled, American Government: Incomplete Conquest. Although it received little attention at the time, its main ideas have special relevance today:
If the first problem facing our cave-dwelling forbearers was survival, the second, according to Lowi, was government. No matter how enlightened any form of government appears in theory, all governments have a primordial mean streak, an instinct to lash out and violate their own laws and principles - especially in times of war or national emergency. Consider the suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the concept of eminent domain, as examples. Make no mistake. All governments reserve the right to violate your rights or confiscate your property. Furthermore, no matter whom you elect, someone will control your life; and your choice at the ballot box is a choice between competing visions of governance.
This weekend, I watched an interview of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels on MSNBC - keeping these ideas of Theodore Lowi in mind. Here is the gist of Daniels: A Chicken Little argument on deficits and spending framed as existential threats to freedom and prosperity. When the interviewer suggested a moratorium on social issues, Daniels invoked the words of Ronald Reagan: “Results, not rhetoric.”
Daniels gave a sky-is-falling, no compromise, non-negotiable performance that embodies his vision of authoritarian control. It is the same script followed by GOP governors in Ohio, New Jersey, and Wisconsin, among others. Between the lines, there is a master strategy at work framed long ago in the shadowy backrooms of GOP think tanks.
A Chicken Little argument is a coin with two sides. The side facing up is the fear factor warning of dire consequences and demanding urgent action. The facedown side masks the intent behind the fear: To preclude an open and honest debate and stifle dissent. In other words, when the sky is falling, there is no time to discuss the legitimacy of the claim.
On closer examination, is the sky actually falling? If the state of emergency is about the state of the budget, why are fiscal conservatives pushing a radical social agenda such as this? Which comes first: Chicken Little’s eggs or the almighty dollar?
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| H/T to Shaw Kenawe for this Joel Pett cartoon |
In retrospect, we know the union-busting controversy in Wisconsin is not about budgets. We know Governor Walker’s predecessor forecast a $121.4 million budget surplus. We know Walker created a bogus shortfall by giving tax breaks to employers at levels far too low to spur real job growth (source). A classic Republican tactic, Walker eviscerated tax revenues as an excuse to gut a traditional Democratic power base.
In due course, Wisconsin Republicans forced union-busting provisions through the state legislature by stripping them from the budget bill, thus sidestepping a quorum requirement. This tactic exposed the deception behind the rhetoric: Union-busting does not balance state budgets … confirmed by none other than Wisconsin GOP Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald in this astonishing admission:
If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin.As Lowi reminds us, citizens go to the polls to choose between competing visions of governance, and freedom is in the eye of the beholder.
Let us put naivety aside as we consider the rivalry between Democrats and Republicans. If the contest seems asymmetrical to us, it is because the GOP conducts politics with a primordial mean streak as if it were a sovereign entity engaged in actual war. No longer a contest between rivals, politics has devolved into a contest to win by any and all means necessary (even in violation of democratic principles); and the weapons of partisan warfare are fear, deceit, pandering, legislative chicanery, and ruthless guerilla assaults against the assets of the opposition party.
Consider the asymmetry between union busting and the Citizens United decision. If Citizens United opened the door to unlimited corporate funding of political speech, events in Wisconsin have closed the door on union funding for Democrats. All told, union busting, Gonzo-gate, voter caging, voter ID cards, and the smear of Acorn are manifestations of a GOP master plan to eliminate traditional bases of Democratic support.
In theory, true democracy is predicated on choice, and choice connotes a policy debate between rivals. If one party, however, employs ruthless tactics to cripple the opposition beyond viability, what we have left is essentially a one party system with only token opposition. In other words: A democracy in name only. Wisconsin is where the GOP changed the dynamics of democratic engagement from contest to conquest. Wisconsin is where Chicken Little crossed the road to fascism.
Resources for political action:
- Contribute to Act Blue
- Join Working America, an advocacy group for non-union members who support the labor movement.
- National Conference of State Legislatures: Recall Information Page
- Website to Recall the Republican Eight
- Website to Recall Scott Walker
ok... try this on for size...Wis GOP State Senator Randy Hopper, on the hot seat for recall because of living with a mistress twenty years his junior is now implicated in getting said mistress a State Employee job...
ReplyDeleteSen. Randy Hopper's Girlfriend Gets State Job; Hopper Dances Around Explanation
via WKOW27—Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) told WKOW27 News he played no role in the recent hire of a state employee.
Sources told WKOW27 News the employee is the same woman Hopper’s estranged wife, Alysia Hopper referred to as Hopper’s mistress in a public statement and in a letter to a radio station. [That woman is Valerie Cass, identified by Blogging Blue. Cass graduated in 2007 from the College of Communication; with a Bachelor of Arts; Major in Journalism from Marquette University.]
http://addins.wkow.com/blogs/scoop/2011/03/hopper-denies-role-in-state-employees-hire
I love family values
26-year-old GOP operative
Department of Regulation and Licensing spokesperson David Carlson said the woman, 26, was hired in February as a limited term communications specialist.
Whole societies don't behave as rational individuals would.
ReplyDeleteThe US social dynamic has shifted. Pulling it in a different direction requires a great deal of social motivation. (Mass dissent and revolutions did this in the past.)
What will America do? The world is watching... but the world has its own problems. So it's up to you. It's almost as if the incremental erosion of social privileges, if conducted slowly enough, will go unchallenged...
The stupidity of Walker is, he's moved too quickly. It's a bad move that gets a negative reaction.
One answer: keep forcing the bastards to fast-track their real agendas!
The good news is that the Judge has put a restraining order on Walkers' sneak bill. Once in awhile we win one.
ReplyDeleteWith any luck at all, this will give the Democrats and the people time to recall enough Republicans so that if Walker re-introduces the bill it will fail.
Octo,
ReplyDeleteWhat you say makes great sense to this dinosaur. It seems to me that passage of the health insurance reform bill was what stirred up the bees that were already in the bonnets of our Republican tax-whackers, teacher-bashers and social-spending slashers. “Health” is one of the areas where we lag behind the European social democracies, Medicare aside, so any advance there brings us a step closer to them. The chicken little strategy you outline could be a strong counteroffensive to that advance – reach back into the bag of tricks and presto! Union busting! Always worth another go-round! The nakedness of the GOP’s assaults on the average person’s well-being is only matched by the gullibility with which the average person seems to take the arguments for the assaults.
What I see is a rapacious attempt to transfer wealth from the lower socioeconomic levels to the uppermost levels. As for the proposed cuts, “necessity,” as Milton tells us in Paradise Lost, was ever “the tyrant’s plea,” even if it’s primly labeled “public reason just.” Our borrowing is likely to create serious problems for us in the long run, but it isn’t a good excuse to stiff fire-fighters, librarians and teachers in the short run, especially in rough economic times.
Here’s what it comes to, I think: systems can perpetuate themselves for a long time even when they don’t benefit most of the people subject to them. All they need to do is satisfy the needs and wants of the powerful few who do benefit; everyone else can be either duped into thinking himself or herself included, or simply excluded outright.
It’s at least promising that so many people have become alive to the unattractiveness of what the current Republican Party is trying to do – that augurs well for 2012. I take the point that money makes a difference in elections, but here in California we recently saw a savvy shoestring campaigner and long-time politician, Jerry Brown, easily defeat his super-rich opponent, whose hundred-and-something million dollars spent did her very little good. Money helps, but it doesn’t guarantee a win. I feel pretty good about President Obama’s chances in 2012.
It may even be the case that a lot of GOPers are in such full throttle mode because they realize they’ll be seen as overreaching anyhow, so they just want to get as much done on their agenda as they can before the people have a chance to toss them out of office.
Well said Octo, well said! I'm getting mixed reviews about my fascism post, it may be a little early in the game for some to recognize it but I do and believe it is here. Take all the moves the GOP has made in the past 2 yrs, they think we're not paying attention but we are, thanks to Walker! Do you mind if I use the last paragraph as a header piece?
ReplyDeleteSue,
ReplyDeletePlease feel free to pull any quote you want. And please let me know when your post is up.
Bloggingdino,
Many thanks - your comment means a lot to me. Although I did not mention healthcare in this post, your remark on healthcare is more than coincidental because I did give it some thought.
In an earlier draft, I mentioned a provision in Walker’s bill that authorized $48 million for private health insurance savings accounts in Wisconsin. Given a total state population at 5,654,774, and a total number of households at 2,084,544, the sum of $48 million amounts to $23.03 per household, or $8.49 per person. What the [expletive deleted] does $23.03 or $8.49 buy in today’s healthcare market! The only plausible explanation I can give is that Walker intended to use this provision to undermine universal healthcare and have Wisconsin opt out of the federal program … at taxpayer expense. What a sham!
In a later draft, I chose to delete this part of the discussion because it distracted from the main point of the post. Nevertheless, I mention it here.
Virtually concurrent to this post, Professor Richard Lichtman of UCLA posted this article at Truth Out, Totalitarian Democracy. His remarks were more cautious and tentative than mine, nonetheless clearly moving in the same direction. When Professor Lichtman and Sue (above) are distant and disparate voices in Cyberspace coming to the same conclusion, then I believe this view is gaining proponents. In any event, this is a conversation we MUST HAVE.
Octo, it's just a paragraph in my header, no post.
ReplyDeleteI believe we need to get our heads out of the sand with this subject too. It's fascinating!
I am appalled at Scott Walker and I hope the Recall goes through as the daughter/niece/cousin of Wisconsinites. I'm proud that they are still fighting but not surprised -- 'stubborn' doesn't cover Wisconsinites; they have raised it to an art form. Scott Walker will be going away. I just hope it isn't too late.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Octopus and readers. We could learn much more about GOP strategies and tactics reading about Lee Atwater’s “Southern Strategy” and even Shirer’s masterpiece, but I think this from bloggingding’s comment says it all:
ReplyDelete“The nakedness of the GOP’s assaults on the average person’s well-being is only matched by the gullibility with which the average person seems to take the arguments for the assaults.”
I will never understand how that works, but I think brainwashing is involved.
As usual, Octopus, you have exhibited an intellectual grasp on reality.
BJ
What these gullible Republicans aren't thinking about is that those who want to control all aspects of government are only getting started with the middle-class and poor people on the left. Next it will be them because the Republicans, out of greed, stupidity and selfishness, want it ALL. There will be no room for the middle-class of any stripe, Democrat or Republican.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, all the attention is good but in a way it distracts from the fact that this is a nationwide phenomenon. Florida's Rick Scott has been slashing jobs, slashing education, looking for a middle class tax hike and a bill forbidding private insurance to cover abortions even in cases of rape and incest is up for a vote today. It's not getting national attention but Scott has been publicly booed of late and people who have long backed Republicans are starting to notice whose interests are being represented.
ReplyDeleteI fear that perhaps we're missing the most insidious piece of the GOP's push for power at all costs, and that's the character of the American public. Why don't we have a health care system that rivals Canada's or any number of European countries? Why are politicians allowed to cut funding for the programs that they scathingly call entitlements? Why is it that so many people only speak out in angry voices against equal rights for gay people, immigrants, and the poor?
ReplyDeleteI think that we suffer from a sickness of character (I'm using we broadly, clearly there are exceptions but I fear that the exceptions are the numerical minority), an ideological belief that is grounded in a mistrust of our fellow humans and no sense of responsibility for our neighbor. Not only do we feel no responsibility to be our brother's and sister's keeper,we don't even acknowledge that there is any connection among us all.
Americans are a peculiar breed. We live in a country where the overall standard of living is much better than many parts of the world yet we have homelessness, child poverty, and hunger at rates that rival those of some of the countries that we identify as being third world. We come up with regulations that require restaurants to throw food away rather than allowing them to donate the food to local soup kitchens. We insist that we just can't house all of the homeless. Average,everyday folks should be outraged and demand more from our elected leaders but unless a policy affects us directly, most of us just don't give a damn.
There are far too many of us who are content with the actions of these leaders, who are quick to blame the poor for being too lazy to work, and see no problems with cutting funding to programs to aid those in need. I no longer believe that the majority of people want a better world for all of us. Elected officials are only as powerful as we let them be. Anne Frank was wrong, a whole lot of people aren't really good at heart.
"I no longer believe that the majority of people want a better world for all of us."
ReplyDeleteBeautiful comment, as usual.
I have to agree, although it pains me because in most ways, I'm tempted to say people are good. At least I want to think so, so I force myself to think it's ignorance or that they've been talked into something, but evidence seems to be that they only want it for themselves or those they identify with and fiercely resent including their countrymen in the same category as the flag. It doesn't cost anything to worship a flag. Civilization has a price. Decency, compassion -- it comes with a price.
I've seen my community band together in times of emergency, but then I see them looking for scapegoats and ignoring the culprits when the economy goes sour, so maybe Americans are truly a peculiar breed, indeed.
Hmm. I think you're both right. I agree with the Capt. that people are good. I also agree with Sheria that the majority of people may not want a better world. Could both positions co-exist?
ReplyDeleteSure. People respond to the common good—when it's within a common group. When it comes to natural disaster all human beings can identify with the effects. So we're all members of the same tribe, and we reach out to help. New Orleans, Haiti, Japan are all common communities.
But when the group is split, as in "haves" and "have nots" the empathy disappears. The American ethic has been built around individual enterprise. Ergo, anyone who fails is simply not enterprising enough. They are not members of "our" enterprising group.
Race has played into this as much as economic status. Yet recent research shows that race is far less important than social status. The wealthy of any race have more in common with the wealthy of another race than with their own people.
Are these folks bad? No, I don't think so. They're just environmentally blinded to the plight of others, due to circumstance, etc.
The trick is, of course, breaking down the walls. This is a never-ending process, and if our politicians don't do it, they should, correctly, be tossed out.
So if we put up with them being bought out by special interests or partisan media, its OUR fault. We do have the power to get rid of them... but it takes enterprise—and hard work.
All,
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the Ziggy Freud / Dino Downer view: rights are extended within the group only at the cost of ever more savage persecution of everyone and everything outside the group.
This thread also puts me in mind of what President Clinton likes to say: people prefer "strong and wrong" unless you give them a better alternative. "genial and on the mark" doesn't win against the Darth Vader-like Strong and Wrong, I suppose.
"strong and wrong" unless you give them a better alternative. There's the ticket. And the better alternative is always strong—and correct—leadership... It may be we need to find an FDR...
ReplyDeleteMy neighbors who live across from me are Canadians. In Florida, we have a term for them: Snowbirds – because they are refugees from the north who winter here during the ice and snow months. I count my Canadian neighbors as among my closest friends.
ReplyDeleteWhen they arrived for the season, I asked them: "When you come to Florida and stay a few months, you catch snapshots of American life with each visit. I wonder what changes, if any, you have observed over the years. A candid and objective opinion, please.”
Their response: "Greed, self-centeredness and rudeness; more and more with each passing year. You have no idea how people like Sarah Palin and your radical right wing make your country appear ugly in the eyes of the world.”
The boiled frog analogy applies here. Perhaps some of us do not notice a gradual change; others do. Perhaps my years of living abroad left me acutely sensitive - former expats experience things with practiced detachment. My Canadian friends and neighbors confirmed what I have long felt about this “half savage’ country: Crass commercialization, everything made vulgar, narcissism wrapped inside nationalism, decadence and corruption everywhere.
Yes and no, my friend. The US is running on sheer marketing effort alone.
ReplyDeleteBut Canada is not all that far behind, we just have more wood and water and minerals to extract and sell, which still keeps us busy and boring. But the US ultra-con movement of greed and individualism is affecting us, too.
It's a colder world everywhere... except maybe coastal China, at least for the time being.
I think age makes one more aware too. To the young, everything seems like it's always been this way and this way seems normal.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, we sat next to a group of Schnee Vögel last night at a local restaurant. They were making the rudest jokes and comments about the waitress in some barely comprehensible German dialect ( they may actually have been Swiss, but more probably Austrian) and in loud voices.
As I was leaving the conversation turned to the Jews. I couldn't quite make it out, but seeing a sneering face squeezing out the word Juden, made me glad I'd left the Colt home. It quite ruined my dinner.
I guess we have such a monolingual reputation that the Scheißkerl thought he could talk about us behind our backs while smiling.
We're not the only smug ugly bastards on earth, bad as we might be.
How sad and how true.
ReplyDelete