In my last post, I mentioned the Democrats had become “confused and sightless” about the future. I saw them as a party driven by polls, not principles. But that’s all right. The process is reversible. I hereby offer my idiosyncratic purification plan for getting the Dems back on track.
No whippoorwill sales. This is a reference to the absurd song “Cockeyed Optimist,” from South Pacific. In it, Nellie Forbush, perhaps the biggest ninny in all of Broadway music, observes, “They say the human race is falling on its face, and hasn’t very far to go… But every whippoorwill is selling me a bill, and telling me it just ain’t so…” And this madness is in the middle of World War 2!
Nellie hasn’t put away childish things. She hasn’t learned to see through a glass, darkly. She doesn’t see the enslaver, the despoiler, the exploiter. She doesn’t see the conquered, the conquistador, and the Inquisitor, the colonialist and the colonialized, the oppressor and the oppressed.
Democratic politics are for people ready to confront the dreadful truth of their humanity; for those who have said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” Anything else is a Disney movie.
Collective action is the highest expression of civilization. I’m taking about the kind of teamwork that transcends nationalism and builds international cooperation. The International Space Station is an example; the World Wildlife Fund is a better one; the Paris Climate Accords is the best of the lot. Any international action that defies our tendency toward self-extinction is enlightenment.
The lowest expression of civilization, by the way, is selfish action. It’s the course of action that persistently seeks out the narrow, short-term gain. One would be hard pressed to find a better motto for such short-sightedness than “Let’s make America great again!” Whatever that means, let’s not do it.
Justice is the central business of government. Once upon a time, the appropriate purpose and size of government was an interesting subject of discourse. Then something happened. People understood the enormity of injustice in our country was such that government could never again deal with it unless some basic assumptions about government were re-examined and restated. For example, there was no possibility of coping with injustice unless the raison d’être of government became the eradication of injustice. (And after all, why bother instituting governments if they would not operate at cross-purposes with injustice?)
Does anyone question that government and a concern for injustice have all but parted company? If you harbor any doubt, let me help clarify the question. How’s your health care? Does it depend on how much money you have? How well are your children nourished and educated? Does it depend on how much money you have? How easy is it for you to find and hold a job? Does it depend on your race? Your ethnicity? Your religious convictions? Your sexual preferences? Do you have a sufficient opportunity to vote? Early? By mail? On a weekend? Is your vote real, or has it been gerrymandered into insignificance? Do you feel safe in your neighborhood and in your home? Or do you and your loved ones feel you could be victims of violence at any time? Do the local police serve you? How about the safety of your environment? Are nearby roads and bridges secure? Is your water safe to drink? Do you live in proximity to poisons? Are you in touch with your anger yet? If you are, I congratulate you. You are on the Progressive-New Deal-Great Society arc of history, and you are pointed where Democrats need to be pointed—toward socialism!
In the last presidential election cycle, Bernie Sanders offered the Dems a course correction, away from “let’s fly this up the flag pole” toward “justice, for the survival of the people.” Hillary thanked him with the assertion he was trying to destroy the Democratic party. Au contraire. The lapse of leadership was entirely hers.
I hope the Dems have once and for all said goodby to Clinton and her surrogates. Nothing but sorrow lies down that road.
The Scratching Post 