Wednesday, February 6, 2008

There's Been No Contest Like It

Excellent article by Michael Tomansky. From the Guardian UK via Truthout.

This is not just the most joyously unpredictable election in US history, writes Michael Tomasky. It is fundamentally about whether America is finally ready to give liberalism another chance.

The grand theme of this contest, to hear the candidates tell it, is "change." That's a shallow buzzword that doesn't say much, and to listen to the candidates strain to persuade the public that "I represent change too!" (Obama was first) is to be reminded of schoolchildren in pursuit of gold stars from teacher.

But amazingly enough, it's not entirely inapt. This election is fundamentally about whether a majority of Americans are prepared to give liberalism another chance. The story goes like this. The modern conservative movement in America was founded in the mid-1950s. We had conservatives before then, Lord knows. But this was something new. This was conservatism as a dedicated project.

Clarence "Pat" Manion, a dean at the University of Notre Dame and a founder of the movement, convened groups of conservatives to get together and start infiltrating (legally and above board - by winning elections) their local Republican parties. Rich conservatives in various walks of life started putting massive amounts of money into conservative-movement politics - financing candidates, starting ideological magazines, publishing rightwing books. If you drink Coors beer or have ever visited the California theme park called Knott's Berry Farm, you've pitched in yourself.

When I was a kid in L.A., Knott's Berry Farm was the only theme park. Disneyland didn't happen 'til '56. My aunt and uncle would sometimes take me there as a destination for their 'Sunday drive'. And a drive it was - there weren't any freeways in those days and it was about 30 miles of surface streets. Yes, I'm old enough to remember when the Arroyo Seco Parkway was what passed for a freeway in Southern California.

The park had an Old Western Town theme and a full-size train ride that got held up by robbers who would shoot off their pistols. That was big stuff to a 10-year-old kid. They also had terrific chicken dinners and boysenberry pie, which is why I think my uncle liked the joint. To this day, Knott's is my gold standard for boysenberry jam.

The former family-owned farm and theme park today is just another plastic fantastic, and the jelly and jam biz is owned by ConAgra. It's a statement of what the right-wing has wrought upon our country over the years. That is not a compliment.

And the beer? I've drunk my share of Coors (pronounced 'sewers') over the years, but it sucks.

Q: Why is Coors like making love at the beach?

A: Because it's fuckin' near water.

This actually happened - one time in a Mexican restaurant, the waiter brought me my Dos Equis, set it on the table with a flourish and said, "Por usted, amigo, una cerveza mas fina!". He sorta plunked my buddy's can of Coors down in front of him and said, "Y por usted, señor, un vaso de agua...". I got a good laugh out of seeing the egg on my pal's face from gettin' caught out as a nekulturny boob. So did the waiter.

Another right-wing transformation of a good old German-inspired lager into a weak, insipid, tasteless concoction for the masses, but it's a money-maker.

Note to Coors: It'd be better beer if you ran it through the horse one more time.

Knott's Berry Farm and Coors are perfect examples of how right-wing corporate culture, AKA 'greed', has fucked America all up.

The Republican party of the day, I should note, was a mostly moderate amalgam. Dwight Eisenhower as president embraced the New Deal. There is a quote of Ike's, famous now in the era of George Bush and Dick Cheney, and piquant enough in light of current circumstances to warrant reproducing here in full:

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labour laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible, and they are stupid."

Their number is no longer negligible, but they're still stupid. Actually, their ideas are stupid - to take, take, take to their own enrichment and fuck the rest of us, but they were smart enough to realize they could spread corruption and greed like a cancer, and do it quietly so no one would notice until it metastasized and threatened the nation.

Ah well. By 1964, this faction had taken over the Republican party. It nominated Barry Goldwater. But he was massacred that November by Lyndon Johnson, and the wise observers of the day declared this strange conservative thing, this malformed aberration, mercifully deceased.

But it turned out that that was liberalism's high-water mark. The changes, political and cultural, set in train that year - the House of Representatives passed the historic civil rights bill the very day after we Americans first saw the Beatles, on Ed Sullivan's TV show - had, within four or five years' time, unleashed uncontrollable forces.

So another interesting question: will the Democrats finally understand that a campaign isn't a college debate but is an obstacle course that must be negotiated with a velvet glove on one hand and a switchblade in the other?

I think the Dems are experts at taking a knife to a gunfight...

It's a good article. You should go read, and please pardon my ramble down memory lane.

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