First, some facts about the current state of our country in terms of the factions that are battling for its soul.
1. The Media: There are 2 factions of mainstream media. The first faction performs like American State Television. Their objective is to legitimize the current government at the cost of critical thinking. I recently came across an article that compared the consumers of this type of media as political "fans." Akin to sports fans who are incapable of seeing their favorite team's wrong doings, consumers of pro-government media can watch our current Commander in Chief poison the minds of young adults with political rhetoric and react with excitement rather than revulsion. Ironically, they see themselves as freedom fighters and rebels, standing up to the Washington establishment and in some of the more extreme circles, even higher education. Many see "liberal education" as the cause of their ills, forcing themselves into a an cocoon of willful ignorance fed by a network of information that passes itself off as news but in reality is a multi-million dollar exercise in confirmation bias.
The second faction also presents itself as news and until the 2016 election was actually the closest you could get to pure journalism. Since the election, however, their objective has been to trigger something that has only happened three times in the country's history...force the impeachment/resignation/removal of a sitting President. Andrew Johnson was saved by one vote at his impeachment trial, Nixon resigned after the details of the Watergate break in became public, and Bill Clinton became the first President since Andrew Johnson to be formally impeached. Clinton, like Johnson, was acquitted. It's not likely they will succeed but the consumers of this type of media also believe themselves to be freedom fighters, battling against the Trump-complicit Washington establishment, deriding the pro government supporters as uneducated racists who are willing to sell the country out to the Russians to support a man who fits their vision of America.
2. Congress: There are also 2 factions in our legislative body that are fighting for dominance and they aren't the ones you think. The GOP is split between the extreme right wing of the party, who are largely holding on to their seats because their state legislatures have gerrymandered the districts they "represent" and the long time entrenched Washington establishment Republicans who find themselves more often than not having to hold their noses to defend the President. I've decided not to count the Democrats because their political power is non-existent and are behaving like a united anti-Trump front. The "House Freedom Caucus" as they're called, are the intractable, immovable, and uncompromising right wing of the party. They reside in the House of Representatives and they don't care about negotiation. They care, unrealistically, only about their agenda and couldn't care less about the consequences. It shouldn't be overlooked that a political cabal that has "freedom" in its name more often than not holds the House hostage with their tactics. The political machine that has kept the country running since the end of WWII is now being challenged daily by neophytes, zealots, and complicit Washington veterans. The GOP is doing everything it can to avoid having to draft Articles of Impeachment for 45 but it becomes a less and less tenable position with every tweet, Russian leak, and abuse of executive power.
3. The American People: We've always been a country of differing opinions. That massive swath of diversity in thought is supposed to be our greatest strength as a country. We're supposed to take the best of everyone's gifts, no matter their origin, and come up with solutions that work for the vast majority of us. However, since turn of the century, it seems that the ideological pendulum keeps swinging further and further away from the center with each election. W was the "compassionate conservative," pulling at the religious heartstrings of America's heartland in the wake of the morally repugnant Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. What he actually did was not only pull the country further to the right than his father and Reagan ever did, but launched two of the bloodiest wars in American history, one we're still fighting as of this post. Then came the President no one thought possible, Barack Obama. A black man occupying the highest office in the land for 8 years is as liberal as it gets no matter what his party affiliation. It was a phenomenon we may not see again if his successor is any indication. The customization of our news, entertainment, and living spaces has robbed us of much of any shared experiences we once had. We retreat to our own little safe corners where we never have to hear an opposing opinion or an uncomfortable truth if we don't want to. Questioning a narrative has become an act of literal bravery since an unpopular opinion these days can literally ruin your life. 45 ran a campaign of fear and us vs them rhetoric, appealing to our worst natures. His supporters became more openly racist and his detractors turned violent after he won (much like he threatened to instruct his supporters to do had he lost.)
Of the 3 factions outlined above, the last one worries me the most. The constant deluge of news from Washington that feels like all the progress we've made as a society over the last 30 years is being disregarded for a return to toxic machismo. Has education's increasing inaccessibility has created a class of American who are unable to spot bullshit? It seems so. This may sound insulting, but it's like trying to discuss physics to someone who doesn't understand algebra. Street smarts are wonderful but without the book smart component, 45 can continue to spin his ballads of bullshit and
appeal to your emotions instead of your logic. Having you believe that none of the hundreds of lies he's been caught in are true or his fault. Indeed, the majority of the people who hate him tend to be higher educated. 45s cult of personality is so appealing that his supporters can't even entertain the real possibility, bordering on likely thanks to Don Jr., that their President is engaged in a morally questionable relationship with the Kremlin. The complicity of the Republican congress, not challenging him on the emoluments clause, not rebuking his remarks about women, not requiring him to live up to the standards that every other president (even Nixon) met is a worse than a deal with the devil. At least the devil promised to give you something in return.
No comments:
Post a Comment