American Dream or Paranoid Nightmare?
October 21, 2008
By Steve Klinger.
Ah, the American Dream! Where else but in the fabled US of A could such mythmaking continue to lure suckers election after election, appealing to fear (of terrorism, welfare, socialism), resentment (of educated, latte-sipping, “elite” liberals) and illogical self-interest (I’m not rich now, but I might be one day, so don’t jeopardize the dream in which I wouldn’t want to be deprived of my mythical share by some lazy, unworthy minority)?
The ‘60s cultural wars laid the groundwork for this mass conversion of mostly white, blue-collar Americans to the Republican Party: Live poor, vote rich, and believe that the fat cats have your interests at heart. Why does it keep working? Because the cynical conservatives learned how to press the right emotional buttons and realized early on that logic and reason are irrelevant to the desired visceral reaction among the masses, a process that the left can’t ever seem to fathom.
The shallow thinking that inspires knee-jerk patriotism also works against allowing facts to get in the way of that most self-indulgent political reaction: me first. Even if it’s not the “me” I really am but the “me” that popular culture has taught me to aspire to.
Mix in a generous dollop of evangelical religion and small-town values, a self-fulfilling anti-knowledge attitude, and you get that quintessential pro-America American, Sarah Palin.
Will this crowd prevail and give us Nascar Nation or a (vice) president from American Idol? The next two weeks will tell.
It’s true that the Bubba brigade is splintered by the exigencies of economic reality right now, or Obama would likely be trailing Mad Dog McCain. I’ve long felt that no number of Iraq wars or melting arctic ice sheets would sway voters as long as it wasn’t their kids getting killed or their table that had no food. Give them a home they can’t afford and prop them up with (seemingly) endless credit, and you’ve enlisted a dutiful Republican for the duration. But keep robbing them blind until the financial house of cards collapses, at the same time you’re foreclosing on their dream home and working a vanishing act with their job, and then you may have left the door open for a movement for change.
Big questions: Will the enriched and empowered oligarchy merely grumble and yield the reins of government in a relatively clean election? How slimy can the ads and accusations get in the two remaining weeks? How close does it need to be before vote suppression delivers key states to McCain or downticket Republicans? How close does it need to be before the legal pitbulls throw swing-state election snafus into litigation, with the Supreme Court waiting to play the trump card?
More worrisome, what diabolical plans are lurking to foist an October surprise that could be a game changer or – a thousand times worse – produce an excuse to “postpone” the election?
Paranoid nightmares? I hope so. Ask me in two weeks.
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