It is decades past time that those who desire to reform our system becomes willing to face facts and say, though it is considered impolite and tactless to do so, that we have a major problem called the South, the states of the old Confederacy. The people there, at least those who are not the nasty crackers of Jim Crow mentality whose governing idea was to club, shoot and lynch at the drop of a hat, are said to be very nice, polite and courteous, to place a high value on truth, to believe in duty. That has largely been my own personal experience of them (a comment that right wing opponents of the views expressed here are absolutely certain to overlook or ignore), and such characteristics are ones that this writer wishes all people shared. But these very desirable characteristics do not allay the fact that the South=s political views, coupled with the disproportionate power it has enjoyed, at first because of the three-fifths rule and later because of its one party nature, have been and remain pretty disastrous for this country. Today, of course, this is played out by the old Confederacy being the very heart of Red State country, the very heart of Bushian reactionaryism and militaristic thinking.
What, then, is to be done about this problem? What can be done about it? Frankly, this writer doesn=t know -- except for one idea that clearly would make a difference. It would seem virtually certain that getting rid of the electoral college, and altering our system of single member districts, would be crucial steps in the right direction because they would help create a two party or even a multi-party South by helping to give voice to the many southerners who do not agree with the views that have dominated down there for over 200 years, but whose voices have been drowned out by the majority or at least by the politicians. (The same kind of thing would happen in all the currently Asafe@ states (about 30 plus) and Congressional districts (about 95 percent), north or south, east or west.) For instance, there are millions of African Americans in the South. It is really hard to believe that most of them favor the kinds of reactionary policies favored by those currently in charge down there. Overcoming the electoral college and the single member district would help give a serious political voice to those people, and would help overcome what is still the solid (now Republican) South (just as other Asolid@ or Asemi-solid@ states, whether they are mainly Democrat or mainly Republican, would become more two party or multi-party (e.g., Massachusetts, California, New Hampshire, maybe even a place like Kansas).)
What other ideas or changes might help to overcome the problem is beyond me. The subject needs extensive consideration and discussion, a subject I shall come back to later. But there is one thing that one can be pretty sure about. The problem cannot be solved by reformers continuing to live in denial, and continuing not to admit and talk about the fact that the disproportionate political power of the South under our current electoral system has caused a political problem since 1787 (with the exception of 1861-1876). Realizing and considering the fact that the one party, vastly disproportionately powerful, and conservative to reactionary old Confederacy has been and is a serious hindrance to America=s well being is a necessary first step to solving the problem, if indeed it can be solved. As well, reformers have to face unhappy practical facts. Unless and until serious inroads are somehow made on the solid, one party, current and long standing conservative to reactionary political power structure of the old Confederacy (serious inroads that probably could be made by getting rid of single member districts), reformers will have to lay plans without expecting or planning for much or any success down South. Unless and until there is a big, big change, it will remain Bush II red country long after Bush II is gone (which can=t happen soon enough to suit me -- impeachment anyone?). That is the lesson of 225 years, and we=d better realize it, admit it, and plan accordingly.
This is a subject that has been on my mind lately because of the two recent Supreme Court nominations, which brought to the fore yet again the major change in thinking -- politically, legally and economically -- which occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A question on one=s mind is, how is it that a period when so many people believed in social reform (the 1960s) gave rise to a now 35 year period in which, ultimately, a wing nut on the right like Barry Goldwater came to seem somewhat of a reasonable man, especially if judged against the Bushian wackos who control the country today? Of course, today=s wing nuts on the right, and even some moderates, see the philosophy of the =60s as being the problem. One cannot accept this, however. If it were right, it would mean that periods when reform and human decency are in the air are the problem. It would mean that the abolitionists, not the Southern slaveocracy, were the problem, that the civil righters, not the Jim Crow South, were the problem, that the laboring men, not the greedy capitalists who gave them miserable lives, were the problem, and so on.
So why was there a major change after the =60s? Johnson=s God-awful war in Viet Nam, which ripped the country apart and terminated the reform impulse, was obviously one major reason. Another was the fact that there were always people who did not accept or believe in the reform impulse of the 60's, people who sometimes were themselves harmed by the reform and/or who, as historian William Chafe recently has written, Nixon skillfully united into a conservative coalition of the haters. And then too, this writer believes, there was the fact that by claiming that their policies would accomplish so much, claims that had to be made in order to overcome obdurate resistance, the liberals of the =60s set the stage for disappointment and backlash when the programs achieved less than hoped, or achieved far more slowly than was hoped and predicted.
One must always be conscious that even the best laid plans will not work out quite as hoped, or will not achieve what it is claimed they will achieve or at the speed claimed for them. (Iraq anyone? Viet Nam anyone?) It is only over time, usually, and over a long time at that, that reforms will be truly successful.
Relatedly, rarely are arguments entirely one sided, as politicians like to pretend via spin, and as judges like to pretend by saying that arguments contrary to their holdings Ahave no merit.@ When one pretends that a matter is entirely one-sided, or that the other side Ahas no merit,@ one sets the stage for bitter argument by those who in effect are being blithely dismissed or accused of stupidity, as well as for long range disappointment on the part of those who believed the spin. This is a matter of common personal observation. It also was the lesson of a few pages in Elliot Richardson=s autobiography. He mentioned at one point that, when he was an official in the Eisenhower administration, his office was faced with a hotly contested issue on which there were strong feelings on both sides. Rather than claim all the merit was on one side and there was none on the other, Richardson and his people explained that there was much of value to be said on both sides, though they had come down on one side rather than the other. The otherwise expectable fracas therefore did not materialize, since people felt their views had been heard and considered rather than derided and dismissed. And what a difference this was from the modus operandi of menaces like Johnson or Bush II.
Those who seek long term reform should heed this. Do not promise nirvana, or that immense good will arise immediately, and don=t refuse to recognize merit on the other side. All of that just creates backlash and disaster. Desired reform is a long term affair, and one where both sides usually have something worthwhile to say (even though I confess to having little comprehension of what the slaveocracy South or the Jim Crow South had to say that was, upon analysis, truly worthwhile. As these examples show, there are exceptional situations where a point of view is utterly worthless -- David Irving=s denial of the holocaust would be another illustration.)
* * * * *
When it comes to determining the specific substantive policies that reformers should support, one must honestly say that, to a thinking person, a fair amount of this ought to be somewhat uncertain just now. There are, of course, some notions, some policies, that we can be certain should be eschewed. Reasons of history and morality dictate this. History because it shows that the policies don=t work, even when commonly resorted to despite their repeated failure. (They are like baseball, football and basketball coaches, and university presidents, who get recycled over and over again despite failure after failure. The establishment-minded give up neither their pet people nor their pet policies.)
Preeminent among the policies which do not work is America=s traditional ready resort to war. Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, Iraq II, perhaps Korea -- our readiness to jump into war, practically an addiction since 1950, has created disasters at home and abroad. It is not too much to say that since 1950 our longest and severest problems have arisen because of war -- war again and again and again. This addiction to war threatens national and global well being unless we rid ourselves of it. From the time of Martin Luther King (and others of his time and persuasion) until today, America has been far and away the largest purveyor of violence on the planet B violence which we hypocritically perpetrate in the name of supposed peace. Though most Americans are in total denial on this, it is a very sobering thought that to most of the world it is America, not Al Qaeda and its ilk, that is regarded as the world=s biggest terrorist. Nobody else, after all, drops millions of tons of bombs on people with at least some regularity. Bob Herbert recently said, very trenchantly, and with all of American history on his side, that Athere is nothing more American than brutal violence. The country was built on it, revels in it and shows every evidence of clinging to it with the crazed, destructive strength of an obsessive lover.@ If we do not cure ourselves of the American addiction to violence, then, in the international arena, it is only a matter of time until much of the world gangs up on us, with results that nobody can foresee. Such as been the fate of all empires, and history says it will befall us if we remain (far and away) the world=s most violent, terror-producing nation (all in the name of peace, of course).
This matter of the American addiction to war raises an interesting question, one that at first glance may seem bizarre, but in reality isn=t. Can there in fact be a national addiction? Addiction is a word that is usually applied to an individual, not a policy, and is normally reserved for things like tobacco, drugs and maybe alcohol. Yet recently people have been speaking of addiction to sex -- the excuse given for John Kennedy=s misconduct -- and even addiction to work -- the great, incessantly working Harvey Cushing, the early 20th Century father of neurosurgery, is said to have been addicted to work, for example. So possibly we should extend use of the word addiction beyond its ingesting categories to more things that people do continuously, incessantly, and are helpless to stop themselves from doing. (Was Gertie the Cleaning Machine, in Philip Roth=s early book of short stories entitled Goodbye Columbus, addicted to cleaning house? Were a lot of our Jewish mothers? Are lots of us, not just Harvey Cushing, but anyone who is a workaholic, addicted to work? Has any scientist ever investigated whether there are brain changes or brain Asymptoms@ of people who may be addicted in these ways, as there are in people who are addicted to tobacco or drugs? If there are, it would be even more appropriate, one thinks, to expand use of the word addiction.)
But even if we can expand the coverage of the word addiction when applied to individuals, can there be such a thing as a national addiction? There is no physical national brain or nervous system, after all. Yet it seems to me the word addiction can be applied on a national basis too. To begin with, what is the national Amind,@ or what are the Anational characteristics,@ that are often spoken of with regard to one country and another (as we used to -- and to some extent still do? -- speak of Germany as being a country characterized by orderliness, cleanliness, hard work, and respect for authority)? Well, it is obvious, is it not, that national characteristics are nothing but the summed total of characteristics of individuals, of individuals= actions and beliefs? With the Germans, the national characteristics spoken of above were national characteristics because they were the characteristics of so many individuals, were the beliefs and actions of so many individuals. Why would it be wrong to say individual Germans, and through them Germany, were addicted to such characteristics just as we now say John Kennedy was addicted to sex and Harvey Cushing (and lots of us) to working. Equally, why would it be wrong to say that, given the pervasive, historically longstanding belief in this country that violence and military actions are needed to solve problems, given the remarkable extent to which individuals and the country have in fact engaged in violence over the course of literally hundreds of years, and given the extent to which we keep repeating the same violent mistakes (just as a cigarette smoker keeps taking the next cigarette) -- as in Viet Nam we replicated and did not even remember what happened in the Philippines from 1898-1904, and in Iraq II we ignored Viet Nam -- given all of this, why is it incorrect to say that our people and politicians, and through them the nation qua nation, suffer an addiction to violence? And if one does not like to call this an individual and a national Aaddiction,@ then surely it is at least an individual and national Acharacteristic.@
One can be absolutely certain, of course, that anyone who espouses the views on the continuous use of military violence set forth here will be viciously assailed by the right wing wackos as soft headed, not understanding reality, cowardly, pacifistic, Asoft on terrorism@ (to use a favorite bovine-defecation-canard of the right wing), etc., etc. This is so even though a few icons of right wing militarism -- Francis Fukuyama (a big foot for the media), is one example -- apparently are changing their minds about crucial aspects of the matter, and apparently are no longer believers in widespread unilateral use of military force by the U.S. It also is so even though the right wing attack is the furthest remove from truth, since people like me can and do believe in strong military forces, but simply think our forces have too often been used at the wrong time, in the wrong places and ways, and for the wrong purposes (a view which a lot of leading military men, now and historically, have agreed with. (Historically, U.S. Grant, by way of one little known example, reviled the Mexican War, in which he fought very bravely.) Nonetheless, the attacks from the addicted will come, and the addicted will, in addition, ask the Madeleine Albright question, the question she put to the military when she wanted to go into the Balkans and others didn=t. Why, she asked the military, do you have this vaunted army if you are unwilling to use it? She might as intelligently (or as unintelligently) have asked why do we have hydrogen bombs mounted on intercontinental missiles if we are loathe to use them? In both cases -- in all cases -- the answer is the same: we have them so that we won=t have to use them. The word is deterrence, Madeleine. Perhaps you=ve heard of it? So, too, to the militaristic right wing wackos of today.
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