Fish Or Cut Bait

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

The world seems particularly complex these days, especially during a Mercury retrograde, which requires more detail-tending than usual. It isn’t helpful that tempers are short, there’s the smell of desperation in the air, and patience is worn thin. Standing back in awe at these grand cross energies that leave us bloodied and bruised, dazed and confused, the question I hear so often is, “How did this happen? How did we get here?” Those are appropriate questions, but because we have not been paying attention for decades, untangling the mystery seems too complex and overwhelming to contemplate. We turn to our historians and psychologists, looking for clues. One of the answers is simple: minnows.

Let me give you an example. In the summer of 2008, George Bush handed off to his underlings the emergency negotiations for an imploding economy that he had no intention of saving and focused on wrapping up his ideologically-driven presidency without losing internal gains. He had salted various departments with christocrats and radical conservative foot soldiers, and one of his special projects was making their appointments permanent. Eventually he rolled most of them over into safe government positions, guaranteeing furtherance of his stilted political viewpoint well into the future. Most of his interns were graduates of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell’s educational system, which produced a theocratic blend of dominionism and Christian reconstructionism. As it didn’t take a crystal ball to see the McCain/Palin ticket — and a campaign that legitimized radical religion — going down in flames, the faithful were told to hide quietly in the Democratic woodwork, which is where we will find them now.

At the time, I was screaming about tracking the placement of these right-wing critters and carefully assessing their actions. Zealots are notoriously disobedient employees, sticking their foot out to trip those with other intentions, such as actually making government work. I doubt that anyone ever heeded my warning though, because it’s evident that between the leftover Bushies and the Republican obstruction that has blocked Obama’s appointments, we’re left with a slew of little minnows, circling the body of government and nibbling away at the internal works. The nation was already bleeding when it was handed over to the blue party; the continued attacks, bite by bite, nibble by nibble, diminish our chances to restore stability and sanity.

None of these challenges was created overnight, of course, and some of the minnows from yesteryear have become sharks today, relentlessly circling and hungry. The economic downturn has been simmering on the back burner since Ronald Reagan pulled the pin on regulation. The ongoing push of conservatism in the hands of generations of Republican presidents — not counting Big Bill, who was too moderate by a mile and literally dicked away his opportunities — has left infrastructure weakened to the point of disaster and corporate power so strengthened that it no longer needs public approval or cooperation to pull in money hand over fist. On a dramatic scale, the poor are infinitely poorer while the rich are so well insulated they are not (yet) afraid of the suffering class.

Most frustrating of all, poll after poll indicates that the public wants the wealthy to bear their share of the current financial burden, but professional politicians are tone deaf to any voices but those dripping with assets. As a consequence, we routinely bleed from thousands of little cuts that keep us from binding up our wounds. Grover Norquist’s plan to drown government in the bathtub has almost been accomplished. Indeed, the six GOP nominees to the Super Congress have all signed his oath not to raise taxes, making them faux-negotiators at best.

The current attack against the poor, the disenfranchised and the struggling — who are not only being blamed for what Bush and the boys accomplished, but must now be further marginalized to pay for their sins — has been met with lethargy from the left and determination from the right. The only good news on that front is that Republican infighting has turned particularly vicious as the party tries to keep its center. The internal split recently caused John Boehner’s aides to lock their office door against a group of Bagger protesters who had complaints for the speaker. At the Pub presidential debate this week, candidates Michelle Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty went after one another bare-knuckled, and on the stump, even mild-mannered Mitt Romney had testy verbal exchanges with audience members. But we ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Just wait until Texas Governor Rick Perry makes an entrance, dragging his business cronies and christocrats behind him.

While Perry seems to be a genuine ol’ boy, I don’t think he’s a committed christocrat in Bachmann fashion; his recent day of prayer was co-sponsored by Focus On the Family originator, über-fundy James Dobson, and took advantage of the corporate factions supported by the Koch Brothers. The hypocrisy of this gathering did not go unnoticed, with many helpless Texans wondering if a silent God might not be a better champion in their dire straits than their loud-mouthed governor. Perry’s cynicism trumps Bachmann’s, who is a devoted dominionist and proponent of Calvinist R.J. Rushdoony, whose theocratic philosophy of wedding the Old Testament with the New resulted in a global war against all things heathen, as illustrated by this quote: “Jesus set up two kingdoms, church and state, but one law and one ruler over both.” On this front, Bachman is the genuine article: full-blown christocratic wing-nut.

Bachmann and Perry are equally dangerous in that they have the ear of both the older, white, religious and frightened as well as the younger, white, uneducated and frightened. Fear is their common denominator and religion was made to order to exploit them, an apt demographic for politicians to fleece. That would be a sad but inevitable ho-hum if the big money boys hadn’t realized their value as deal-breakers and provided them so much power. Those who object to focusing attention on Bachmann — who is justifiably laughable much of the time and whose wild-eyed Newsweek cover looked EXACTLY like her, in my opinion — think she should be ignored, but they’re forgetting the lesson we should have learned in misjudging the Tea Party last summer, assuming it to be a mere gnat to swat. That gnat has given us a national House so divided that we are unable to fund our country, and has held legislative progress hostage for months.

Meanwhile, Obama, for all his apparent flaws and with more faith in his fellow politicians than I have, continues to seek a stabilized nation, but he can’t keep up with the nibblers opening new wounds and exploiting old ones. We’ve dealt with the Christocrats before, but we’ve not faced the true extent of their ambition: to eliminate constitutional government and replace it with theocratic rule. The Baggers are committed to that goal, mercy upon us, and they’re running the GOP.

The winning recalls in Wisconsin — two Democrats elected in very red territory – are a hopeful sign that the nation has had enough of radical-right leadership, although we’re still heavily invested in “wake up” energy as new facts and illustrations float into awareness. But nothing is as simple as it looks; everything has a back-story, with dots to follow back to its cause. If we are to understand how and why we came to this gigantic impasse, it’s important to see how much this Calvinistic propaganda has poisoned the water of political debate.

Bill Maher’s contention that religion is the root of all evil has some validity, and we continue to pooh-pooh the wing-nuts’ influence at our peril. Let me make that clearer for you: Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Rick Snyder of Michigan, Chris Christie of New Jersey. ‘Nuff said.

Bachmann, a graduate of Oral Roberts U. in Oklahoma and Pat Robertson’s dominionist law school, is, she says, “a real person, not a politician.” This is coded to the faithful and so is her answer on the stump about being a submissive wife. And because there are still more of us who believe it imperative that government be secular, I doubt that these comments help her election prospects, but they certainly further the religious cause and shove the conversation farther right. An excellent profile of Michelle appeared in the New Yorker this week, prompting reformed-fundy Frank Schaeffer to write about his father’s radical influence on Bachmann’s philosophy. This information also connects the dots (as commented upon, here, last week) concerning the heavy fundamentalist influence that has overrun homeschooling.

Revisionist history. Attacks on the social contract that shaped the most progressive accomplishments of the 20th century. PR campaigns that demonize the poor and working class. Corporate ambition steeped in immorality and corruption. A constant hemorrhage of progressive policy in the many government departments designed to protect us. Little minnows, everywhere we look. Biting, nibbling, drawing blood, carving away at the host and leaving it listless and anemic.

This is a period of fact-finding, of locating cause and more: of facing our fears. Every headline should provide a flashing yellow light to those who think they know the entire story of ANYTHING, let alone how to proceed. We need our wits about us and our hearts open if we are to restore national sanity and compassionate governance. Until we stop wondering WHY this mayhem came to be and get ourselves a big net to scoop up the voracious little democracy-eating minnows making tatters of our constitution and social contract, we are destined to bleed. It’s time to fish or cut bait.

A note on this weeks post: some of you know that my father entered into Light a few weeks ago. We are having a graveside memorial service with military color guard today (he served in the Pacific during WWII.) It is shaping up to be a difficult day, so I’ll check on the comment section tomorrow. Thanks for your understanding.