{"id":74902,"date":"2014-03-08T05:42:28","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T10:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=74902"},"modified":"2014-03-08T09:48:50","modified_gmt":"2014-03-08T14:48:50","slug":"the-global-crisis-of-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/by-judith-gayle-2\/the-global-crisis-of-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Global Crisis Of Confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I keep thinking about how much we’ve all changed in the last dozen\u00a0or so years. We aren’t the same people who worried about the sanctity of our bank accounts as Y2K approached in 2000, or pondered the political power of the flag pin in 2004. We’re no longer the frantic parents of soldiers who find it necessary to raise money in order to equip our kids with adequate protective gear, no longer the shocked citizens who fought desperately to keep our jobs and homes as Wall Street tucked its tail and pretended it had nothing to do with fiscal meltdown. We’re\u00a0citizens of the world who have finally understood that hope and change are an inside job, defining every choice we make.<\/p>\n

\"PoliticalI will remember this decade as the one in which we all faced visceral issues of classism, exacerbated by our unresolved — often unclaimed and unrecognized — racism. Thank the election of 2008 and the mean-spirited years since. When the truth about the economy came home to roost, Republicans exhaled a huge sigh of relief that the ramifications of Dubby’s eight years at the helm fell on the shoulders of a Democrat, branded culpable within the first days of his tenure for two wars and a nation teetering on bankruptcy. That Obama’s race made him “illegitimate” as a Commander in Chief provided the minority party a unifying flag to rally under, given the inescapable fact that American decline had roots in the GOP’s overreaching ideology. And now, five years out of the recession, we are still in a slump, largely due to those denying even so moderate a president as the black guy on the Hill a win of any kind.<\/p>\n

At some point during the last few years — no doubt exhausted by the antics of Palin and Beck, and the posturing of Limbaugh and Baggers,\u00a0et al<\/em>\u00a0— many of us figured out that life spent as a drama queen and victim is just too much unnecessary bullshit to bear, and gave it up for a more pragmatic personal and political outlook. And yet the old way of doing things on planet Terra simply won’t go down quietly. What\u00a0no longer serves<\/a>\u00a0the public good, what is no longer able to hide behind the smoke of media propaganda, what has brought us to unproductive division and encouraged global instability, is easily visible if we care to look. This kind of lower-level consciousness is not, of course, by chance. It has a discernible global heart-beat —\u00a0ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump<\/em>\u00a0— that sounds suspiciously like the\u00a0ka-ching<\/em>\u00a0of a cash register.<\/p>\n

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We live in a materialistic world, with the machinery of commerce and industry top-heavy in its influence of political reality. This is not new in America, a nation whose founders allowed only men with property to vote. Progressivism has a way of lurching forward in our nation, its advocates showing up every so often to carry the ball. Bypassing Lincoln — who solidified the union and emancipated its slaves in what our Southern neighbors still consider a war to capture the financial power center of the nation — we have to fast-forward to the turn of the 20th century to find President Teddy Roosevelt establishing populist reforms despite his Republican credentials. At the time, very few people paid attention to politics; they would rightly argue that they had matters of survival to attend. Standing up to moneyed interests, Roosevelt established the Progressive movement, urged conservation, and expanded the national park system. He broke up corporate monopolies and oversaw issues he felt provided the public a “square deal,” like the quality of food and drugs, safety for women and children who worked in sweat shops, and\u00a0reasonable railroad fares.<\/p>\n

Roosevelt ran for vice president on the political ticket with William McKinley, gaining the presidency after McKinley’s assassination by an anarchist. Part of that early political platform was imperialism and an expansion of American holdings. Teddy seems to have been compassionate on many levels, but he was a nation-builder at heart. We’ve been at that a long old time, haven’t we? Still, despite his militarism, Teddy was a populist powerhouse, genuinely caring about the little guy, which did not endear him to the moneyed elite. He was eventually squeezed out by his own party, who considered him a turncoat. Not a surprise, then, that his cousin Franklin did something similar, decades later.<\/p>\n

We were looking for another FDR when we got Obama, and yet this new century ups the game with challenges of technology, diplomacy and a seemingly borderless globe. If ever we needed to rethink our society and its responsibility, to find new ways to approach our communal problems and our ability to survive together, it’s now, but we find ourselves stuck in the mire of old domestic skirmishes, of an age-old class war that leaves so many of us behind in terms of education and opportunity. The clock is ticking while progress remains in limbo. Until we put this ridiculous fear of multiculturalism and modernity to bed, we can’t even contemplate the ethical epiphany required to fully enter a new era with any degree of harmlessness.<\/p>\n

Aware that they’re dragging their feet and refusing to embrace change, we can’t be surprised to find the Pubs still stumping for war today. With flag pins glistening on their lapels, they’re anxious to get into it with Iran and Syria and seemingly eager for a new cold war, calling Obama as whiny as a little girl in attempting diplomacy with Putin. I never would have dreamed that almost fifteen years into the 21st century, we’d still be fighting against the conservative need to punish the impoverished for getting in the way of what Texas\u00a0Governor Rick Perry<\/a>, rumored to be running again in 2016, loudly proclaimed as the answer to all of our current domestic emergencies: “the sleeping giant of American enterprise.”<\/p>\n

\u201cGet out of the health care businesses, get out of the education business. \u2026 Create prosperity again. My fellow conservatives, the future of this nation is upon you, it belongs to you! You have the power to change America. \u2026 You are the path to the future, a light on a distant shore. And you represent the renewed [hope] that America can be great again!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Receiving a standing ovation — and speaking with a level of enthusiasm that CNN’s Jake Tapper called “channeling his inner Tony Robbins” — Rick Perry gave the faithful their sound bite for this coming election at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference today. America will be great again, don’cha know, just as soon as we get rid of the black guy, privatize, militarize and — well<\/em>\u00a0— Reaganize into a future that reminds us all of bygone splendor (and ensures white entitlement). That’s a sure winner in many little backwater, gerrymandered polling spots.<\/p>\n

In the conservative world view, government has little place in the affairs of men, neither to help the helpless, nor to hinder the fiscal and social orders defined by business dealings and bank holdings. I suspect the Titans of the Gilded Age would heartily agree. They are universally similar in their intent, these elite citizens, the very ones FDR and even tough-minded general and Republican President “Ike” Eisenhower warned us against. Yet everything was easier to get away with, back in the day. That’s part of\u00a0this feeling of\u00a0crisis, I think. We really were happier not knowing all the details, but maybe this period of history isn’t so much about being happy as being aware. And we don’t miss much, these days, unless we make a very real effort to avoid it.<\/p>\n

The Internet has changed everything, bringing information to our attention as it happens, 24\/7. There’s little time to rethink, to respond intelligently instead of reacting emotionally. To raise the bridge against daily slings and arrows, then, our government has learned how to play an immediate game of defense, assured that it will be attacked, and guarding against the zeitgeist being controlled by something other than itself. In all political camps now, news of the day seems to require a defensive posture when it should instead promote a healthy discussion of right action.<\/p>\n

For example, the House voted to undermine or otherwise mess with the Affordable Care Act for the 50th time this week. Imagine the kind of tizzy fit they’d have thrown if Obama had actually reformed healthcare instead of attempting to modestly regulate the insurance industry. Fifty times since Obamacare became law, the Republicans have attempted to strip it of its efficacy and turn the public against it, while stonewalling any progressive bills that would assist the poor and middle class and ignoring other legislation vital to the nation. For this they earn a six-figure salary and collect lifetime benefits.<\/p>\n

So how much hypocrisy might we lay at the feet of the party as Chris Christie called Obama out at CPAC yesterday, thundering from the podium, “Mr. President, what the hell are we paying you for?” Christie, snubbed by CPAC last year due to accusations of coziness with Obama following super-storm Sandy, continued to point fingers. “Leadership,” said Christie, “is not about standing on the sidelines and spit-balling.” No surprise the Governor of New Jersey advocates for strong-arming those who get in the way. His style of leadership includes bullying and revenge, and his attack on the Prez is an obvious ploy to rebuild his cred with a wary party. It’s a good strategy. The CPAC attendees warmed to the message, and to Christie as well.<\/p>\n

Now, isn’t it true that what they say and what we hear are two different things? That what’s “off” rings loud as a bell, these days? When we hear a politico speak of American interests, we know some country is about to get the worst of the deal, if we can arrange it. When we hear the words “security threat” we can usually acknowledge that the threat is most often to a government-sponsored\u00a0status quo<\/em>,\u00a0rather than\u00a0a threat to the democratic body. Sadly, we’ve become captive to a level of cynicism that\u00a0HuffPost Hill<\/em>\u00a0captured when it wrote, “Congress designated a new wilderness area for the first time in five years, which presumably means there’s no shale gas under it.”<\/p>\n

We are not cynical without good reason, of course. Remember back in the day when your daddy (or maybe his daddy) told you, “Do what I say, not what I do!” Did it work back then? Think it’s going to work any better now? We’re finally in that position of knowing what we’re hearing, seeing what we’re looking at. This is a level of empowerment we’ve awaited for a very long time, a level of awareness that is right on the cusp of producing real change, and we can’t waste time sinking into cynicism.<\/p>\n

I find it disturbing that so many of us, left and right, childishly demonize government itself for all that’s gone wrong at the close of the Piscean era. Let’s remember that political parties — of which we have too few — are simply emblematic of a way of thinking. And let’s not forget that government isn’t populated by some special breed of troll, trained in the dark arts, identified by its callous ruthlessness. If anything, our mundanity defines us. Government is us. Its collective history is occasionally led by those who take thought for its inevitable outcomes, but it is most often swayed by the emotional bias of those who do not. Karma always seeks its own level, especially national karma.<\/p>\n

We find ourselves in a time when government no longer appears trustworthy, and although we short-sheet the many programs that are still highly functional like Medicare and other of our attacked safety-nets, that’s good news. It means we’re getting somewhere, rethinking what we need government to provide us in order to stabilize our society and re-establish the public good. This crisis of confidence in government is our opportunity to acknowledge that obsolete attitudes of predatory nationalism are no longer acceptable, while policies that victimize our global neighbors in order to enrich corporate America can no longer be tolerated. <\/span>It’s clear that the way we were cannot remain the way we are. And it would\u00a0be productive to remember that the [r]evolution is gathering itself, the changes inevitable and necessary, the events of the day just tire tracks in the mud of this messy time in history.<\/p>\n

We’ve spent years calculating all that’s gone wrong with the present system, assured that bandaids wouldn’t fix the rips in the fabric of representative democracy. We’ve decried the weakening of protections and programs that, as pointed out by\u00a0Robert Reich<\/a>, lifted three decades of Americans into security and stability. We’ve cleared away enough mythology and nationalism to catch sight of what a progressive future might hold. As karma goes, of course, we must do more than just recognize previous errors and attitudes. We will have to earn redemption by attending to all the responsibilities of citizenship, by supporting a positive vision of\u00a0tomorrow\u00a0and offering only good will and compassion to those we want to join us in a healed future.<\/p>\n

Let the drama queens fly in the face of retribution and judgment, wringing their hands and beating their drums. Let’s consider our time on the planet something of a rescue mission: to teach only love, to model kindness and forgiveness, to help open hearts to the possibility of peace and cooperation. Let’s build a future where liberty and justice for all means exactly that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves I keep thinking about how much we’ve all changed in the last dozen\u00a0or so years. We aren’t the same people who worried about the sanctity of our bank accounts as Y2K approached in 2000, or pondered the political power of the flag pin in 2004. We’re no longer the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}