It’s hard to read Will Marshall’s comments without seeing in them a defense of arrogance and abuse of power. Was it arrogant to go to war with the North Vietnamese Army? Was the Gulf of Tonkin incident an abuse of power? Were Mark Felt’s black-bag jobs an abuse of power? Did Richard Nixon abuse his power? Was Nixon arrogant when he said, “When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal”?
When Samuel Johnson said that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” was he completely off the mark?
American liberals love America as much as anyone. But most of us see patriotism as problematic. The problem arises when people think in purely national terms. The big issues facing the world today are the availability of energy, global warming, medical epidemics, transnational terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. None of these issues are national in character, and none of them can be managed unilaterally.
Moreover, there is something unseemly in an ordinary person taking extraordinary pride in accomplishments they had no role in bringing about and which they poorly understand. The controversial psychiatrist, Wilhelm Reich, touched on this in his book, Listen, Little Man.
It’s true that “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”, and a wise politician will not forget to utilize the Stars and Stripes in their signs, pamphlets, and commercials. But trite appeals for God to bless America are not absolutely necessary to political success. And base appeals to the jingoistic side of American culture remain suspect in most liberals’ minds.
It would be different if we hadn’t so frequently fallen so short of our freedom loving rhetoric. Will Marshall refers to the ‘excesses of protest politics’ as if those excesses weren’t in the service of ending Jim Crow, getting women equal pay, or curbing the excesses of a national security apparatus run amok, violating our civil rights, and armed to the teeth.
As far as I am concerned, we are right back in the early 1970’s. The same characters are in power, we are losing a war that we started based on a pack of lies, and there is a cancer at the heart of the Presidency.
If we are suffering from anything, it is the lack of excessive protest politics.
I fear that if protests such as in the 70’s started today, the arrests/killing of that time would pale in comparison today. There is so much anger and wanted control from the extreme right wing that it would get ugly.
As for the politicians protest, are there any that are not under corporate control with the balls to step up to the plate, and lose their position? Maybe a few, but not enough to win the vote sadly. The spin machine will drum them out of exhistance, in the public eye, if they gain one foothold.
Unless this voice of the people is not heard loud enough, and soon enough, they will keep the pillow over our face, till the air is gone.
I fear that if protests such as in the 70’s started today, the arrests/killing of that time would pale in comparison today. There is so much anger and wanted control from the extreme right wing that it would get ugly.
As for the politicians protest, are there any that are not under corporate control with the balls to step up to the plate, and lose their position? Maybe a few, but not enough to win the vote sadly. The spin machine will drum them out of exhistance, in the public eye, if they gain one foothold.
Unless this voice of the people is not heard loud enough, and soon enough, they will keep the pillow over our face, till the air is gone.
hmmmm, must be a glich…oooops
I think there is a difference between patriotism and jingoism.
Patriotism says: I love my country and will hold it to a high standard. I will insist it uses its power for good. I will not abide by abuses of power. The ends do not justify the means. Dissent is patriotic.
Jingoism says: anything the U.S. does is good because it is the U.S. and the U.S. is great. My country, right or wrong. The ends justify the means. Dissent undermines America and gives comfort to our enemies.
If the DLC doesn’t see the difference, they are not Democrats.
Booman, another great article. Thank you for writing a calm, non-emotional response to some of the recent DLC rants.
I have a question about the sentence I quoted. If it is unseemly to take pride in accomplishments we “have no role in bringing about”, is it also inappropriate to feel guilt or remorse for attrocities we have no role in bringing about?
I think that right now, we can justify blaming the Bush regime for Iraq. But what if it continues for a generation or two. Do all of us then carry some blame for not insisting on withdrawal today? Or are we eternally shielded from blame, since we had no role in the decision to invade?
If you’ll permit me to take a crack at an analogy:
If we take it as a sports analogy, let’s say Mr. X is a huge Broncos fan (and let’s also take it as a given that I know nothing about sports and pulled a team name out of thin air.) If X goes around feeling hugely proud because player Y pulled off a great touchdown, acting as though he had a great deal to do with it, anyone can see that that’s kind of silly. Yet as a fan, presumably one who goes to at least the occasional game and perhaps buys some memorabilia, it’s not unreasonable to take pleasure in that accomplishment.
Now let’s say that the Broncos are suddenly revealed to have been engaging in massive steroid use, that their team manager and coach have been embezzling money and engaging in illegal gambling. It can be said that Mr. X is not at this point culpable in any way for this behavior, since he knew nothing about it and wasn’t involved. Then the question is: What does he do now? If he continues to support the team as he did before, and makes no move to demand reform or accountability, I’d say that as soon as he knows the truth, he increases his culpability proportional to that continued support.
It’s obviously different with a government, because you can’t just decide as an individual to unilaterally pull out of your implied citizenship relationship at the drop of a hat. As citizens of a democracy with the power to vote, we’re inherently more culpable than citizens of an authoritarian state who are lucky if they get to decide on their own breakfast menu. We have slightly less culpability than we would in a full direct democracy where every citizen voted on every issue, but we still have a significant amount of responsibility relative to our individual position in society.
Is that clear as mud now? 😉
Not completely off the mark, no. (Shallow) patriotism is the first refuge of a scoundrel, especially if that scoundrel is a politician or politicial commentator.
DLC cohorts, doesn’t understand the very essence of the the fundamental motivation underlying the opposition to the Vietnam debacle in the 60’s and 70’s. It was for love of country we protested. Our actions were patriotic acts, the kind of patriotism that looks out for the best interests of the country rather than the kind of faux-patriotism that demands nationalistic loyalty even when such loyalty supports lying and corrupt leaders driving the country into the ditch. “My country, right or wrong”, is not an expression of patriotism. It’s an expression of denial, an expresion that elevates loyalty and obedience to leaders over loyalty to country. It’s the kind of thinking that dupes one into believing that support for a leader is automatically good for the country, an idea that 2000 years of recent history of democratic forms of government being overthrown by lunatic tyrants makes categorically absurd.
As Booman says, it’s like we are in the 60’sand 70’s again. Our adversaries now are even more powerful than they were then, more bent on accumulating more power for themselves than even Nixon was.
Booman, I was astonished to see your reference to Wilhelm Reich. He is so little known, and yet had such profound insights, it’sa shame he was set upthe way he was for disgrace and humiliation at the hands of the government and of his peers. “Listen L:ittle Man” isfilled with pearls of wisdom like the quote you referenced, as are other books of his, such as “The Mass Psychology of Fascism”,and “The Murder of Christ”, amongothers.
In music, dissonance is the quality of sounds which seem “unstable”, and have an aural “need” to “resolve” to a “stable” consonance.
Dissonance cancels harmonics. Protests of the ’60s-’70s didn’t reach the goal of the demonstrators to end the war, enact the ERA, or end discrimination. They did raise awareness of issues – forced a dialogue – in the country that ultimately forced the government to act.
At the same time we all became aware of short-haired straight-looking guys with cameras at every event, no matter the size. We also found out in subsequent years that virtually every organization of any size had been inflitrated by one or more law enforcement agencies.
Protests to me are like going to church on Christmas or Easter: feels great to participate and touch the spirit for one or two days, then go back home and flip on the tube. Those most committed to change – the faithful – continue to work on the issues every day, slowly gathering the political support and funding necessary to change policy/law.
Better those involved in this brave new body politik devote their energies to clearly defining the end game: specific policies and/or legislation necessary to effect change. Protests against a thing are useless. Better to agitate for a solution.
None of the acronymic orgs has stated an overarching set of guiding principles agreed to by a majority of the wider “progressive” movement. DNC, DLC, NDP, pick one. The whole is substantially less than the sum of it’s parts.
Effective public protest raises awareness and forces otherwise reluctant leaders to step up to the plate and act in response to the public pressure. The protests in the 60’s and 70’s were successful in helping to drive many in Washington to finally oppose further funding for the Vietnam debacle.
We don’t have any effective public protests these days. and even the ones that were organized briefly in the run up to the Iraq invasion were not successful, but this was mainly because too many participants didn’t understand that if protesting is something that you can do until it’s time to go home for dinner, or if it’s something that you must get permits for or agree to be placed in corrals called “free speech zones”, then such protests would mean nothing.
Effective public protest…
As you note, the current street protests are not effective. IMHO the most visible – and effective – “protests” in the past year have taken place online. This structure is horizontal – flat org chart – and being recognized slowly as a force to be reckoned with. Not because of the shrillness of thousands of e-mails, but in the political heft of, among other things, the ability to rapidly raise and direct funds. (Like Paul Hackett’s zooming war chest, now at a phenomenal $404k).
As we go forward I think we’ll begin to see changes wrought by the combined weight of both brick-and-mortar and online organizing. Applying that force in an effective manner will be at least as strong as a street protest.
Sadly, money is the primary currency of influence, and as such it’s a two-edged sword, able to corrupt all who rely on it as an tool, (or weapon) of change.
Exploiting emotion is the other big weapon of influence, and indeed, the entire wingnut propaganda machine relies on the emotional appeal of their rhetoric to further weaponize the ignorance of their supporters.
Patriotism is really non-sense. C’mon. It means nothing. It’s another tool used by people in power to control and get people in their power to do their bidding. It’s a form of religiion.
You can be proud of your country…..if your from Sweden.
This nation, the U.S. is a disgrace, a pathetic horror at the moment. It’s shameful and embarassing to be from this country.
Instead of feeling patriotic, people should feel responsible.
It’s not the nation that’s a disgrace, it’s the people who’ve hijacked it’s government and the multitude of self-absorbed, steeped in denial, knee-jerk voters and a pathetic media that enables them.
We have been here before, but it’s way worse now. I remember the tanks rolling through the streets of Berkeley and choking on tear gas, thanks to Raygun.
Don’t even want to think about what can happen now with george’s ‘damn the people’ ruling style. Everybody knows these gangsters will stop at nothing. Nobody wants to find their beloved horse’s head in their bed.
Sorry – I usually try to be delicate, but can’t always achieve it.
I don’t. Patriotism is nothing more than love of country. Like all love, it can be healthy love, or sick and twisted love. Love that is blind and controlling, like the Republican’s version of patriotism, is definitely of the sick and twisted kind.
Good love is honest, and willing to risk the relationship to point out dangerous behavior and offer ways to correct it. This is a higher form of love, because it places truth before possible rejection. When we protest, we risk being rejected by our fellow citizens and by our government.
What higher form of patriotism is there?
I am a liberal. I have absolutely no problems with patriotism whatsoever. My family helped build this country and I believe in all of it’s ideals. The only thing that haunts me is the kind of crap that people like From, Reed, and now this guy Marshall spew about us liberals. This is a cease-fire?
Screw them.
Marshall is apparently a clueless fuck. How dare anyone in the DLC leadership expound on a “Democratic efforts to develop a coherent stance”! The main cause of Democrats lack of a coherent stance are the mealy mouthed DLC leadership and the beltway consultant class idiots that come along with them.
What an absolute load of crap.
Sen. Clinton… You are MY Senator… if you meant your words at the DLC conference then take these boys out back of the woodshed and whack around a few times.
Marshall you sound like a complete an udder idiot. Anytime you want to talk policy with me I’ll be glad to smack some coherence into your skinny little DLC head.
a supremely impotent fellow, but catapulted to significance by all the scared pols, has scarcely met a reality he did not have facial apoplexy over… I suspect a constricted heart and undereducated mind.
It would be funny, were it not tragic. Stock up on garlic, crosses and silver bullets… due to scared pols, and panic all about, the DLC is back in a big way. Love how they run to the failed ideas rather than talk to the electorate.
out of my system.. I’ll respond to Booman’s comments…
“When Samuel Johnson said that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” was he completely off the mark?”
Second bests
In the degradation of the great way
come benevolence and righteousness.
With the exaltation of learning and prudence
comes immense hypocrisy.
The disordered family
is full of dutiful children and parents.
The disordered society
is full of loyal patriots.
-Tao Te Ching #18 – Ursula K. LeGuin’s rendition
“American liberals love America as much as anyone. But most of us see patriotism as problematic. The problem arises when people think in purely national terms.”
I don’t see patriotism as problematic. Of course, I disagree with what is commonly called patriotism but consider myself to be very patriotic indeed.
It is nationalism that is problematic. It is nationalism that usually passes for patriotism and it is nationalism that is a great evil and a cause of wars throughout the centuries. Nationalism sucks.
“The controversial psychiatrist, Wilhelm Reich, touched on this in his book, Listen, Little Man.
HEY! How did you get ahold of Bush’s psychiatrist’s files?
“If we are suffering from anything, it is the lack of excessive protest politics.”
No. We are suffering from idiots like this Marshall character at the DLC standing in the way of liberals and Democrats forming a coherent strategy and platform for knocking the ever-livin-daylights out of the criminally negligent incompetent so-called Republican so-called conservative traitors currently running the government of this country that I love into the ground.
er… umm… guess I didn’t get all of the rant out of my system… sorry.
Have you read “The Mass Psychology of Fascism”? It’s amazing how accessible that book is, though I was a little surprised to discover that it was mostly about sex.
Powells.com is a pretty good place to find his books, btw.