Joel S. Hirschhorn (Under the name of populist) recently wrote a diary called Neo-Progressives. (Cross-posted on My Left Wing.) In it he makes some valid points, but the name of the book he recently published…”Delusional Democracy – Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government”…leads me to believe that he may be on the wrong tack. I am not at all convinced that things CAN be changed in this country without at least radically altering the system if not “overthrowing” it.
And here are the statements that most stuck in my craw when I read this post.
Duke 1676 wrote a reply titled I have to call bullshit on this one, and provided a long list of links to studies and articles that do not support the current right-wing meme that low income immigrants are ruining America.
Read on for my agreement with duke 1676.
I call bullshit with you, Duke.
The HEART of this election…and the coming history of the US, while we are at it…lies in whether we continue to be an open society or not.
On all the evidence of my senses…street senses, which I trust a thousand times more than the findings of any academics, the results of any polls, or so-called “figures” of any kind…I support the browning of America as its only and last hope for survival.
The true “American” spirit…the one that I am old enough to have witnessed and remember, the one of upwardly striving families, of dreams and goals and hard work and a general respect for others, the one of faith in something higher, the one of belief in the ongoing evolution of man, the so-called “Protestant work ethic” that in reality existed in EVERY ethnic group that either came here out of economic desperation or was shanghaied here in the name of racist “progress”…that spirit survives in large numbers of only one major population bloc here in America today.
The Hispanic population of the United States. Particularly the Mexican/Central American population.
If Mr. Hirschhorn can write “I am terrified that a Democrat-controlled House might actually give the business sector what they want – continued massive illegal immigration. Any progressive that thinks millions more low-wage immigrants serve the interests of working- and middle-class American CITIZENS is misguided”, then I mistrust the rest of his conclusions as well. (Although I do love the “neo-prog” term, and will continue to use it.)
Even his choice of a handle…”populist”…is compromised by those very words.
populist: 1 : a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people; especially often capitalized (—snip—)
2 : a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people
The “interests of working- and middle-class American citizens” appear to me to be almost entirely dictated by the hypno-media of America, and bounded by the acquisition of more, more, more at the expense of anyone and everyone who is not “them.”
Sometimes more IS less.
I just spent a week in Houston, Texas, and baby…ain’t hardly ANYBODY doing a lick of real work there except the so-called “millions of low-wage immigrants.” We need MORE of them, not less.
Rather than see a closing of the borders, I would like to see them OPENED. In fact, if there was any way to encourage a mass exodus of the so-called middle class and the criminal classes that exist on either side of it (Above AND below), I would heartily encourage such a movement. What Castro managed to do in Cuba…first dump all the owner classes on the US immediately after the revolution when they fled in fear of a “populist” country and then later when he got rid of the criminal classes by opening the prisons and flushing them onto Florida…is precisely the reason that his little country still stands as a beacon of resistance and hope for the entire Southern Hemisphere of the Americas after 50+ years of active resistance to the aims and policies of racist, economically imperialist America.
Get RID of the excrescence we laughingly call “America” today. Get RID of the 30 miles of bad food, bad stores and bad businesses that line the sides of freeways like I-10 in Houston. Get RID of the ugly middle class suburbs that squat like toadstools on every piece of available land and cast their spores and SUVs ever outward from every existing metropolitan center of America. Get RID of it and bring in people who are willing to do a day’s work for a day’s pay once more. People who are ready to see their sons and daughters climb upward in ways other than spiraling credit ratings and the ownership of ever less useful “things.”
Let what is really left of working and middle class America…of ALL races…stay and join in the battle for a REAL America. Not an America built on usury and advertising, but one built on a true belief in the perfectibility of mankind.
Will this happen?
Not easily, and not peacefully, either. The whole system will have to collapse first, and I do not know if “America” as we know it…the 48 contiguous states, etc….will survive a fall of that kind. But we cannot continue as we are now. Or rather…we CAN continue on our progressive decline until we die in a nuclear holocaust, because the end result of the economic imperialism that is absolutely necessary to maintain the gluttonous arc of our society in the face of increasingly active resistance from those from whom we steal in order to be able to grow progressively more grotesquely obese will BE the use of nuclear weapons.
First small nukes…”tactical” nukes…and then when the initial horror and outrage wears off (Blunted by the mass media, as it blunts every other real emotion) …large ones.
Bet on it.
Choose now.
Up or down.
White or brown. (Black, Brown and Beige, actually.)
Your choice.
Racism is the Original Sin of America.
Expiate it or die.
Your choice.
The Browning of America.
Do you believe in free enterprise? In direct competition in the marketplace?
Then OPEN the borders of America.
Tighten your belts, put your work gloves on, and…
VAYA!!!
Peace…
AG
Let’s talk.
AG
Heh. There’s a program for a ruling majority…emulated Castro’s policies and screw the middle, upper-middle, and upper classes.
Admittedly, you might get some support for ditching our criminals on Canada or Mexico, though.
They are ALREADY screwed.
UNSCREW them.
They are now screwed into a system that does not educate their children, does not supply a useful or affordable medical system, does not allow the free flow of information through the major designated portals FOR that information, puts literally back-breaking (and family-breaking as well) loads on most of the members of those classes if they are to be able to sustain the usury-generated financial requirements necessary for continued membership in their little middle class club, is truly destroying the very environment in which they live, and is bringing the enmity of a VASTLY more numerous world population directly down upon their heads.
How much more “screwed” can they BE???!!!
Listen…the people who fled Cuba with their belongings when the revolution happened were not the ONLY people in that country who “owned” something.
Just the ones who had no faith in the people.
Further, the only real problems with ditching our “criminals” would be:
1-Defining the word “criminal”. Penitentiary types or Cheneys? People who have been driven mad by white supremacist-generated social problems or others who have been driven mad by greed and gluttony?
and
2-Finding a country that would take them. ANY of them. (There are SO many!!!)
AG
If only Dukakis has said:
he would have lost Massachusetts too.
It would have been better than losing America.
Give peace a chance?
Give TRUTH a chance.
It’s our only hope.
Continued prevarication in the pursuit of votes is just going to postpone the inevitable. This society is fucked. Up, down and sideways. Time to rebuild.
Just like murder…the truth shall out eventually.
May as well start somewhere.
May as well start now.
And:
Mahatma Gandhi
Also:
Martin Luther King Jr.
Bet on it.
I am.
SOMEBODY has to speak the truth.
AG
that’s why we’re not in the same business. I recognize what you do, I hope you can recognize why I do it different.
Business as usual, Boo.
Business as usual.
Until we fall?
I hope not.
AG
The way we talk about immigrants is so wrong-headed, that coherent discourse is impossible. Look at the “public” debate: EVERYTHING that is said is wrong.
The foremost, salient fact is that so-called immigrants are ALREADY part of our political economy; the countries they come from have been attached or subjugated to the US for decades or centuries. So they are NOT FOREIGN.
If we did not want them to be part of our country we should not have taken over THEIR countries. But we did, and nothing will change that now. All we can do is either face the truth, or lie to ourselves about it.
Lying is the media solution. It leads to internal war and disaster.
Facing the truth has better prospects. But it is Hard Work (TM) 😉 Or rather, it means uprooting the stupid fantasies in our heads, and opening to more challenging–but ultimately more optimistic–possibilities.
AG–Loved you description of Huston! 😀
monitoring the comment threads on posts here in the southwest and it’s becoming increasingly explosive as the election nears. ICE Roundups are happening on a regular basis and the cheers/backslapping are unnerving. Humanity is lost due to the ugly “debate” being waged.
I can’t really explain how there’s a difference between the culture that I grew up in as a Mexican American/Xicano and the rest of the “mainstream”, but I would note that our advocacy groups and networks are routinely called racist because the current power structure thinks we’re looking to supplant theirs. I’m not so sure that’s the intent, the end game is equality and dignity. Which, now that I think about it, is not in the cards within the current power structure, so maybe we are working to overthrow it. hmmmm. I’ll write more when my head stops spinning.
Here is a tidbit from part of my immigrant family’s history.
We have not progressed much, if at all in nearly 200 years. Sad.
thinks we’re looking to supplant theirs. I’m not so sure that’s the intent, the end game is equality and dignity. Which, now that I think about it, is not in the cards within the current power structure, so maybe we are working to overthrow it. hmmmm
That queasy moment when you realize . . . DAMN, they ARE right, after all. I AM an insurgent!
😉
PS Sorry to hear your news. Good luck!
I think your entry makes a lot of sense, Arthur.
This bit, in particular, caught my attention:
I’m not sure about the nuclear part, but no doubt, there will be huge conflicts coming. One thing is the abusive economic world relations you refer to. However, I think Global Warming will be even more of a driving factor. Rising sea levels is a foregone conclusion. Changes in climate will cause desertification of grazing and arable land. The inevitable result is massive population displacement – and there aren’t really that many places that would welcome large and accelerating immigration numbers.
I’ve had this growing, uneasy feeling that what the neo-cons have been up to is establishing a system that would allow the protection of a class of a few tens of millions, using another few tens of millions for labor and security – all at the expense of most of the rest of the world. They know a large conflict will ultimately come and are preparing as best as they can.
Tin foil off!
You write:
”I’ve had this growing, uneasy feeling that what the neo-cons have been up to is establishing a system that would allow the protection of a class of a few tens of millions, using another few tens of millions for labor and security – all at the expense of most of the rest of the world. They know a large conflict will ultimately come and are preparing as best as they can.”
If they are that intelligent…yes.
I tend to drift between this kind of idea and the distinct possibility that they are merely semi-brainless, reptile-like predators who are simply obeying their automatic, genetically implanted instincts towards greed, theft, sadism and gluttony.
I have had many dealings with gangsters…not exactly small-time, but not world class either…and I have no doubt whatsoever that they act almost entirely on instinct. The rationalization comes later.
These guys?
As below, so above?
Maybe.
Or maybe you are right.
Or maybe…a little of both.
No tinfoil, no matter what.
Know thine enemy.
Later…
AG
There can be brilliance in insanity, and sometimes it may go to the dark side.
But the question remains…
Can there be brilliance in stupidty?
AG
A portrait of democratic myopia over at Culture Kitchen:
Liza’s one of a number inside and outside of blogtopia who is sounding a clarion call. Business as usual simply ain’t gonna cut it no more.
“If the New America Media Summit on Immigration is any indication of the kind of political behind the scenes work that is happening right now, one of the most interesting political alliances we are going to see in 2008 is the coalitions of labor, immigration and civil rights groups that are being forged right now.”
It’s coming.
Just like Japanese cars came.
And now the Korean ones.
While the white corporate powers structure slept and took power lunches.
The Browning of America.
Someday real soon that coalition will be a MAJORITY of those with enough passion to want to think AND vote.
And things will change.
If we last that long, of course.
AG
This is the future.
Heck, I live in a rural area that is smack dab in the middle of Bu$hCo country, and there was a noticeable turnout at the immigration rallies held in places like Guymon, OK. A couple hundred protesters might not seem like much to the urbanites here, but let me tell ya – a couple hundred protesters in a town of 14,000 makes a statement. Our communities have become increasingly Hispanic over the last couple decades – that’s where the population growth is, and it’s a population that’s quite young (as I am reminded every time I attend any of my kids’ elementary school events).
The right-wingers have their narrative down – their narrative may be wrong and immoral as all get out, but they know how to whip up that fear of a brown planet. The 401k liberals simply pretend the browning of America isn’t happening and/or just go about writing off these potential constituencies as “special interest” or “single issue” voters who are at best a necessary nuissance. Both narratives, played out in blogtopia and elsewhere miss the mark.
Where others may see “threat” or “nuissance” I see promise, hope, growth (where it counts – on an interpersonal & spiritual vibe). The future is now, my friends. Failure to embrace this emerging new America is a fool’s game.
Peace & love.