What’s a Republican? It appears McCain has made a little headway the last few days; the uptick was widely predicted. His harping on taxes, socialism, class warfare, spread the wealth, and “build from the bottom up,” has had some positive effect for his cause. The Bill Ayers thing and “He’s a secret Muslim” have faded into the background; they were issues that never did work for him, except with the base, who needed red meat. He’s gone back to traditional Republican issues, you know, “He’s going to raise taxes and hurt the small businessman,” like that phony, Joe the Plumber, who’s brazenly capitalizing on his notoriety.
In contrast to the Democrats, the GOP builds from the top down—the trickle down theory, their old stand-by. They are the Party of top dogs, and have little compassion for, say, the bottom fish, which exist in the lower quarter of the social strata. Think back to Bush’s Compassionate Conservatism: How long did that stay on his agenda? It was only a gimmick to lure the Reagan Democrats to vote for him. It disappeared once he felt secure in the Oval Office.
The top dogs of the GOP are the Businessmen of America; they are the role models of virtue and success; they produce the bounty that flows downward and supposedly lifts all boats. The businessman and entrepreneur are the highest and finest fruit of the capitalist system. Howard Roark’s speech to the jury in THE FOUNTAINHEAD spells that ideal out in fine detail. They are the uber-men, the kings of finance, technology and progress. They make everything go. As a group, they constitute the dream team. In addition to being affluent, influential, and successful, they hold firm to tradition—to God, family, apple pie and patriotism. They distrust foreigners or ‘the Other.’ Sarah Palin has said, “They aren’t like us; we are the real Americans.” These days they are virtually all white, too, as the Republican Convention made clear. The key to their philosophy is the supremacy and dominance of the innovative and exemplary individual, the person who rises above the Herd, who makes his mark in an always-evolving upward cycle of progress. Such outstanding servants of free enterprise contribute significantly to that mythic edifice of the Republican imagination, “the shinning city on the hill” that President Reagan liked to celebrate. At a certain level of achievement and reward, the heroes of capitalism are virtually untouchable, almost godlike. Money rains on them like rain drowns the vermin at the bottom of the social ladder..
The Republicans are the Party of property, wealth, and anti-taxes; of tradition and Law and Order; and an ever-expanding Militarism. (Check the career of the journalist Robert Kaplan. He’s gone from the frugal world traveler to the apologist for our Military Might.) They always want to cut spending and deep down they wish it were Medicare and Social Security, those socialist programs initiated by LBJ and FDR. It is usually some form of social program, whatever they think they can get away with at any given time. With a shrug of regret, they say, as Barry Goldwater once said, “The poor will always be with us.” Actually, they would prefer the churches would take on the burden of the poor, as it shouldn’t be the responsibility of the government. Their most ardent ideal is a very limited government; for them that would mean ignoring our numerous social problems, like decaying infrastructure and 47 million Americans without health insurance, and instead vote billions for defense and war-making around the globe. They like to say, as I heard Ken Lay once comment to a young admirer at ENRON, keep at it and someday you too can have your turn at the top. They like to proffer ideals and paradigms that all lead to being a millionaire and a mover and shaker; such a success is held out like a carrot for acolytes interested in fame and fortune.
But from the perspective of the bottom fish, it all boils down to the rich getting richer and the poor, which now includes many of the middle class, getting the short end of the stick. They end up with the bills of the elite who periodically fail through their own mistakes and reckless behavior. That’s when we learn their philosophy all along was “privatize profits and socialize losses.”
Will we never learn?
No comments:
Post a Comment