For many years, I have been concerned with the context of power and the power of context. Studying domestic violence made me consider the dynamics of slavery, and that seemed connected to the Reagan era's loathing of the poor. I think that the Ownership Society is a new name for the old trap in which the greedy and powerful habitually lock themselves. Don't misunderstand me. I am no apologist for the master class; in fact, I despise the notion that oppressors are as much to be pitied as their victims.
What I want to understand is the magnitude of destructive self-deception it takes for the Have Mores to function, and I suggest that possessing substantially more stuff or influence than those around you is dangerous and extremely uncomfortable. They either accept that they're selfish bastards who don't give a damn for anybody else, or wrap themselves in saccharine lies. Both techniques have a steep downside. If I accept that I have power over others, the price is constant vigilance. I need security systems, gated communities, friends in high places, spies, guard dogs, tougher laws, more prisons. The list is endless. One can't be too safe when the others hate you, fear you, and want your stuff.
These defenses are doubled and re-doubled with the second option. If I prefer to think well of myself but still retain privilege, I need to justify having so much when others have so little. I must deserve it. Yes, I'm entitled to it. I work hard, its my money, and I deserve to keep it. And they, well, there must be something wrong with them. They're lazy, stupid, immoral; racially, culturally and inherently inferior. In fact, the more destitute the oppressed are, the less sympathy they get because desperate is dangerous. Shut them up, shut them away lest they remind us of life's uncertainty. No, they must bring it on themselves; that couldn't happen to me. I will never be homeless, starving, addicted, battered, weak, old, ill or insane. If I deserve what I get, then they deserve what they get, too. Must be God's Will.
This game's not just for the masters and their anonymous serfs; any Have More Wannabe can play because power is personal. Maybe I'd hate being treated the way I treat my wife, but she doesn't mind because she's so different from me. Yeah, that's right. Because if I let myself see that she's a person just like me, I wouldn't sleep too soundly next to her. I'd think twice before eating that meal she cooked. I might wonder how she could possibly love someone like me. And since I won't tolerate any bad attitudes or whining from my children and employees, why, they all look pretty damned happy. I guess they're content with their lot in life. No ambition, no gumption, no pride. The worse I treat them, the more they grovel, like beaten dogs. I ask you, how can I be expected to respect anything so spineless? (But some of them are sneaky, dangerous. You can't really trust them, can you? They pretend to like you, but don't you believe it.)
Smug entitlement and victim blaming require constant upkeep through reality filtering. The collateral damage is empathy, intimacy, and our humanity. Is it any wonder that the conviction rate in rape cases is so low? It is primarily women, not the men on juries who want to know what she was wearing, what was she doing there, was she asking for it, because if she is truly an innocent, then this unthinkable thing could happen to them, too. And if you wonder how far men will go to distance themselves from the fear of sexual assault, look no farther than the Reverend Fred Phelps.
The delusion that life offers only two roles, the fucker or the fuckee, is a self-fulfilling prophecy that has poisoned our society. America's shift from the egalitarian, cooperative Left to the hierarchical, competitive Right has fueled classism, racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, poverty and elective war. For these grasping, fearful people there are too many undeserving "them" and an ever shrinking number of entitled "us" frozen in loveless, precarious lives that neither fervent prayer nor frantic consumerism can thaw.
While America has always had our share of the rapacious rich brandishing their cutlasses and howling, "Me first and screw you", we once balanced Ownership Capitalism with Common Good Socialism. I don't wax nostalgic for pat-on-the-head paternalism, but the current Republican leadership is all noblesse and no oblige. The privileged have historically been able to hire personal security, work in safe conditions, retire at leisure, send their sons to private school and their daughters for safe, secret abortions, but there was at least a nod to the notion of living in a civil society where all benefit from some minimal level of safety, security, education and personal freedom. Once we aspired to equality; now we worship freedom. "Why do you hate freedom?" I hate the GWB definition: freedom to exploit workers, rip off consumers, limit legal recourse, and create monopolies. It is the freedom of the ruling class to do as they damn well please without bothersome government regulations. It is power over, not power to.
Republicans are hell bent on destroying all social institutions and our few protections from pure, dog-eat-dog capitalism. We never had universal healthcare, and we're not going to get it. Vouchers alone couldn't destroy the public schools, so they add the unfunded mandate of NCLB. They're determined to eliminate the Social Security system; dumping all that money into the stock market is just a bonus. Look for a "reform" of the minimum wage next, no doubt to save our jobs and make us more competitive. We'll bully the UN or walk out because the whole world had better recognize that America is a butch top. The hell with the consequences; we don't need anybody. At risk of sounding like a chapeau de tin-foil paranoid, I can't help but wonder if those in the know aren't grabbing up all they can get, hastening what they believe is the inevitable and imminent collapse of the world economy.
This disturbing combination of dominance and delusion is not a new phenomenon; it has been making steady gains since the Reagan years, but the fear and uncertainty generated by 9-11 and played upon by the Bush Administration have dramatically damaged the mental health of ordinary, decent American citizens. We all watched the vicious savaging of any Moderate or Progressive who suggested a reasoned response to terrorism, or cooperation with our European allies, let alone an examination of past and present US foreign policy. We were howled down as traitors then, and the Republican attack dogs haven't let up since.
Look at the faces of the ridged Right: smug, smirking, entitled, sanctimonious. And beneath the smirk lies a snarl for anyone who dares question. Let them rave and froth and snap, but keep forcing them to explain themselves. We are fighting mental illness, not a legitimate ideology. Don't argue with the Washington Republicans; don't attempt to debate them with facts or logic. Speak over their heads to those voters who can still think. Half of America supported Bush because he's marketed as the biggest, baddest sumbitch on the planet, and they thought he'd keep us safe from Arabs who want to kill us, immigrants that steal our jobs, smart ass broads who won't behave, and faggots who're trying to screw our kids. The Democratic Party needs to bring in battered women as consultants; they know about ceding power to a Strong Dear Leader who plays on irrational fears, and they can show us how they escaped.
The grim, coldhearted sociopaths will lie to manipulate and control. They don't care what we think, but they hate and fear the truth. The self-righteous delusionals lie to us, too, but their most necessary lies are those they tell themselves. It's no coincidence that the dirtiest secrets are found among those who act as if they're "waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity" (Mark Twain).
Watch them. Listen to them. That visceral revulsion is our healthy response to atomic cognitive dissonance. Their sick secrets leak out between the lies to flit across their faces, twitch through their limbs, and tremble in their voices. Expose their hypocrisy, mock them, and hold them up to ridicule. This is hard, given the neutered press and vetted venues, but strategic rudeness may be our best weapon. They go ballistic when questioned; keep the pressure up until we achieve Neocon spontaneous combustion.
I'm a Feminist, a Liberal and an Existentialist.
I don't enjoy advocating cruelty to deranged Republicans. I would like to listen and understand. I would rather compromise and heal. I prefer cooperation over confrontation. But first, I want my country back.