Leonard Cohen was always blessed with insight and good timing. He managed to leave this plane of existence the night before the election. Maybe it spared him having to live through what promises to be an excruciating section of history. Maybe he knew what was coming. Who can say?
Like a lot of folks, his words have echoed in my head in the days since November 8th with a feeling of prophetic power. For years we watched other countries struggle under the weight of tyranny and chaos. Now democracy truly seems to be coming to the USA. If such a thing as American exceptionalism ever existed — it's probably over now.
But the quote that keeps haunting me is this:
“oh, and one more thing
you’re not going to like
what comes after America..."
Try as I might, I just can't shake those words. They sting because I wonder if we’re not already there. Is America still America? I realize how naive that question sounds (and how hilarious a movement Republican would find it) — but I still can't help but wonder.
I’ll expand on the thought in a moment, but first I need to apologize to Mr. Cohen’s memory for dragging him into this, as I don't assume that my ideology is his. Second, I want to contextualize who I am. I’m a guy who left this site because I was disturbed at what I perceived as signs that we were starting down a similar road as the GOP. I'm a guy who values compromise and dislikes movement politics of any kind. The things I am about to say are out of character for me.
Okay...so here it is:
We’ve been beaten. Some time ago the GOP made a decision to opt out of the American project of forging compromise and consent and decided instead to seize power. They played to win, and the only cost was America itself. Too dramatic? Let's go over it.
You could go back further than this. There’s been a strain of self-destruction in our politics all along — and not every data point comes from the other side (though most do). But it all seemed to coalesce into its worst incarnation with the ending of the fairness doctrine and the rise of talk radio. By the time Bill Clinton came along it was in full bloom. I'll never forget seeing Limbaugh on tv the day he was inaugurated. He had a graphic on the screen that said, “America Held Hostage: Day One.” Then they went to commercial, selling Clinton watches in which the hands went backwards. I was 27 years old then, and that shocked me. I'd seen Watergate. I'd seen Willie Horton. But I’d never seen the kind of naked partisanship that treated a new President as a foreign interloper before.
From there I watched as things got worse. I would read about Newt Gingrich’s GOPAC sending out charts training GOP surrogates to use words like “sick” and “decay” when talking about liberals. I saw the Clinton's accused of murders and dragged through a criminal fishing expedition that led to an impeachment trial for personal failings that many of his accusers also shared.
Things got worse from there. We endured the election of 2000, and even though most of us felt burned by the Supreme Court’s decision (and perhaps flirted with some “not my President” sentiment in the immediate, angry days that followed), we did unify behind President Bush after 9/11. That turned later, as he manipulated his way into an unjust war in Iraq — but still, he found partnership across the aisle throughout his Presidency (perhaps too much so).
Then came Obama. Never before in modern history had a President been more openly desirous of working across the aisle. But clearly the GOP saw the potential for a Democratic President with coattails — so they hatched a plan to destroy him by sabotaging the country throughout his term. It was a kind of chemotherapy...kill just enough of the body to kill his Presdency and hope the rest survives. That they undertook this plan just as our nation was on the brink of financial collapse was truly monstrous.
It didn't stop there. They forced a downgrade in our nation’s credit for partisan gain. They sabotaged healthcare reform that would benefit their own constituents. The masterstroke was denying the President the right to fill a Supreme Court seat, thus giving themselves a chance to steal it — and giving themselves a wedge to keep evangelical voters in their tent despite nominating a candidate they’d normally find loathesome.
All of the above is history you know, but I repeat it to point out that it has worked. The one failsafe that could have (and should have) stopped the GOP from going so far was that the public should have made them pay. That is the mechanism that has always kept demagoguery in check. Instead...they’ve been rewarded by voters at every turn. The press has assisted by democratizing the blame for where we are with a false “both sides do it” narrative —so why should Republicans ever participate in governance again? And here’s the really sick part: At this point, people are correct to vote for the GOP, because a vote for the Democrats is a vote for Repreguaranteed to be hobbled by intransigent GOP resistance. Indeed, a vote for the GOP is a vote for your hostage-taker...but one whose opposition would never hurt innocent people just to make a power play. Essentially they’ve forced the country to choose them. Choose us or we burn the country down. That the despicable contract on America they’ve forged.
So that’s where we are. Game. Set. Match. America can't function as America anymore. And what is the road back? Is there one? Shall I gild the lily and pretend to have one? I won't indulge in false hopefulness.
The best I can say is this:
I don't know.
I don't know if we should put on the brass knuckles and become just as bad as them, joining them in tearing our union apart in an effort to gain power back, or whether we should try to stay above all of that and continue the abuse cycle. Probably a mix of both...hopefully choreographed with the wisdom enough to know which is needed at each juncture. But what I DO know is that this country is worth fighting for. I think America needs us to fight for her, and win or lose...I think we all need to know that we didn't shirk from this dire moment.
So what does that mean in practical terms? It means playtime is over. Venting into cyberspace isn't enough. Affecting a pose of “more progressive than thou” isn't enough. If you aren't taking action, you aren't helping. Period.
I don't have THE plan...but until one emerges, I am endorsing Flippable.org. If we are going to be forced into a fight, we need to fight smart. I’m not affiliated with this site (other than as a member), but I think they’ve got the right idea. Please take a moment to check it out yourself at www.flippable.org and consider signing up. Also, feel free to use this thread to suggest other venues for positive action. But whatever you do, don't let up. Get up every day and find one way to contribute. Otherwise all that is left to do is ponder what Leonard Cohen meant by, “what comes after America."
I hope to never find out...and I hope I'm not already living it.