malaise
malaise: mal·aise
Etymology: French malaise, from Old French, from mal- + aise comfort
1 : an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of health often indicative of or accompanying the onset of an illness
2 : a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being <a malaise of cynicism and despair -- Malcolm Boyd>
Merriam-Webster
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(Cross-posted at NION)
In the medical sense, malaise is a vague sense of discomfort. It's an awareness that something is wrong even though the exact nature of the disease or malady may be unknown.
Malaise is a generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being that can be associated with a disease state. It can be accompanied by a sensation of exhaustion or inadequate energy to accomplish usual activities.
Malaise is a nonspecific symptom that can occur with almost any significant infectious, metabolic (endocrine), or systemic disorder. The onset may be slow or rapid depending on the nature of the disease. NIH
But there's also a second kind of malaise: the malaise of a culture found wanting, the malaise of country feeling discontent and uneasiness but not fully knowing why. Of a people being so disillusioned for so long that they no longer remember what the original problem was: there's just an innate sense that on a spiritual level, that things have gone horribly wrong and that life as we know it has declined slowly and steadily into decay.
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On July 15, 1979 President Jimmy Carter delivered to the nation what was later coined his "Malaise Speech." The practical reason for his speech was to address the nation's energy crisis and the then new concept of the creeping, increasing dependance on foreign oil.
But the malaise of the American people to which he spoke came from a wound to the national psyche that had been 15 years in the making.
In June, Carter had been en-route to a much needed getaway in Hawaii after successfully concluding the SALT 2 arms agreements with the Soviets. But his pollster, Patrick Cadell called him on the plane and urged him to come back to Washington.
"What was really disturbing to me," (Cadell) remembered, "was for the first time, we actually got numbers where people no longer believed that the future of America was going to be as good as it was now. And that really shook me, because it was so at odds with the American character." Caddell argued that after fifteen years filled with assassinations, Vietnam, Watergate, and a declining economy, Americans were suffering from a general "crisis of confidence."
The malaise was brought on by a series of injustices that saddened and shocked the American people. Injustices that are never adequately addressed tend to fester. Turned inward, they lead to despondency and depression.
Let's look closely at Cadell's last sentence from above:
In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed just after winning the California primary. He was well on this way to being the Democratic nominee for president. That same year, Martin Luther King's dream for himself and million's of Americans was snuffed out just as he himself was.
The Vietnam War ended badly for America. Though it was never admitted at the time, it was a defeat - not for the troops but for the architects of the failed war. No amount of escalation was enough to "win" and eventually Americans turned against the war. The US extricated itself from Vietnam but not before 58,193 American soldiers were killed, 153,303 were maimed or wounded and 1,948 were missing in acation. (source). This had been a war that the American people were led to believe was just; and that must be won at all costs.
Finally, the very foundation of the institution of government was rocked with the revelations of the White House's Watergate scandal.
Like the assassinations and the war that preceded it, there was no just resolution to the Watergate scandal: Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. There was no sense that the egregious injustices had been rectified; no sense that the damage done to the spirit and psyche of the American people had been repaired. The Republicans pardoned Nixon saving him from being convicted for any of his many crimes. His vice-president had resigned in disgrace.
(Nixon's resignation)
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So when President Carter addressed the nation in his malaise speech he was addressing not only the problem of America needing to confront an era of limits with respect to energy. But he was also addressing the mood of a country that had soured after 15 years of decay - a country that was was now aiming its anger at Carter and the White House.
Carter met for 10 days with many different leaders and advisors from all walks of life before the speech. He decided to level with the American people and to speak directly to the crisis of confidence that the American people now felt. Here's an excerpt of Carter's speech - the lines in quotes are where he's quoting from the various leaders:
"Don't talk to us about politics or the mechanics of government, but about an understanding of our common good."
"Mr. President, we're in trouble. Talk to us about blood and sweat and tears."
"If you lead, Mr. President, we will follow."
Many people talked about themselves and about the condition of our Nation. This from a young woman in Pennsylvania: "I feel so far from government. I feel like ordinary people are excluded from political power."
...
And I like this one particularly from a black woman who happens to be the mayor of a small Mississippi town: "The big-shots are not the only ones who are important. Remember, you can't sell anything on Wall Street unless someone digs it up somewhere else first."
This kind of summarized a lot of other statements: "Mr. President, we are confronted with a moral and a spiritual crisis."
And a bit further into his speech, Carter said this:
We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate.
Carter never was able to regain the trust of the American people. The ravages of runaway inflation and the energy embargo were too much for him to overcome.
And because the Republicans had never been punished for their crimes against the American people, they were able to wage a comeback. The Reagan presidency brought back to government many of the same criminals who had been part of the Nixon and Ford Administrations.
The Democratic controlled congress voted to end all funding for the wars in Latin America. But John Poindexter, Oliver North, and Vice President George Bush subverted the will of the congress and the American people by funding a secret war against Nicaragua by selling arms and ammunitions to Iran - an enemy of the United States. The Tower Report came out - and the special presidential commission found that Reagan was guilty and responsible for what had come to be known as the Iran-Contra scandal.
And once again a Republican President and Vice President who oversaw the wanton disregard for the laws of the United States and the trust of the American people went unpunished.
Instead, in 1988 Vice President Bush was elected as the 41st President of the United States.
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I'm sure at this point, I don't need to tell you the point of all this. But I'm going to do it anyway:
Gerogre Bush, Dick Cheney and the entire administration have to be punished for the crimes they have committed against America and the world.
They need to be investigated and brought to justice for the human tragedy that was Abu Ghraib.
They need to shamed and chastened for doctoring intelligence and lying their way (and our way) into an unnecessary war.
They need to locked up for many years for the shameful secret renditions leading to the torture of people who never got any trial at all, let alone a fair one.
They need to be tried, convicted and imprisoned as proof to the rest of the world that we will never again allow our government to run a clandestine, illegal offshore prison that skirts the laws of our nation and our Constitution.
Are you listening to me?
Have I made myself clear?
This is not about political expediency.
It's not enough to pass resolutions telling the President to stop. History shows us that.
This is not about Democrats using the GOP's current problems to their own advantage and strengthening their majorities in the congress and winning the presidency in 2008.
It's way bigger than that, people. Way, way bigger.
Political winds shift all the time. And yes, certainly Democrats are poised now to make gains in the congress and even win the Presidency.
But it's not enough. There remains the manner of righting all the years of injustices against the American people and yes, the world by these selfish, arrogant, petty and vindictive NeoCons who have gone unpunished so many times in the past.
We need to stop them. The American people need to stop them.
And Democrats are in the position to help the American people do it.
Stop them. Please. Before they kill again.
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