My favorite political writer is William Greider. He's been writing about politics for decades now and you likely have heard of some of his more well known efforts: Secrets of the Temple--a book about the undemocratic power of the Federal Reserve, Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy--a book originally published in 1988 about the general failure of the two-party system, and the more recent The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy--the title summarizes it well--Capitalism does not have to be the way it is, mostly. His most recent work is Come Home, America and it came out in hardback nearly a year ago. The reason I'm writing about now is because the paperback goes on sale today. You can get it at Amazon or Barnes & Noble for under $11, or as Shocko from Seattle suggested in comments, pay a few bucks more and support your local bookstore.
In March of 2009, Come Home America was released in Hardback. Most people were full of optimism and many expected much to change quickly. While hope is nice, a more practical view of Presidential power would serve us better. Mr. Greider certainly wrote that electing Obama presented a better alternative to McCain, but there remained something seriously wrong with our expectations:
Our newly elected president's victory and inauguration have stirred the national spirit--a new president always renews our optimism--but during the campaign Barack Obama did not stray far from the accepted assumptions about the American condition. He promised big changes on many important issues and, like most Americans I hope for his success.
But the ominous historical circumstances moving against the nation pose adversities that dwarf any single leader. One damaging myth Americans ought to abandon is the naive notion that the celebrity power of the presidency can somehow solve our problems. That faith has been disappointed again and again in recent decades. First, the new leader is built up with miraculous powers, then cast down when he fails to prevail.
In the remainder of the opening chapter entitled "Fair Warning" he outlines his basic thesis that as a nation we are in far greater trouble than anyone in the political world lets on, and that wrenching changes are upon us. Specifically, the idea of America as #1 or leading the world is dangerously overblown and untenable, and our standards of living and expectations for the future will not recover. Politicians should be more honest about this, but instead he is offering "Fair Warning" for what is on the horizon. If this sounds too negative to you, take heart, as Mr. Greider points out--those two painful realizations once internalized give way for the possibility of acceptance and new growth. It is perfectly OK for us to withdraw from our ultimately aggressive world view, and for many of us, what is our current standard of living really delivering for us when we view it in terms of stress, hours worked, and the loss of significant time for each other? For those already on the edge of economic ruin, re-structuring our politics is imperative.
Rather than go into a comprehensive review of the book, I am instead going to offer a couple examples of Mr. Greider's thinking--a few items I found particularly compelling. Needless to say, I highly recommend you get a look at this book.
In the chapter entitled "The 'Winners Complex'" Greider describes the heart of our neurosis in foreign policy and belief in the primacy of unfettered capitalism. On the America is #1 and inherently good etc. mentality and the extent to which this has become a delusional and poisonous set of ideas:
We are governed now by many expressions of crackpot thinking. For example, the US military is assigned not only to conquer and control other societies, but also to reform them. Soldiers are sent abroad like missionaries with guns to teach democracy to the inhabitants of one village at a time. Some critics call this imperialism, but if that's so, it is a goofy version of an empire.
On the economic front, many people throughout the world, while admiring much of what the US has, do not wish to replicate of disparity of wealth if they can help it, and the idea that 'free markets' are all one needs is met with pretty healthy suspicion. In short, America is still young as a nation--more like a teenager. In addition, like a teenager--it is about time we grow up.
The question is, I think, whether we--the people who proudly call ourselves Americans--can mature as a society. The country can develop a deeper sense of what matters most in life and what doesn't. It can shed some self-destructive reflexes and acquire a wiser sense of national self-interest anchored in the nation's ideals. Wisdom tempers egoism. ...
Or the United States can plunge ahead self-indulgently, repeating destructive habits, acting out reckless ambitions and getting into deeper trouble.
In the final chapter "The Underground River" Greider addresses the founding myths and the inherent misinterpretation and fetishism about the founding fathers one finds on the right. As the founding legend goes, our wise leaders of the Revolutionary/Constitutional period delivered the founding documents much like Moses' 10 Commandments, and the beacon of American freedom has been shining outward toward the world ever since.
This much-loved story line is basically false; it's heartwarming, but not what happened. Conventional history stresses the virtue inherent in our national intentions but our country's true story is about the promise, not the delivery.
He goes on to describe the obvious flaw of slavery which only found partial resolution in a bloody Civil War. Then there was the direct election of the Senate, which only came about in 1913, and the fact that women could not vote until 1920, and on and on. It's a journey we are all still on, and as a result it is up to us to define it.
The inherent possibility of our age is that at the same time that corporate power has seemingly gained a stranglehold on the media, in addition to the Supreme Court, we have the technological ability to organize more easily than ever before. The Internet has provided a tool to get the unconventional story out there and disseminate it while at the same time provided a tool for organizing at the grass roots level that simply did not exist before. The upcoming struggle needs to be won in parallel or outside of Presidential politics--depending on your perspective, and a much larger number of us need to get our hands dirty in the effort to find common ground. This means building diverse coalitions around issues of agreement--such as--going after US militarism: "I can imagine military people, retired and active, joining with committed peace advocates to argue out the terms." Much of this is already happening, but the important thing going forward is that organizations that are self-funded need to grow in their numbers and in the projection of their ideas that counter the dangerous conventional wisdom that permeates our media.
I know that I am probably like most people around here who are watching less and less of the televised media. We need to have this happen for many more of the people we know, and we need to work at the local level to do that. I can think of no better and immediate arena for this than the local primary elections coming in the next few months--it's time to get out there and start talking and figuring out who should be supported and who should not and to share what you know with the voters around you. It would be great if Obama does better this year, but what if he doesn't? What are you going to do about it?