As I sink into a graceful? middle age I do, from time to time, reflect. I imagine that if I am granted many more years, and I hope to be, that such introspection may tend to increase.
Today I found myself considering those things that make me Liberal as opposed to "large C" conservative, Atheist as opposed to a person of religious faith, and other stuff.
I won't trouble you all by posting lots of pictures and links, but I will spend a short time trying to make some sense of this.
I wonder sometimes how typical my journey has been. I know I have emigrated, and even in a country built by those emigrating to be here, that still puts me in a fairly small sub-section of the population.
On the other hand, while I find that there are cultural differences between my new home and my old one, there are also many similarities. I am from England and even when I finally become an American, I will still be English. Forty five years in your country of birth tends to do that to you. In any event, I moved positively towards something special here, I was not fleeing from a place that abused me and my perspective is, therefore, different to that of many refugees.
The differences in our cultures are startling at times, and they catch out this Limey frequently. The English feel close to Americans, a closeness that can be deceptive because in reality the English are much closer to the French, a neighbour we traditionally hate. It's bred into us.
The English, for example, think the "Bible Belt" is Surrey, with a few more churches. That is because the United Kingdom has an Established Church yet religion plays little real part in our public life. Brits really do not understand how a country with a legal separation of Church and State can have any real issues with this.
Another example would be the thorny issue of gun control, and I do not seek to rehearse those arguments here. I simply want to point to the contradiction. In the US, every violent incident leads to national politicians seeking to remedy the situation by pushing more guns out into society. Even many Liberals get caught up in this response. In the UK, by way of complete contrast, whenever we do have a gun incident, of any kind, politicians of the Left AND the Right line up to yell for more gun controls. I know! It's freaky!
So my upbringing is European, and even if I had been a Conservative in the UK, it is likely that I would align more closely with the Democratic Party here. I might be tinged a teensy bit "Blue Doggish", but no friend of Ben Nelson.
Simply put, the Right Wing in the UK supports freedom of choice for women, universal healthcare free at the point of delivery, much more progressive taxation (although that could be better). Even though many on the Right in the UK would like to borrow some Republican policies, they are held pretty much in check by an electorate that simply won't let them.
However, I was a Socialist (after I was a Communist) even in England. Coming here, and becoming involved has been difficult. Not only is there nearly fifty years of catching up to do, there are few national leaders who even come close to proposing my agenda. I've softened a bit ... but not much. I still think Religion belongs in Church only, and that guns belong to the Military and (a very few) policemen. I still think that workers should have a substantial share in the ownership of the means of production, that workers should share the wealth created.
I believe in big government. Not because it needs to be big in absolute terms, but because we need it to do big things. The Republicans believe in big government too, because every time they control it, they make it bigger. I'll borrow a phrase here from a man I respect very deeply ... Don't tell me what you think. Tell me what you do and I'll tell you what you think.
I still believe that every child has a right to education at the level they have the ability to achieve That no child should ever go hungry, or their illnesses untended. That prisons should be reserved for violent criminals only, and that those inmates should make a profit for the society they harmed, not the corporations that apparently own them.
But it is hard to be a Liberal here. It was hard in school to be a "loud-mouthed" Commie, but that was easy compared to being a Liberal, a Progressive, in America.
The problem seems to be that Liberals, by and large, live in a reality based community. Facts matter, and when the facts are in disagreement with our arguments, we have to change the argument, or develop a better one. As Lawrence O'Donnell is fond of remarking, "You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts".
How much easier would that we could simply change the facts. Even better, if we don't have any facts, simply make some up? That is what they do, the other side. It is completely free of any need or desire to retain objectivity, perspective, sense of history or plan for the future. There is just today, and today these are my facts. Tomorrow I shall have some more and they will be just as valid as those I had today. I will argue for them just as forcefully and should you dare to challenge my facts I will simply ask you why you hate America.
If I have a secret agenda to follow then that is equally easy. I will make it about something else that I just made up. I might, for example, want to ensure that I am re-elected despite my opponent deploying any "weapons of fact destruction" against me. The easiest way is simply to make sure that his voters can't. Vote that is. So I make shit up about voter fraud, then pass a whole raft of Jim Crow type laws that effectively ban his voters. There, job done and I do so entirely without acknowledging or even realising that I just engaged in the very fraud I was lying about in the first place. Hey, I'm an American Republican. I don't do irony.
By dint of my good friends, and my good fortune I will make a very good living. There is nothing wrong with making a good living, lots of very nice folk do just that. I will make more than they do however, because unlike them I am actually a superior being lacking as I do any feelings of empathy, or sympathy for anyone less fortunate than I.
If you work as hard as me then you too can be a millionaire. The beauty of this lie is buried deep inside the essential truth. It is true, that anyone, even a skinny black kid can, through intelligence, hard work and some luck become a millionaire, or a President. The lie is in promoting the suggestion, however faintly, that we can ALL do it. We can't, it isn't possible and they know it. It is a system that is designed to allow just enough people through that they can then blame those who do not make it. It's your fault. Slacker!
I give you the perfect Republican ... Herman Cain. Well he is this week's perfect Republican, by next week it will probably be some other smooth lying bastard. Herman has a plan. He calls it 999 which I believe is copyright Sim City. It is, of course, a massive lie. Herman has to know it is a lie, to not know is inconceivable even for someone as bereft of a clue as Herman appears to be.
My God, how the smart operatives behind the GOP must love the Hermans, and the Michelles, and the Ricks of this world. While they play panto, and lie their asses of for the cameras, the real money can roll along, running the world almost completely unchallenged.
My life would be so much easier were I to be a Republican. I would be good at it too. In a previous life I was an very good internet troll (the original, honourable version, not the new stoopid type), and I would have made a great Republican.
I would also be completely dead inside. I wonder how much my soul would fetch these days?