What do Robert Louis Stevenson and Walt Disney have to do with John Boehner's retirement? And why, in the wake of Pope Francis' visit, am I predicting that republicans may be going straight to hell? Come inside to find out.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the short story " The bottle imp" in 1893. It is a variation on the Genie in a bottle theme with an especially nasty twist. A young Hawaiian Islander meets an old man on the beach who owns this genie in a bottle, but is eager to be rid of it. The old man explains the power of the object:
“… If any man buy this bottle the imp is at his command; all that he desires-- love, fame, money, houses like this house, ay, or a city like this city--all are his at the word uttered. Napoleon had this bottle, and by it he grew to be the king of the world; but he sold it at the last, and fell. Captain Cook had this bottle, and by it he found his way to so many islands; but he, too sold it, and was slain upon Hawaii. For, once it is sold, the power goes and the protection; and unless a man remain content with what he has, ill will befall him."
Then, he reveals the catch:
"There is one thing the imp cannot do--he cannot prolong life; and, it would not be fair to conceal from you, there is a drawback to the bottle; for if a man die before he sells it, he must burn in hell for ever."
It is revealed that each owner must sell it for less than they bought it for or they are doomed. In true late Victorian style, the dark tale drifts into terror as the last owner buys the bottle imp for a few centimes (the smallest known currency at the time) and shakes in fear at the bargain he has made.
The retirement of John Boehner, and the current state of the Republican Primary reminded me of this story. I would propose that in today’s political climate, the appeal to racism is the bottle imp. The political party that embraces racism can have their electoral wishes come true. Power, money, all the trappings of richness and fame are theirs, but there is a terrible cost. Good old-fashioned racism was mainly the property of the Democrats from reconstruction until the civil rights era and LBJ. The reliable voting block of Dixiecrats allowed the Democrats to hold power throughout the Jim Crow era. Starting with the Kennedy Administration and culminating in LBJ’s Great Society, the Democratic party essentially rid themselves of the curse of racism. But as in Stevenson’s story, there was a willing buyer. Richard Nixon’s southern strategy allowed him to
corner the market on southern racism and win two presidential elections. We can argue whether Nixon was subsequently doomed to hell, but anyone who remembers Nixon’s final days can see the toll his malfeasance took on him.
Since Nixon, each successive wave of Republicans has taken possession of the bottle imp. Ronald Regan bought it with his invention of the Welfare Queen and the awful war on drugs.
George Herbert Walker Bush paid for it with Willie Horton. I hope I don’t need to explain all the ways in which Newt Gingrich devastated Black America through welfare “reform” and his embrace of the Evangelical Christian (read white southern) community. I would argue that each time this has been done, the price has been a cheapening of American Politics. Sarah Palin, with her “Real Americans” trope, or Ann Coulter, with her, well with everything she says, are a manifestly diminished version of the racism that Ron and Nancy sold with such affable conviction.
That brings me to Boehner and the current crop of Republican candidates. Boehner started his press conference about his resignation singing a happy song from Walt Disney’s “Song of the South.” Setting aside that Disney’s movie was full of racial stereotypes and celebrated southern culture at just the time that Black Americans were fighting for justice, Boehner’s obvious relief was that of a man who narrowly avoided eternal damnation. He had sold the Imp.
Unfortunately for the rest of his Republican colleagues, most notably those running for President, they are stuck with the accursed artifact of racism. They well know that they need to get rid of it and soon, but seem unable to find anyone to buy it. Their own post mortem of the 2012 election cycle told them so, and yet it is impossible to not see it there in every debate. Donald Trump dragged it out into the daylight, but the dynamic of the campaign has forced each Republican candidate to be more explicit in their appeals to racist minds. In the era of social media, it is no longer easy to be “tough on crime” without associating yourself with police brutality. In the internet era, it is no longer possible to say one thing to voters in Mississippi and another in Ohio without being caught.
Each presidential cycle there are fewer and fewer white voters born and raised before the civil rights era. In addition, the percentage of whites as a total of the population has declined as the non-white population has grown. Younger White voters are less inclined to embrace the intolerant views of the previous generations. Still racism persists. The ugly truth is that those who remain racially biased in todays world are willfully so. Because there are fewer of them, it becomes vitally important to get as many of them as possible to support the Republican banner. That is why Republican rhetoric has lost all subtlety. It is also why Steve Scalise could be the next Speaker of the House.
The Republican party has defined their entire brand through virulent opposition to America’s first Black President. Their policies on social services, crime, voting rights and more, serve to suppress the Black population at the ballot box and in the workplace. This ugly truth has allowed them to grab power and wealth, but it will lead to their downfall. May they be damned eternally for holding on to the imp for too long .