Hurray for Bob Swern and Meteor Blades heroically explaining that America is in a depression. But their efforts run aground of American arrogance:
- Myth of the dollar. The world is stuck trading and saving in US dollars and the US is therefore able to run any size trade deficit. Any attempt to leave the dollar would result in foreign reserves of dollars becoming worthless and prevent global trade.
- Myth of cornucopia. America is well endowed with natural resources and any resource that runs out can be substituted easily.
- Myth of the military. Spending more on the military then the rest of the world combined means we can successfully fight our way out of any problem.
- Myth of the market. Market forces will address all of our needs.
- Myth of Eutopia. Americans are competent and our country well run.
Though the last decade went very poorly, belief in the myths prevents concern.
Now its not like the average American is aware of his belief in the myths. Usually the only way even to get him to express the myths is to attack one of them and see what he says. The myths are rooted fundamentally in the belief of American continuity:
- The dollar has never crashed. Won't now.
- America has never run out of anything. Won't now.
- America has never lost to any opposing world view - it beat monarchism, slavery (itself), fascism, and Islamism (or whatever its called) will be no different.
- The market has never let us down (well maybe hiccuped a bit but usually that was a result of anti-market policies).
- America is a place of progress and freedom and nothing can threaten that.
Well there you have it. Those of negative mind set might not like it but that's the way it has been and that's the way it will continue to be. American's problem with Bush and the Republicans is not the same as Bob Swern, Meteor Blades or my problem with Bush and the Republicans. Americans saw Katrina, losing wars, bankruptcies and unemployment and it violated their self image based on myths three, four and five. American's don't want to give up free market forces, an incredibly large military or Eutopian beliefs about how well our health care etc. is doing, they just want a better face put on all of it.
And, most dangerously, myths one and two remain unchallenged to the point where Bob Swern and Meteor Blades must fight daily to convince everyone there is an economic problem with the current depression and diaries on peak oil or a dollar crash are mostly ignored. Note the argument is not even on potential solutions but whether there is a problem.
I don't know what the rule on anti-conspiracy theories being posted is but I don't think we can blame this state of the union on corporations or the media. Of course there is class warfare and yes the lower classes are losing. But not because of some great maneuver by the upper classes. The lower classes simply left the field of engagement, retreated in mythical fantasy, and corruption and incompetence slowly claimed the empty territory left behind.
Bush pushed the envelope too far; pressed corruption and incompetence to such an extreme that he and the Republicans finally met resistance. President Obama truly represents America but unfortunately it is an America that is not self aware. Here we come to one of the paradoxes of democracy - do I root for the President to ignore the will of the people and promote a more sane agenda or for him to follow the will, though ignorant, of the people and hope everyone changes their minds?
