There is no longer any doubt that the country - or at least a small and disproportionally powerful segment of the country - is in the grip of a kind of insanity that I don't recall ever witnessing.
The fight over raising the debt limit has little or nothing to do with fiscal policy or the size of government or competing beliefs about the role of government in public life.
It has to do with hatred, ignorance and fanaticism. Hatred - of President Obama because, a) he is a Democrat; and b) because he is black. Ignorance - of the most basic history of the United States - up to and including the years between 2001 and 2008. And a fanatical obsession with one idea: that taxes are the single greatest threat to individual liberty.
The anti-tax fanaticism is pervasive, economically illiterate and insane. But even the anti-tax posture is, I believe, to some degree disingenuous. For many, the anti-tax stance is an easy mask to slip on in order to hide what they and the political class and the pundits, and perhaps even President Obama himself, are unwilling to acknowledge publicly:
Their hatred and rage are so enormous and out-of-control that they are willing to bring down the whole nation as long as it brings down Obama, too. Not just because he is a Democrat, but because he is black.
I know it's impolite to say this sort of thing publicly. Very bad form. President Obama himself would probably scold me. Fortunately for me, I am not a politician, so I don't need to be polite.
A couple of historical facts:
The total national debt was $5.7 trillion dollars when George Bush took office. During his presidency he added $4.9 trillion - more than any president in history. By March 2009, barely two months into Obama's presidency, the total national debt was $11 trillion.
So, the Republican Party, and even the Tea Party, don't give a crap about running up debt. If they really cared we would have heard their howls of protest long ago. They are worked up about it now, and they are manufacturing a crisis now, because it hurts President Obama. Period.
President Bush raised the debt limit seven times during his presidency. There were a few grumbles and speeches here and there - even one from then-Senator Obama himself - but the people so self-right-righteously drawing a line the sand now were almost universally silent then.
So, their intense opposition to raising the debt limit is basically phony, too. It is, however, an extraordinarily effective way to stop the Obama presidency from getting anything else done - i.e., from succeeding. Succeeding at what? Creating a strong economic recovery. Putting people back to work. No Democrat, let alone a black democrat, can be allowed to do that. No way. That is the domain of white Republicans, boy, not you. Plus, if the economy recovered, the Republicans, as we all know, would have no chance of winning the White House in 2012.
The debt limit "crisis" also has the added benefit of changing the entire political discussion. And, thanks to cable TV and the general ignorance of the American public, millions of people draw the following conclusion: If these powerful and loud people are so fiercely opposed to Obama over the question of raising the debt limit and lowering the deficits, then those things must be Obama's fault!
Racial Hatred: Facing the Inevitable
We must try to look the reality of racial hatred squarely in the face. At many points in our nation's history, when African-Americans achieve something truly meaningful, a racist counter-movement occurs. I suppose because I am a musician, examples of societal racism connected to music strike me in a particular way. So, here are two:
I encountered the story of James Reese Europe in Ken Burns' documentary, Jazz. I strongly recommend that you view the relevant clip here.
In 1918, when the U.S. entered World War I, James Reese Europe - a black man - was the "best-known orchestra leader in New York." That fact alone is startling. After African-Americans from Harlem were "granted permission" to form their own unit - the 15th Infantry Regiment - Reese was selected to lead the Regimental band. The unit received the French military honor, the Croix de Guerre. 171 members of the unit were decorated for bravery - more than from any other American regiment.
When 15th Infantry Regiment and their band returned from the war, there was a victory parade up 5th Avenue, and "New Yorkers black and white poured into the streets to cheer them." The band went on a triumphant tour of the country, "drawing big, cheering integrated crowds wherever they went."
When James Reese Europe was killed by a crazed member of his own band, the city of New York gave Reese an official funeral, "the first ever granted to a black citizen."
Thousands of mourners, black and white, turned out to see the procession pass from Harlem, down the West Side, to St. Mark's Episcopal Church. "He took the colored of this city from their porters' places," said the priest, "and raised them to positions of importance as real musicians."
What happened after World War 1? The rise of what became known as the Second Ku Klux Klan. Lynchings, cross-burnings, intimidation, terror. Many black soldiers were lynched even while still in uniform. By the mid-1920's, membership was estimated to be between 4 - 5 million. No black man was to be "raised to a position of importance." Not if they could help it. Fortunately, the Klan almost completely disappeared from view during the Great Depression.
Another anecdote from Jazz: During World War II, the center of jazz moved downtown from a struggling Harlem to West 52 Street, where every great jazz artist of the time - black and white - played in a number of well-known, fashionable jazz clubs.
Soldiers on furlough from the war, particularly those boys from the South, horrified and appalled at the sight of well-dressed black men and women walking the streets, violently attacked them - pedestrians and musicians alike.
This story is just a tiny snapshot, of course. Many, many other things happened during the war. African-American units made valuable contributions to the war effort, and earned high praises and commendations from military leaders. In 1948, the armed forces were finally integrated.
What happened after World War II? The rise of the Third Ku Klux Klan. This one gained strength, as the fight for civil rights accelerated after the war. And we all know what happened after most of the landmark civil rights legislation was passed, particularly the Voting Rights Act of 1964. The Democrats "lost the South."
Raising Negroes to positions of importance, i.e. a citizen of the U.S. with the right to vote and therefore a right to affect the status quo, was still not to be tolerated - not by an entire swath of the country.
The U.S. has been in a "conservative" period politically ever since, with a couple of small deviations.
So, what has been the reaction to the election of the first African-American president?
Rush Limbaugh and his millions of followers "want him to fail." Senator Mitch McConnell states that the "highest priority" of the Republican Party is ensuring that Obama does not win a second term.
The rise of the Tea Party, which is really nothing more than the Fourth Ku Klux Klan dressed up as political rhetoric and "anti-government" fervor. In fact, ex-Grand Wizard of the Klan, David Duke, has claimed that thousands of Tea Party activists have urged him to run for president in 2012. In addition, the Southern Poverty Law Center says there are more suspected hate groups in the United States now that ever in recorded history.
The House Republicans now holding the knife-edge of their "no-new-taxes" pledge to the nation's throat are nothing more than a polite, well-dressed version of the kind of hatred, ignorance and fanaticism that has animated American public life for years.
John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor (et tu, Jewish guy?), and the rest of that deplorable gang of all-white Republican hate-mongers who call themselves the "Leadership," are just as guilty, though perhaps they are not quite as "in touch with their feelings" as some of the cruder, more raucous elements they share a bed with.
Nevertheless, they all share the same idea: No black man shall be raised to a position of importance and succeed. Not if they can help it.
On August 2nd, if the U.S. defaults and another economic crisis ensues, the Tea Party and the GOP will shed no tears. Not for the economy, not for the millions of innocent people whose lives will be turned upside down, not for the lost jobs, lost incomes, lost pensions, lost businesses, lost health insurance, ruined credit ratings - no, not for any of that.
Why? Because they will be able to say that the first ever U.S credit default happened on President Obama's watch. They believe this will guarantee that he, and his presidency, are viewed as a failure. The first black presidency in U.S. history will have failed.
The all-white GOP will have a good chance of retaking the White House in 2012.
That is all they ever wanted to begin with.