We are engaged in a great civil war…. again. Or perhaps its more accurate to say, it’s just a continuation of the 1860’s war between the north and the south. The war that tore America apart, pitting brother against brother for ideological differences of how our government should be run. Conservatives against the liberals. In the Civil war, slavery was the issue that ignited the match, but the bigger picture was states’ rights vs a centralized federal government. Independent governing states had been a stanch republican belief since the inception of our constitution because they reasoned, it allowed for a “small” Washington government. It was the beliefs of the southern plantation owners who had grown wealthy fiefdoms on the backs of free labor, who had come to believe that their way of economics and social governing was an inherent right. That mentality gave birth to the basic conservative ideology. But the radial right has taken it a giant step further. For in their quest for freewheeling unregulated capitalism, they have declared war against the liberals (democrats) who have a much broader vision of government. A vision that attempts an equitable distribution of wealth through social programs and institutions. They long ago, recognized a basic economic truism. That any country, particularly a democracy must have a thriving middle class in order to survive and grow. That income distribution must be fair and equable. One has only to look at history, time and time again, the Russian and French revolutions, the Spanish Inquisition, Cuba and other central and south American countries to realize that when the gap between the rich and poor, the haves and have nots reach a certain point, the government is sitting on a powder keg. Its no secret that here in the United States, the middle class is shrinking. And the cause is directly related to the rise of the radical right. They want unfettered capitalism at any cost. Even if it means the destruction of a fair and just society. Beginning in the early 70’s with the rise of the right wing radio talk shows, spewing distortions of character and history and sometimes out and out lies against liberals and the democratic party, they have finally managed to come into complete power.
Liberals recognize that there are inequalities in our capitalist system, and believe it’s the governments duty, through social programs to smooth out the way as much as possible. For all its citizens, not just the wealthy. Indeed, throughout history, the number one problem every kingdom or government faces is the equitable distribution of wealth. In a benevolent government it’s called compassion. A gene that conservatives seem to have been born without. Its long been known by notable economists that pure capitalism doesn’t work in a free democracy, so instead of adjusting their beliefs about governance, the conservatives, guided and funded by likeminded billionaires, following a playbook by James McGill Buchannan have set out to destroy our democracy. To pave the way for their unlimited greed. We have moved way past simple ideological differences. For ideology can be debated between intelligent people. What we are seeing now in Washington by the right wing republicans is a hatred that goes way beyond sensible discussion of policy. The radical right, in its approach to government and social issues and economic policy, has reached a virulent level not seen since the 1920’s and the ultra-conservative Hoover administration. Could it actually become a shooting war like the 1917 Russian revolution? Battles like Charlottesville all across the country? Has somebody put stupid pills in the drinking water? The term “liberal derived from signs carried by northern protestors reading “Liberty for All” in the heated years leading up to 1860 start of the Civil War. A battle that started, arguable with the election of Barack Obama. A black man. The republicans right from the start were obtrusive about every law or policy coming from Obama or the democrats for his entire eight year term. A fact that seems to be forgotten or propagandized away by republican strategists and believed by a large percentage of Americans. (some political strategists suggest it was a policy carefully crafted to set the stage for the election of a conservative republican) Personally, I don’t give them that much credit. It would take too much collective intelligence to pull that off. There is no doubt however, that through the right wing radio talk shows, books and tabloids that the right wing conservatives has finally won their fifteen minutes of fame.
Ronald Regan got a toe hold of conservative policies into our government, privatizing everything he could, breaking the power of the labor unions (Interfering into the air controlman’s strike) closing mental facilities ( that has directly resulted in today’s massive homeless problem, and his putting the country on Reaganomics (Arthur Laffer’s “trickle down” monetary policy) sometimes called laughable or Voodoo economics. Policies that led directly to the crash of 2008. We are still basically going on Reaganomics, the theory that by creating laws making it easier for entrepreneurs and business to make money and get wealthy, they will “trickle down” the wealth to the populace. It never worked. What the wealthy actually did with the enormous profits was reinvest it or buy other companies. The effect was a dramatic shrinking of the middleclass. Low wages and stagnant growth. Through deregulation, in just a few short years (from roughly 1980 to 2008) we experienced the worse economic collapse since the great depression of 1929. Under Trump, we are now on Reaganomics on steroids. Keynes has not only been forgotten, but thrown out the window along with the baby, bathwater and tub. There are many parallels with the Hover administration and what is happening in Washington today. With right wing conservatives once again at the reins of our economic policies, we are traveling the same road again. And, if left unchecked will result in a few years of another horrendous financial collapse. Maybe must worse than the 1929 crash and resultant depression.
Enter Donald Trump and his P.T. Barnum style of what? Governance? Business? Leadership? Those words applied to Trump ring silly at best. Stupid to put it mildly, however there is no question that Trump has tapped into a segment of populism that agree with his egregious ideas. The reasons are hard to explain. Rural, uneducated or ill-informed racists who don’t give a damn about character and honesty, lack of experience with governing or knowledge about how our constitution works or foreign affairs. They voted for him anyway. I believe because there is a large segment of our population who relates to Trump because of his total disregard for the law. In his three and a half years in office so far, he has shown that he loves to stir up crap simply for the sake of keeping his name in the limelight. However divisive and racist it is, he doesn’t seem to care, in fact takes delight in creating chaos. He lies and distorts facts, openly insults and ridicules everyone who dares disagree with his egomaniacal ideas. He aggrandizes himself virtually every time he twitters or speaks. From day one, he openly declared war against the democrats. Like a ringmaster at a dog fight, he has pitted his republican conservatives against the liberals. Stroking the flames whenever he could. Would the civil war have happened if Trump hadn’t got elected? Who knows, but by his election, and fervent supporters, he has shown and tapped into a phenomenal element taking place in this country. An element of racism and resentment bordering on fascism much like 1930’s Nazi Germany. I don’t call it ideological differences exactly, for I don’t believe that most Trump supporters are educated or informed enough about political philosophy to know what they’re standing for. They only know that Washington is broken, that there are deep flaws in our system and Trump, in his blustering style of rhetoric promised to drain the swamp. Instead, he has made a swamp of the whole United States. A swamp that smells all over the world.
There are a number of differences between conservatives and liberals. However, for our purpose, to define the civil war taking place, the biggee is that right wing conservatives want a totally free, unregulated capitalistic system wherein they are free to make money anyway they see fit. To hell with the disenfranchised, poverty stricken serfs. If they’re not smart enough to make money or at least earn a decent living, let them eat cake. Just consider the attacks on the press by Trump since he’s been in office. A free press is a cornerstone of democracy, and every dictator is history’s first act is to get rid of the free press. In Trumps case, he ridicules or discredits them every chance he gets so that people won’t believe anything they see or write, the truth of his policies and agenda. To be sure, history has always had its entrepreneurial rouges who would do anything to acquire money and/or power. That mentality is not new, but it got voiced and formalized in the publication of The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith in 1776. The birth of laissez Faire (unregulated) Capitalism. It was no accident that that book got published just before the revolutionary war, for Smith had an excellent model to study in his observations. The Southern plantation owners and way of life they devoutly believed in from their origins in the early 1600’s up until the civil war. Smith’s ideas were hotly debated between our founding fathers, as was the form of government they were trying to design. Socialism didn’t have a name then, but there were many men, notably Alexander Hamilton the designer of our financial system was well aware of the plight of the downtrodden because he had been born of a poor family on the island of Trinidad. At least poor by the standards of Jefferson and Washington who were both born wealthy and slave owners. A constant battle ensued between Hamilton and Jefferson, over the writing of the constitution. Jefferson, an aristocrat who wanted to form a government that more closely resembled England and France (recognition of titles and lordships (landowners) and the rewards of being a smart entrepreneur. Hamilton wanted to throw out that whole concept, for after all, wasn’t that one of the reasons, they were rebelling against their English masters. Today, Jefferson would be labeled a conservative. Maybe not a radical wingnut, for he was an educated and sensible man. He had read Voltaire and Mann and other political philosophers and in the end was able to recognize the need to build into the constitution protections for the working man. Hamilton would be labeled a democrat or liberal. Remember the concept of socialism as a governing principle wouldn’t come around until the publication of Marx and Engels in 1867. The idea of liberalism or laws that restricted the unfettered use of capitalism was anathema to the southern plantation owners who saw themselves as mini kings of their domain. Free labor to work their cotton and tobacco fields, and therefore their very way of life. Make no mistake, the north won in 1865, but we are still fighting the civil war today. The rightwing conservatives against the liberals, and the battle is heating up.
Gerald Boltz Author of The Blackjack Player series of mystery/thrillers