Obama was elected a year ago, and you’d think tempers would have cooled by now. But no – there is an endless stream of whining, bellyaching, indignation, self-pity, and hurt feelings – and…. oh wait, I’ll bet you think I’m talking about the Republicans and the “conservatives”. No! I’m talking about the Democrats and liberals – you know, the folks who won! And, to the best of my knowledge, they know they won – I mean, after all, Obama is in office and his programs are… well, not marching ahead full-tilt like Godzilla stomping all over Tokyo, but certainly making considerable headway. But you’d never know it from all the political rhetoric and hypersensitivity. As I’ve said before – and as many commentators have pointed out – the Democrats/liberals really are more comfortable being on the outside looking in, faces pressed against the window like poor kids in some Dickens story ogling unobtainable toys in a toy store. Now that they have the whole banana, they don’t know what to do with it; they feel thwarted, and mostly offended that not everyone has signed on to the Utopian delusion du jour. And that’s because the collectivist/totalitarian mind set does not tolerate dissent, doubt, or skepticism. Once the millennium has arrived, it’s downright inconsiderate of anyone to do anything but roll over and play dead. So the liberal media (assuming that’s not a complete redundancy) erupt in frothing indignation about “tea parties” and “town hall meetings” where, occasionally, voices are raised. Ah yes, there are counter-revolutionaries everywhere, flies in the ointment, and their continued presence on the political scene is as much of a torment to liberals as a case of the chiggers. Don’t people know that once a president receives a “mandate” that he is, from that point on, licensed to act as an absolute dictator? Lyndon Johnson made that argument back in 1964, and he was, as I’ve said in a long-ago post, The Last Tyrant. But liberals since then have been similarly offended by the failure of “all the people” to offer their hearts and minds up to The Future, by whatever name it is called at the time.
But there is, I feel, another factor operating as well, and that is the overwhelming sense of powerlessness we all have – all across the political spectrum. Those people we call “independents” include those who have concluded – reluctantly, in some cases – that, in fact, the real power in this country – and in the world in general, as far as that goes – resides not in elected officials or in anyone else who is, at least in theory, accountable to the citizenry. Behind every elected, or even non-elected, “leader” there seem to be invisible forces at work that serve to bring down all the grandiose postures and promises, and reduce each to nothing more than a cup bearer to those much higher and mightier than he (or she). I always say that no one gets elected president without already having, basically, sold out to the Regime. And yet, there is always residual, naive hope that, somehow, this time things will be different. The leader thinks he can somehow escape the cold, clammy clutches of the powers that be if only he appeals to the citizenry… and the citizenry think that a whole new world is created every time a new leader is inaugurated. But the truth is, the vested interests remain the same, their priorities remain the same, and what they will and will not permit the nominal leadership to do remains the same. So there is an inevitable cooling-off of idealism… compromises are made… new “conditions” are imposed that make any sort of radical change impossible… and, bottom line, nothing of any real significance changes. Obama wants us out of Iraq? Fine then – get us out! Oh, but there are “conditions”, you see? “The people” want universal health care? Fine then – what are we waiting for? And so on. Whether the cause is right or wrong, just or unjust, you will find people waiting impatiently, then getting restless, then getting downright hostile. And this hostility will be taken out on the hapless “leader” who by that time realizes that he is in charge of precisely squat. Oh yes, he has the glamour and the perks, but in his heart of hearts he knows that he’s been had – more than the people who voted for him, even. Because now _he’s_ responsible for the results – for the successes, and more likely the failures. But he has too much invested to fully admit to the absurdity of his situation – whereas the voters, who have only their own affairs to worry about, have at least a bit more flexibility of thought and perspective – although, heaven knows, very few of them make any use of it. And the people in between – the operatives – take out their frustrations on “the other side” – the other party – the hapless “tea partiers” and what not, whereas what they should really be taking it out on is the Regime, but they know that it’s just too big, and too powerful, and too overwhelming. Taking on the world-wide power structure is a candidate for the “too hard pile”, so that gets put off until doomsday, and instead we have schoolyard squabbling. And with each degree of increased powerlessness, the squabbling can only become more chronic and less civil; and this is the process we see played out on a daily basis. And ironically, it’s only the _illusion_ of democracy that gives this strife its energy – people who _know_ they have no power, and will never have any power, are going to cope in other ways. But we are an ideational, propositional society with nothing to lose but our ideas and our ideals – so we will fight, however futilely, to the last, feeling that our “rights” have somehow been taken away from us, either by force or by stealth – while the ones in charge have no such illusions. For them, there are no rights, only raw power, and that can be expressed in a myriad different ways depending on the structures of the systems in question. The American way is to believe in “change”, then be deeply disappointed when it doesn’t come, and to blame our leaders. People elsewhere in the world are at once wiser and more cynical. But still, it would be somewhat of a loss if we were to follow their jaded example. And so the battles among the powerless – the outsiders – rage on.
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