American Cultural And Political Parity Has No Clothes

[MrScorpio]

First thanks to DUer WillyT for posting that excellent Davis Sirota article about the Myth of the Left. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8393109

It is must read stuff.

Second, I have to admit that The Emperor New Clothes is, by far, my favorite Hans Christian Andersen tale. And although it might seem kind of strange that one can apply a Danish fairy tale as a valid analogy to the poor state of America's political debate, I like to think of it as a reaffirmation that some truths are definitely universal.

But, let's examine the crux of the problem, which is The unopposed legitimization of Right Wing ideology during the past thirty-five years. The Right has built this behemoth on several columns, all of which are based on gross distortions of the American Ideal.

They are and in not any particular order; a virulent and pervasive form of Christian imperialism, unencumbered corporatist promotion in the form of "Corporate Personhood", a vicious war on organized labor and the Middle and working classes through the use of the tax code and labor and trade laws and the actual "no clothes" part, the grossly rightward shift of political debate.

It is this last aspect which has greatly distorted the ability to address any of the others. Because, without the benefit of clear perspective and valid definitions of our politically ideological parameters, the country is, in essence, blinded. Let's discuss this.

Agents in the forms of Fox News, various Right Wing periodicals and talk radio are the main proponents of this ideology, with the corporate owned and seemingly NOT Right Wing media elements as either unable or unwilling to counter the Right Wing propaganda. The result has been a grossly rightward political shift in our debate. Despite the apparent left/centrist political attitudes held by most Americans, because of the legitimization of far right nomenclature, fascism is passed off as "Conservatism" and centrist ideas are depicted as "Leftist" or "Socialist". Liberal media outlets are then marginalized as not even considered valid actors.

The Right's use of distorted nomenclature could only be accomplished if regular people are unable or unwilling to understand the actual meaning of things. We see this all the time with the interchangeable applications of "Nazi", "Socialist", "Communist", "Liberal" and so on. Of course, this is a sure sign that what has passed for education in this country is not up to the task. The Texas State School Board isn't helping any either.

The clearest example of success in the Right Wing's campaign is, by far, both the distorted characterization of President Barack Obama's political ideology and atmosphere in which he has to operate. Now, in every sense of the word, President Obama is clearly a centrist. His election was nothing more than a repudiation of eight years unrestricted right wing corporatism and imperialism by the Bush Administration. Initially, the idea was for the current administration to achieve stabilization, especially in the aftermath of the gross failures of the Right's economic policies.

Unfortunately, Obama's centrism has to operate in this Right Wing infused vacuum, with unrealistic expectations of cooperation by the Republicans, as well as an unorganized and weak response on the Left that fails to demand a viable mandate. One year and three months of even tempered centrism can only attempt to slow down this Right Wing juggernaut and not reverse it.

So, the tide rolls on.

Right idealism has clearly been established as providing the only valid parameters, legitimized on ALL sides. The Right's "tailors" as skillfully crafted the invisible garments which provides the standardization of political debate that everyone (who are defined as the only legitimate actors) have agreed to wear. Even in an environment of tremendous failures of Right Wing policies, we have yet to see a viable reversal. There are just too many lies on the right which are given generalized validation for what's supposed to pass as debate.

I would imagine that this situation explains a lot about the pessimism on the Left, as we are excluded from providing any of the debate parameters and the apoplexy on the right is nothing more than their fervent defense of their degree of control.

David Sirota's article is clearly a definitive example of someone telling us that we have no clothes in this country.

[cliffordu]

1. Great read. K&R

[Quantess]

2. There's rec #5

[Catherina]

3. Rec for both threads

Excellent analysis. I'm proud to recommend this.

"we are excluded from providing any of the debate parameters and the apoplexy on the right is nothing more than their fervent defense of their degree of control"

[Go2Peace]

4. To bad we are incorporating many of their memes into our own party

I keep waiting for a serious parting. Instead most of what we get is "we'll be the kinder gentler" New World Order.

To me that is the most serious challenge. If we have an "opposition" party which instead of rejecting those myths gives them some legitimacy and just becomes an alternative "brand" of many of the same ways of seeing society, then that is an even greater danger than a single party "gone wild".

I don't see as much value as many do here on giving all of our attention to what the wacky right is proclaiming. They are so far out now that other than a minority they are pretty exposed. We should instead refine our message and move further from their ideology in terms of policy and politics. The conventional wisdom is that would be dangerous. But in reality it not only would eventually gain more of the population, but it is also absolutely necessary to countering the damage they have done to the American mind.