Year Zero

When the shell-shocked, illiterate, and pissed-off country folk of Cambodia who later came to be known as the Khmer Rouge finally drove back government forces and stormed the capitol of Phnom Penh in the 1970s, they focused all their pent up rage on one class of people — intellectuals.

Basically, if you had a college degree, you were killed. If you were a doctor, you were killed. If you wore glasses, you had your face bashed in with a bat. The initial killing spree that took place was rabid and brutal, carried out with the type of rage that is only seen when a people who have lived under the boot of a real or perceived enemy for years are finally let loose.

In this case, however, the rage was misguided. The intellectuals in Cambodia weren’t really the problem. And the disproportionate anger towards them was not historically intrinsic to the peasantry; it was a slowly, methodically developed political tactic employed by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to do one thing and one thing only — whip his base into a frenzy and keep him in power.

Certainly scapegoatism is not a new political tactic — the Nazis being the classic example. But what is interesting and terrifying about cases like Cambodia is the particular type of rage that is generated when a country-dwelling ‘underclass’ who have felt inferior and put down by the ’smarter’ urbanites finally get their day to… shine.

Unfortunately, the years that follow such bloodbaths tend to be — to put it mildly — not very fun. During the cultural revolution in China for example, infant mortality rates soared because qualified doctors were often seen as elitists and were either not allowed to practice or were killed outright.

There’s a simple reason why the years after anti-intellectual purges aren’t fun. Because intellectuals matter. It really shouldn’t even need to be said, but frighteningly in the current political climate, it does.

Obviously no-one in the United States is overtly advocating violence against the intellectual elite, but in metaphorical and increasingly real terms, the Republicans are waging a war pitting middle American ‘Joe Six Pack’ and ‘Hockey Moms’ against coastal elitists with Harvard degrees. Sarah Palin is the personification of this, taking George Bush’s strategy of ‘everyday speak’ to even greater heights (or lows) than George ever did. Apparently, in the Karl Rove strategy book, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, so much so that now the war of ‘everyday America’ vs. ‘the smart people’ is absolutely central to Republican electoral strategy.

There should be no underestimating how dangerous and toxic this strategy is. By simultaneously gutting the very educational and social programs that support and sustain ‘Joe six pack’ with one hand and with the other creating a vitriolic culture in which those who actually are educated are seen as ‘other’ and therefore not worthy of governing, the Republican party is toying with the future of this country in ways that can and will cause irrevocable damage.

We all might laugh or cringe when Sarah Palin talks about being ‘five weeks on the job’ and bringing ‘Joe Six pack’ into the white house or describes herself as a ‘pitbull with lipstick.’

What we should be is very, very afraid.

Leaving aside the fact that what America needs both domestically and abroad at this particular juncture in history is to be governed by a pair of really, really smart people, the truly frightening prospect is what will happen if the Republicans continue with this tactic. The historical parallels are ugly. 1930s Italy comes to mind. As does post WWI Germany. As does — in an extreme example — Cambodia.

In immediate terms, the natural outcome of this ‘everyday man’ nationalism and anti-elitist frenzy combined with economic downturn is a drastic drop in America’s ability to compete in the world. Our nation’s economy lessens as our nations ability to lead the global conversation lessens, and then, as the economy tanks and jobs diminish, the gap between ‘Joe Six Pack’ and the coastal elites widens, the hatred and division grows. To the point that to half the nation’s people, it somehow, astonishingly, becomes a negative to speak of how smart, or well educated, or articulate, or worldly a person is.

A nation such as ours, founded on a very heady document written by some very smart and very well educated people, should never, ever shy away from electing scholars as president. We have, and we should, embrace it.

There are two saving graces here. One is that thinking Republicans are actually starting to realize the danger that Palin — and the campaign of class war that she represents — poses to their party and are becoming more and more vocal about it.

The other is that everyday Americans have suffered the most at the hands of the current administration and many of them realize it. Hopefully more will.

The ones that don’t — the ones that rabidly call for a ‘hockey mom’ in the white house while the rug is being pulled out from underneath them — they’re the ones whose blindness would soon have them picking up the metaphorical bat and taking it to the very doctor that could heal them.

Hopefully the rift in the republican party over the new Palinism — and a democratic victory — will create a shift towards a more thinking, issue-based Republican party. Otherwise, to put it bluntly, we might as well close our schools, shut down our borders, send more of our sons and daughters off to die, and rename 2008 Year Zero.

America, Get Mad.

Luckily for me, Barack Obama is the guy who has to be poised, calm, measured, and Presidential – and he does a great job of it. Me on the other hand – after the debacle of a race the republicans are running– I’m just pissed off. And America, you should be too.

Make no mistake. Other than the serendipitous fog that rolled in over Brooklyn in August of 1776 that kept George Washington’s revolutionary campaign alive, other than Bobby Kennedy preventing a nuclear war with Russia at the very last minute, this is the most important moment in American history. Nothing less is at stake than the character of this nation. Nothing less is at stake than whether we can continue to compete in this world. Nothing less is at stake than America’s respect and admiration abroad – and yes, Republicans, THAT MATTERS. Swallow it.

For many years, our leaders and our media pundits have somewhat self-aggrandizingly thrown around descriptions of our US President as the ‘most important man in the world.’ To put it bluntly and clearly, that description will no longer remotely apply if we do not elect Barack Obama as President of the United States.

To put it even more bluntly, our current administration has squandered our hard earned money, has made our children dumber, has put our elders in jeopardy, has killed our sons and daughters, has turned us from a nation of might to a nation of weakness, has driven us from richness to poverty, and now, after all this, their party is cynically, dangerously, and intentionally trying to run a desperate ticket that not only makes no sense but demeans the quality of our American nation before the world. We are on the verge of a Great Depression. We are on the verge of having another nation – China – who has no respect for the values of freedom and individuality that this nation has fought and died for year after year — seize the role of global leader. Everything we fought for during World War II, every value of freedom, respect, international law, is in jeopardy. In the eyes of the world, we have violated everything we once stood for. And they are right.

In the midst of this the ‘conservatives’ are not being ‘conservative’ at all.

What is ‘conservative’ about spending billions a year on a war that has no relation to American security? What is ‘conservative’ about killing social security? What is ‘conservative’ about turning us from a nation of reserve to a nation of debt? The people who are running our country and who are running on this ticket aren’t ‘conservative’. They are reckless and they are dangerous.

Sarah Palin, to be direct, should be nowhere near the Oval Office and even smart Republicans know that.  Her nomination is the height of cynicism. Is it really possible to believe that the Republican Party has no one that they feel would make a better candidate than Sarah Palin? Has our politics really become ‘get elected now, answer to everyone later?’

Speaking of recklessness, John McCain’s ‘solution’ to the economic crisis is completely horrifying. His ‘plan’, apparently, is to cut all government spending and provide no social services to anyone at all. Oh, except veterans and… ‘some other things’.

So, I guess buried in those ‘other things’ are little tiny ‘things’ like…. Education? Health care? Medical research?

This is an absolutely irrational, rash, and reactionary thing to put forward. Furthermore, it’s not even POSSIBLE.  No Presidential candidate should ever even suggest something like this.

The very fact that John McCain stands there with a straight face and berates the Democrats for SPENDING when his party’s administration has turned us into the biggest debtors in the world is beyond a joke. America, we had a balanced budget eight years ago. There is now almost as much missing cash in Iraq as the entire amount of ‘pork barrel’ spending that McCain refers to.

The fact that the Republican party in 2000 ran on a ticket of non-interventionism and less spending and now we are the biggest interventionists and the biggest spenders in the world is a joke.

The fact that McCain can’t pronounce ‘Iran’ is a joke.

Let us not be a nation of mediocrity.

I understand people across the country relate to McCain and his strong jaw and his admirable record and they relate to Palin and her everyday working woman hockey mom appeal. Friends, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make them good candidates. We MUST stop choosing candidates based on their ‘everyday appeal’. I saw Bush beat up Gore and Kerry in the debates in ‘00 and ‘04 and I understood the appeal. He came across as a guy you could ‘have a beer with’.  But there is one thing that continues to baffle me about the voting choices of working class Republicans.   And here it is:  YOU DON’T ELECT A PRESIDENT BECAUSE YOU CAN ‘RELATE’ TO THEM. You don’t WANT your President to be the guy next door who you can ‘have a beer with’! You elect a President SPECIFICALLY to be more articulate than you, to be a better financial analyst than you, to be able to do things and think things and say things that you cannot. Because he – or she – is the one who has to make the decisions that you don’t want to and cannot make.  You want your president to be the smartest, brightest, most poised, most articulate, and most measured guy in the room. And Barack Obama is that guy.

And by the way, working class republicans, John McCain is not an ‘everyday man’. The current President and his VP are not ‘every day men’. America, Dick Cheney is making millions of dollars annually off of Iraq, while your sons and daughters are dying there. Barack Obama grew up poor, and beat nearly insurmountable odds. The very fact that he is even in the position he is in right now speaks volumes for his ability to handle tough situations, to lead, to govern, and to thrive. He is the embodiment of the hardworking American; and he’s a brilliant man to boot.

America was founded on intelligence, character, opinion, hope, acceptance, intellect, and individuality. America for a time was the greatest nation in the world in standing. Now we are falling. And when you fall, you reach out for help. More and more, we are going to need to engage other nations. More and more, we are going to need to hold out our hands to the world. And sorry, but the world is not interested in sitting down with John McCain. They certainly are not interested in sitting down with Sarah Palin. The world is interested in Barack Obama. And trust me America, our current nation is going to need ‘the world’ more than we ever have before.

Our President needs to restore America’s image in the world. Our President needs to be able to sit in a room with world leaders and command their respect and attention. That matters.  Our country needs vision. And dreams. And hope. And intelligence. And inspiration. All of this, deeply matters. Its not just about taxes. Its about confidence and hope.

At a certain point in the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton and others berated Obama for being nothing more than a good speaker. Mr. Obama paused for a moment, and then said something profoundly simple and simply profound.

‘Words matter.’

The ability to move men’s minds matters. Education matters. Intellect matters. If this country is going to avoid falling into dark, dark, place in which we are unable to compete on the world stage economically and our basic social services get stripped, then we must, we must get back to a basic understanding of this. If we are more than we have been for the last eight years, then this is the time to show it.

There are many factors in our current economic crisis, and there are many realities that either candidate will have to deal with. But one thing is known. Hope and confidence translate to economic growth. People invest in the economy when they feel confident in who is steering the ship. Is Sarah Palin going to inspire that confidence?

If you are not completely insulted, outraged, and champing at the bit for November 4th to get here as soon as possible, then — as the old bumper sticker says – you are not paying attention.