What is one lie you tell yourself as an American that makes you feel like your system of governance works for you?
I’ll start.
The corporate uniparty that runs the system is terrified of overwhelming change, so nothing too disastrous could potentially happen to upset the existing system, public trust, markets, etc.
Just a few businesses are allowed to catch fire.
Just a few lives can be destroyed.
And then we can move it along as if it didn’t happen.
As I’d stated earlier this year:
Most people in this country are raised thinking the following:
elections are a pure expression of democratic will
your vote counts
the police are there to protect you
you can run for office someday
in America, the decks are not stacked against you
Our fun congressional show trial this week of the host of the Celebrity Apprentice reinforces the fact that most of the above are not true.
Elections are there to give a veneer of public support for deeply unpopular elected officials.
Your vote counts in some rough aggregate form, not individually.
Police are there to be used as political pawns.
You still don’t have a $2000 check, or a $1400 check, and your representative is still occupied with prosecuting the host of the Celebrity Apprentice.
Now, if I wanted a TPUSA gig, I’d slap a big “see, this is why SOCIALISM SUX” label across this and move it along, but the institutional rot goes deeper than that.
We are not yet at a completely cynical American public, but the last year has made Americans more cynical than ever before.
This is partly why you see the proliferation of slogans all around – Trump and his supporters are “fascist” (Paul Krugman), they’re “anti-American” (Jelani Cobb), what they did is “treason” (Daniel Hannan), it’s “sedition” (Max Boot) – these are people who were spoon-fed a diet that the call is coming from inside the house, and it’s no wonder that liberal Boomers are most susceptible to this kind of reasoning.
An uncynical American public usually happens in two conditions: the explosion of war or immediate victory.
A deeply cynical American public usually happens in two conditions: the dim fog of war or deep peacetime.
Right now we exist in the uncanny valley between the two – much of the American public is dissatisfied, about everything, but there’s no real impetus to change or path to victory. To put it plainly, things just don’t look right.
Institutional trust and individual trust are at an extreme low when you have a system that refuses to work, tells you you’re not allowed to, and that your neighbor is a murderer for walking the dog without a face covering.
You can’t fault people for being lost and confused, much as you can’t fault people for just wanting to withdraw from society completely. Why not move out to a little patch where you can do as you please as long as you’re left damn well alone?
So far, that’s one American value that’s untouchable – the right to disappear. The cost is weaker community bonds – low-trust neighborhoods not bonded by similar origin or background and therefore an obvious hurdle when it comes to improvement.
Improvement of conditions at the local and state level, however, is the best solution to the current mess. Federalizing everything (how European) has led to unforced errors in decision-making. Improve your neighborhood, and then your community, and then your city and county and go up from there.
National political divisions may seem hyperrealistic thanks to the relentlessness of the media, but it’s all branding.
You want a Congress that focuses on infrastructure instead of show trials?
Start working on a good local representative to send there. If enough communities did that, we’d have a lot fewer corporate buzzards and “House of Cards” cosplayers and more actual representation.
SO WHAT CAN I DO?
Build local jobs that can’t be taken away. If your kid gets the option to work at Globocorp as a cashier or cut lawns, the second has a higher potential for your kid and your community’s future.
Get to know your neighbor, whether they’re 2 feet or 2 miles away. You don’t have to like them, just know them. Plus, if you end up on Dateline NBC, at least no one will say “well he was really quiet”.
Politics and the political process isn’t going away. Neither should your involvement in making things better.
