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N O R T H C O A S T T IM E S E A G L E , DECEMBER 2003
can dominated planet. “Empire is coming out of the closet,”
writes Charles Krautheimer (whom Molly Ivins calls “the Boy
Bismark"). “What’s wrong with dominance?" asks William
Kristol. And Max Boot calls for a return to British-style imperial
ism complete with “enlightened administrators in jodhpurs and
pith helmets.’
All this international expansion is seamlessly tied to the
homefront. It not only justifies the curtailment of civil liberties
and the revival of arrogant patriotism among the corporate
media, but also unprecedented increases in military spending,
tax cuts and deficits. These are not overreactions to 9/11, or
isolated policy excesses, but part of a pattern of diminishing
democratic rights and defunding democratic government.
They are a backdoor assault on the achievements of the Great
Society, the New Deal and before that the Progressive move
ment that regulated capitalism at the turn of the last century.
The Republican agenda is to return to a society in which market
values eclipse and replace the role of the public sector in the
economy.
Take for example Grover Norquist, who fancies himself
a generalissimo in the conservative revolution. Under the inno
cuous banner of "tax reform," Norquist hopes that enough tax
breaks and budget cuts will “drown the baby in the bathtub.”
He is talking about defunding child care, health care,
public schools, public investment in the inner city, public
investment in a restored environment. He sees government,
the public sector, as a failure to be eradicated, not instead
an institution to protect us from the failures of the market.
Or take Niall Ferguson, a major advocate of empire
and contributor of many influential articles in The New York
Times, who has extolled the Protestant Ethic as the major
difference between America and Europe. Let me take you
through his clever argument on behalf of a WASP America.
First, he notes that Americans attend church services in far
greater numbers that Europeans, evidence that Max Weber’s
“Protestant Ethic” is alive and well here. As a result, Americans
are inspired to work harder and longer than the Germans, the
French, the Dutch and Norwegians who are “astonishingly idle,"
“work-shy" and of course, “Godless." He says the Protestant
Ethic is being replaced in Europe by “the spirit of secularized
sloth."
Ferguson is complaining that German workers are
on the job just 1,535 hours a year in comparison with virtuous
Americans grinding away at 1,976 hours. That difference of
over 400 hours worked is the equivalent of 62 days a year.
Ferguson — and corporate globalization defenders in general
— want to stop Europeans from taking long vacations with
their families and retiring earlier to enjoy the quality of life.
They want to roll back — they call it reform — all the labor
gains of the whole past century.
If Americans learn to read between the lines and under
stand what the conflict with the Europeans is about, they will
reject the scapegoating and bashing that comes out of the Bush
administration.Instead of looking down our noses at Europeans,
we should be Europeanizing our approach to work, Canadian-
izing our approach to health care. How is that for a progressive
platform — longer vacations for all!
Instead, because of cultural brainwashing, a recent
survey showed that 19% of Americans thought they were
already in the top 1% income bracket, and another 20%
believed they would be eventually. That is what watching too
much television in the center of empire can do to your head,
and why the struggle is a cultural one, not simply political or
economic, but a battle over how images and demons and
fantasies are produced and wired into our consciousness.
But there are unseen resources in our history that can
fortify us for this struggle. Thankfully, historians like Howard
Zinn have shown us a ‘ people’s history" that is just as important
to restore as our cultural and environmental resources.
There were those who opposed the original aggression
and broken treaties against the indigenous on these lands.
We honor their example. There were Americans who opposed
slavery, who opposed annexation, who opposed the wars with
Cuba and Mexico, who opposed the subordination of women.
We honor them in our lives today.The Sierra Club was founded
here, the Abolitionists, the NAACP, the Suffragettes, the Popu
lists, the emigrant workers of Lowell who marched for bread
and roses. We have deep roots in movements against mono
liths, monocultures, monomaniacs and mammon.
Today the converging movements are in sync with the
larger body of public opinion, and spilling over into the main
stream. We see this in the phenomenal growth of MoveOn.org,
the grassroots support for Howard Dean, for Dennis Kucinich,
in the growing fear and loathing of the Pentagon, the White
House and Fox News.
Despite the spin, despite the play on our patriotic feel
ings, despite the legitimate worries about terror, a majority of
Americans are questioning the purpose of Iraq, the credibility
of the administration, the needless deaths, the unexpected
costs, and sacrifice of our domestic needs on the altar of
empire. Dissent has even appeared among military families
and GIs on the battlefield, angry about the callous manipulation
of the body count to justify the President's pledge that the
military mission is “accomplished." Dissent within the military
is a sign that the end is beginning.
Because public opinion is moving, the Democratic
presidential candidates are changing their themes in a positive
direction. Just last year, the corporate centrists of the Demo
cratic Party were counseling the candidates to support the
President's war, to divorce themselves from any allegiances
to the 1960s, to wait for the Iraq war to end amidst cheering
CRAIG LAROTONDA
in Baghdad, and then somehow defeat the President on incre
mental issues like prescription drugs for the elderly. Talk about
out of touch.
Now, in response to the public protests and plain ques
tions of grassroots Democrats, all the Democratic candidates
are questioning the President on Iraq, his trade agreements
and loss of jobs. Think of them as opportunists if you will, but
I think of them as a huge speakers’ bureau carrying our ques
tions and themes to millions of middle Americans.
Each of us may decide to back an individual candidate,
and that can expand our movement. But we should not allow
ourselves to be swallowed in any single campaign. When the
candidates ask for our time and money, we should ask them to
join our movement around a new vision of what America can
be.
As the global forums have insisted, “Another world is
possible," words embraced by the French foreign minister when
the U S. war was rebuffed at the United Nations. The vision of
another world already is becoming manifest in local struggles:
~ A reform of the global trade system with enforceable
standards to protect sweatshop workers and rainforests, not
simply investors in video cassettes and privatizers of water.
~ The re-regulation of crony capitalism, from Enron
abuses to public financing of elections.
~ A shift from the being the world’s leading arms
supplier to greater investment in the UN’s anti-poverty
programs. In JFK's time we spent 1% of our gross domestic
product on fighting poverty; today it is 0.13%, little more than
zero.
DOMESTIC AID
BY PATRICK LAVIS
In looking at the status of this country, it becomes
apparent that the government is more interested in foreign
aid bills than domestic problems for the citizens of the United
States. There is always the excuse that there is not enough
money to go around.
I have an opinion that much of the money we send
to foreign countries is mismanaged and perhaps disappears
without ever getting to its intended purpose.
I would ask Congress to consider passage of a bill that
would figure out the total amount of foreign aid the past five
years, whether it is in a foreign aid budget or tucked into other
litigations such as CIA expenditures, take an average of that and
then put a cap on all foreign aid for the next five years to be no
greater than the yearly average that would be established
The difficult part that I ask Congress is to then mandate
that 15% of every foreign aid expenditure be applied to internal
domestic needs of the people of the United States
For example, the 15% would be placed in a fund to:
'Increase Medicare reimbursements to physicians and
hospitals to help seniors have better access to care.
'Reimbursement for prescription medication for seniors
'M oney for improved highway maintenance and repair,
and other infrastructure needs such as updating power plants,
etc.
'M oney for environmental studies and implementation
of environmental law to protect the resources without hampering
the economy.
'Supplement other programs that have specifically
been designed for citizens who have been receiving help from
agencies that are now without funds
This may seem like a far-fetched idea, but I believe
it is time our elected leaders take a look at the needs of U S
citizens
Patrick Lavis is an attorney in Astoria
~ Resisting the oil, chemical and utility conglomerates
from Cheney’s task force to the Bolivian pipelines, towards
energy conservation and renewables.
~ Promoting grassroots participatory democracy in
decisions that affect people's lives as a vital ingredient in
governing
George Bush can be defeated; even the polls confirm
it But who knows if the Democratic Party can defeat him? Who
knows if we can bridge the differences between the Democrats,
the Greens and Ralph Nader? Politics is a power struggle, not
an exact reflection of public opinion. But the fear and loathing
are out there, building, and with enough dedication in 2004 we
can remove this cloud over our future
We owe it to ourselves, to our progressive traditions,
and perhaps most of all to the world, to prevent a second term
for this President. The way to assure a democratic future
politically is to prevent what the conservatives conceive of
as a ‘Second Coming’. So I appeal to the righteous suspicions
about electoral politics: set aside attachments to any candidate
and see this as a positive convergence of many campaigns to
defeat George Bush The whole can be greater than the sum
of its parts.
If we do not succeed, we at least will have reached
millions more people with our message and networking, and
we will need that public support in the years ahead. Even if
our best efforts fall short, remember that even those who have
power can be forced to make big concessions.
SDS burned out and McGovern lost, but Nixon had to
retreat from Vietnam and recognize China. There came the
vote for 18 year olds, the end of the draft, the creation of the
Environmental Protection Agency, OSHA, the Clean Air and
Water Acts
Bush won the presidency with the help of his Supreme
Court, but the same Court ruled in favor of the gay/lesbian
community against sodomy laws after 40 years of struggle that
began with riots in Greenwich Village. The recent Court decis
ions on medical marijuana show the formidable power of public
opinion on the move.
It comes down to recognizing the dignity in all things.
Dignity has intrinsic value, it cannot be violated without a resist
ance.It cannot be defeated Wherever there is life dignity resists
suffocation and oblivion That is the world we want. That is the
world the world wants. Not an empire, not even a world of great
powers, but a world of democracies based on dignity.
Tom Hayden is a founder o f Students for a Democratic
Society, a former California State Legislator, progressive acti
vist and author whose most recent book is “Irish on the Inside. "
This article has been adapted from a speech he gave at the
Bioneers Conference, October 19
Cannon Beach, O regon
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