It was a chilly weekend, but a nice one. And things are supposed to warm up this week, which will be good. Unfortunately, it’s Monday, and that sucks. It’s a short week though, ‘cuz I took Friday off so I could take Fritz in for his rabies vaccination. I’m not really looking forward to it. He’s pretty good, but I don’t like to see him get stuck with needles and whatnot. I’m sure they’ll want to do the Lyme/Heartworm test. That’s worse than a shot (which dogs don’t really seem to feel when it’s just under the skin – which is good, considering how they bit the crap out of each other when they play), because they need to get blood. Siggy did not like that needle in his leg one bit, but Fritz was OK with it last time. Oh, well, I guess I’ll just have to worry about it after I get the next four days over with.
OPINION
Unexceptionalism: A Primer
By E. L. DOCTOROW
Published: April 28, 2012
TO achieve unexceptionalism, the political ideal that would render the United States indistinguishable from the impoverished, traditionally undemocratic, brutal or catatonic countries of the world, do the following:
If you’re a justice of the Supreme Court, ignore the first sacrament of a democracy and suspend the counting of ballots in a presidential election. Appoint the candidate of your choice as president.
If you’re the newly anointed president, react to a terrorist attack by invading a nonterrorist country. Despite the loss or disablement of untold numbers of lives, manage your war so that its results will be indeterminate.
Using the state of war as justification, order secret surveillance of American citizens, data mine their phone calls and e-mail, make business, medical and public library records available to government agencies, perform illegal warrantless searches of homes and offices.
Take to torturing terrorism suspects, here or abroad, in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. Unilaterally abrogate the Convention Against Torture as well as the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners of war. Commit to indeterminate detention without trial those you decide are enemies. For good measure, trust that legislative supporters will eventually apply this policy as well to American citizens.
Suspend progressive taxation so that the wealthiest pay less proportionately than the middle class. See to it that the wealth of the country accumulates to a small fraction of the population so that the gap between rich and poor widens exponentially.
By cutting taxes and raising wartime expenditures, deplete the national treasury so that Congress and state and municipal legislatures cut back on domestic services, ensuring that there will be less money for the education of the young, for government health programs, for the care of veterans, for the maintenance of roads and bridges, for free public libraries, and so forth.
Deregulate the banking industry so as to create a severe recession in which enormous numbers of people lose their homes and jobs.
Before you leave office add to the Supreme Court justices like the ones who awarded you the presidency.
PHASE TWO
If you’re one of the conservative majority of a refurbished Supreme Court, rule that corporations, no less than human beings, have the right under the First Amendment to express their political point of view. To come to this judgment, do not acknowledge that corporations lack the range of feelings or values that define what it is to be human. That humans can act against their own interest, whereas corporations cannot act otherwise than in their own interest. That the corporation’s only purpose is to produce wealth, regardless of social consequences.
This decision of the court will ensure tremendous infusions of corporate money into the political process and lead to the election in national and state legislatures of majorities of de facto corporate lobbyists.
PHASE THREE
Given corporate control of legislative bodies, enact laws to the benefit of corporate interests. For example, those laws sponsored by weapons manufacturers wherein people may carry concealed weapons and shoot and kill anyone by whom they feel threatened.
Give the running of state prisons over to private corporations whose profits increase with the increase in inmate populations. See to it that a majority of prisoners are African-American.
When possible, treat immigrants as criminals.
Deplete and underfinance a viable system of free public schools and give the education of children over to private for-profit corporations.
Make college education unaffordable.
Inject religious precepts into public policy so as to control women’s bodies.
Enact laws prohibiting collective bargaining. Portray trade unions as un-American.
Enact laws restricting the voting rights of possibly unruly constituencies.
Propagandize against scientific facts that would affect corporate profits. Portray global warming as a conspiracy of scientists.
Having subverted the Constitution and enervated the nation with these measures, portray the federal government as unwieldy, bumbling and shot through with elitist liberals. Create mental states of maladaptive populism among the citizenry to support this view.
PHASE FOUR
If you’re a justice of the Supreme Court, decide that the police of any and all cities and towns and villages have the absolute authority to strip-search any person whom they, for whatever reason, put under arrest.
With this ruling, the reduction of America to unexceptionalism is complete.
E. L. Doctorow is the author, most recently of the novel “Homer and Langley.â€
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on April 29, 2012, on page SR6 of the New York edition with the headline: Unexceptionalism: A Primer.
I took some family flack for this yesterday on FB. Pretty sure my nephew never bothered to read it at all. I know that some of us think Al Franken on AAR was a bit centrist for their taste but he had some good regular guests like Norman Ornstein.
Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.
There was more this morning on NPR.
Extremism In Congress: ‘Even Worse Than It Looks’?
by NPR STAFF
I heard that on NPR. Was astounded that somebody was saying it out loud.
We’ve been saying (or at least writing) it out loud right here.
and thanks to you all.
They had a good segment on “On the Media” a couple month back about the false equivalence stuff that the media uses to stay “impartial.” You know, where they represent two “sides” to a story as being equal, even if one side is just a handful of loonies (like, say, climate change).
It wasn’t too long after that, that NPR announced its new “Ethics Handbook.”
It wasn’t long ago that people said Fox was “fair and balanced” with a straight face. Today their bias is accepted as fact (save for some of our wingnuttiest wingnuts). So we’ve made a little progress.
I wonder if it’s all too little too late.
It’s May Day tomorrow. Hug a union member.(if you can find one)
Amen, brother.
OK, here’s a cyber hug for union members RG and PJ.
Romney and his flacks have been bemoaning Obama talking about how he got Bin Laden. So, it is a bit disconcerting to hear this:
Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will appear together Tuesday at an event in New York to mark the one-year anniversary of Usama bin Laden’s death, according to reports.
Details of the event were not disclosed.
Worse, I can’t find out where they’ll be so I can’t participate in some public disagreement with our dear former mayor and Mittens.
Palemale and his newest mate, Zena, appear to have their first hatchling. The hawk watchers report “feeding” behavior but so far no one has a picture of the chick. When there is one I’ll post it.