There Really is NO Hope - And Here's a Reason Why

[bobd]

Pickup the current issue of Harper's Magazine and read Kevin Baker's article: We're in the Army Now.

No - it's not on-line which is a bummer, but it's well worth the $3.95 at the bookstore. I'll try to summarize it as best I can but PLEASE read it yourself. My summary will not do it the justice it deserves.

I'll summarize it by quoting the tag lines atop each page ....

Huah is what Bush's presidency has been from the beginning - an approach to governance that refuses any hint of compromise.

Americans now see the military as the last refuge of many democratic values in a society that seems ever more shallow and materialistic.

The republicans remain the party of uncompromising solutions, and their agenda has mostly driven the national political debate.

Bush has used the ISSUE of homeland security - as opposed to ACTUAL homeland security - to personify the national will.

Political face-saving has meant that there will be no wholesale re-assessment of our intelligence capabilities even after the disaster of 9/11.

It is unclear whether, even if they knew more about it, the american people care much about the abuse of power perpetrated in their name.

The unfocused liberal left has been unable to muster a convincing world-view to counter that put forward by the Party of Huah.

Karl Rove compares the Bush ascendency to the election of William McKinley in 1896. He may be more right than he knows.

The military is - ironically, considering our "victory" in the cold war - the closest thing in America to the collectivist ideal.

We now substitute military solutions for almost everything: International alliances, diplomacy, and effective intelligence.

The last paragraph is, perhaps, the most chilling of the article:

When troubles arise in this new America, when we are no longer able to escape the tyranny of fixed numbers <i.e., not enough troops to cover all of the military adventures>, it is unlikely that we will return to a bufuddled liberal opposition. Instead we will probably look for the real thing.

When the Party of Huah can no longer keep up its various pretenses, we will seek out an even stronger, more confident hand. The one public institution we respect above all others - because most of us have never experienced it. The one that more than three-quarters of us have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in, and the one that has, after all, the longest experience running a paternalistic, authoritarian society. The one that is demographically the most like us, that does its job with startling efficiency and without complaint; the one that captures our imagination to the point that men hold twenty-one year round the clock vigils to honor it <i.e., the little POW booths surrounding the Vietnam Memorial in DC>. In the end we'll beg for the <military> coup.

This is NOT an anti-liberal article nor is Harpers a right-wing rag. Those who've read it know this.

The picture painted is grim and compelling. We are facing the actual end of our democracy and the slide into authoritarianism/fascism is progressing at a rate far faster than we perceive. It may actually be too late. This is doom and gloom to which attention needs to be paid and paid quickly.

I know I've spoke of suicide before but that was out of mere depression. My depression is still there, certainly, but after reading this article, that final exit would be a comforting, blessed relief. That final black nothingness would be far preferrable to actual US-style, in your face dictatorship.