Progressive Ponderings: Love/Hate Relationships
By Joe Mayer
The corporate world loves to disparage government. They and their paid propagandists attribute the evils of the universe to government meddling, especially in the capitalist free-market system. The saintly leader since the 1980s has been Ronald Reagan, who pronounced to the world that government is not the solution; it is the problem. Since then, corporate and conservative America has convinced what seems like a majority of citizens to look on government as the problem, the enemy, something "small enough to drown in a bathtub," in the words of anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist. The "government of the people" is depicted as our enemy.
By creating this "hate government" atmosphere the propagandists are able to portray taxes as also being evil, that government is always wasteful and inefficient, and that only through privatizing resources and government functions will the country's problems be solved.
This same regressive corporate mentality that supposedly hates taxes, regulations, and government in general, demands that the U.S. government spend billions on the military and intelligence, that domestic laws governing human behavior such as protest and free speech and assembly be limited or squelched entirely, and that government enter into Trade Agreements that protect corporations at the expense of people and other nations. This mentality demands freedom from international laws – the World Criminal Court, the Kyoto Agreement, etc. It insists that the United Nations is a terrible idea unless it can be used to advance U.S. corporate interests; otherwise it is "irrelevant."
The regressive Party subscribes to a similar corporate love/hate ideology. American hegemony over the world is deserved. We are the best and the strongest. Patriotism is the zenith of virtue even though government is to be shunned and mistrusted.
Listening to the regressive Party's presidential candidates is a verbal parade of hatred. Past hate targets include non-property owners, women, blacks, Japanese, Irish, Jews, Catholics, commies, etc. Current targets are "liberals," Homos, "illegals," non-Christians, unions, UN types, protesters, the poor, environmentalists, welfare sponges, common good and justice seekers, and frequently anyone who isn't white and male. Amazingly, they see no contradictions in claiming the high moral ground as strict believers in the One whose second greatest law is "to love neighbor as oneself" while they spew hatred and fear for humankind who do not fit their mold.
The regressive's loves are power, strict hierarchical systems, the military for both defense and offense, law and order, prisons, economic dominance, other regressive governments, and self.
The fundamental Religious Right brings theological certitude to regressive ideologies. God favors the wealthy and the powerful. God sanctions war against the infidels of regressive doctrine. The U.S. is the "manifest destiny" of God's plan. God hates homos. God is male, thus women are inferior. God uses Christian armies to "smite" his enemies. Salvation is individual and is best achieved through rugged selfish individualism. God is judgmental. God demands that humankind subdue the earth and all living things. The Second Coming is soon and therefore global warming and environmental concerns can be disregarded. God demands that America be governed by Christians.
With slight adjustments all items in the above paragraph can be found in other fundamentalist persuasions. Love/hate; either/or; Christian/Muslim, Jew, atheist, etc. Always divisive.
Regressives, financed and promoted by corporate wealth and power, christened righteous by doctrine, make a formidable opponent. On the other hand, progressives realize their connection not only to the global family but to all of creation, and respond with truth, compassion and love!
The corporate world loves to disparage government. They and their paid propagandists attribute the evils of the universe to government meddling, especially in the capitalist free-market system. The saintly leader since the 1980s has been Ronald Reagan, who pronounced to the world that government is not the solution; it is the problem. Since then, corporate and conservative America has convinced what seems like a majority of citizens to look on government as the problem, the enemy, something "small enough to drown in a bathtub," in the words of anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist. The "government of the people" is depicted as our enemy.
By creating this "hate government" atmosphere the propagandists are able to portray taxes as also being evil, that government is always wasteful and inefficient, and that only through privatizing resources and government functions will the country's problems be solved.
This same regressive corporate mentality that supposedly hates taxes, regulations, and government in general, demands that the U.S. government spend billions on the military and intelligence, that domestic laws governing human behavior such as protest and free speech and assembly be limited or squelched entirely, and that government enter into Trade Agreements that protect corporations at the expense of people and other nations. This mentality demands freedom from international laws – the World Criminal Court, the Kyoto Agreement, etc. It insists that the United Nations is a terrible idea unless it can be used to advance U.S. corporate interests; otherwise it is "irrelevant."
The regressive Party subscribes to a similar corporate love/hate ideology. American hegemony over the world is deserved. We are the best and the strongest. Patriotism is the zenith of virtue even though government is to be shunned and mistrusted.
Listening to the regressive Party's presidential candidates is a verbal parade of hatred. Past hate targets include non-property owners, women, blacks, Japanese, Irish, Jews, Catholics, commies, etc. Current targets are "liberals," Homos, "illegals," non-Christians, unions, UN types, protesters, the poor, environmentalists, welfare sponges, common good and justice seekers, and frequently anyone who isn't white and male. Amazingly, they see no contradictions in claiming the high moral ground as strict believers in the One whose second greatest law is "to love neighbor as oneself" while they spew hatred and fear for humankind who do not fit their mold.
The regressive's loves are power, strict hierarchical systems, the military for both defense and offense, law and order, prisons, economic dominance, other regressive governments, and self.
The fundamental Religious Right brings theological certitude to regressive ideologies. God favors the wealthy and the powerful. God sanctions war against the infidels of regressive doctrine. The U.S. is the "manifest destiny" of God's plan. God hates homos. God is male, thus women are inferior. God uses Christian armies to "smite" his enemies. Salvation is individual and is best achieved through rugged selfish individualism. God is judgmental. God demands that humankind subdue the earth and all living things. The Second Coming is soon and therefore global warming and environmental concerns can be disregarded. God demands that America be governed by Christians.
With slight adjustments all items in the above paragraph can be found in other fundamentalist persuasions. Love/hate; either/or; Christian/Muslim, Jew, atheist, etc. Always divisive.
Regressives, financed and promoted by corporate wealth and power, christened righteous by doctrine, make a formidable opponent. On the other hand, progressives realize their connection not only to the global family but to all of creation, and respond with truth, compassion and love!
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