Does the Center Deserve to Hold?
Turning and turning in a widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Was watching the Ken Burn’s documentary, The Vietnam War, over the Independence Holiday. The Vietnam War was, of course, another endless war, spanning multiple generations - and administrations of both stripes - in which the US elite killed and maimed millions, many of them innocent. Painting with far too broad a brush, the nation’s best and brightest tarred a nationalist independence movement (originally, fighting their French colonial masters, and then the US) – very much like America’s fight for independence - with broad Cold War strokes.
Warning: This documentary is not for the faint of heart. Amidst the graphic bloodshed, firsthand accounts of wartime atrocities, and much hand wringing and some remorse… comes a tremendous sense of deja vu.
History does repeat, or certainly rhymes, and for a generation – if we are lucky two generations – we learn a lesson or two. That is, until another gang of ultra-elite-Ivy-thugs come along and turn a War – this time upon terror – into endless malaise, a tremendous waste of blood & treasure, and another humiliating experience for the world’s greatest Superpower.
Only the dead have seen the end of war… and as long as extraordinary profits are to be made from man’s martial endeavors, Plato offers up one of the truest statements ever written.
Some of the parallels, between 1968 and 2018 that immediately come to mind, are as follows (I’m sure there are many more):
As in ’68, US citizens are marching in the streets again – granted today, less so about war – but certainly about civil rights, mistreatment of minorities - including LGBTQ, poverty, and women’s rights.
As in ’68, the US finds itself with an expansive and costly empire – that crowds out social & infrastructure spending. The US also, not to belabor the point, finds itself in endless warfare.
In ’68, a Republican president divided and manipulated the public to great effect, so that internal divisions tore the nation in two. “Law and order” were the watchwords of the day. Richard Nixon’s silent majority was pitted against the nation’s youth, minorities, and protestors (even though this nation was founded upon dissent).
The Pentagon Papers – very much like Mr. Snowden’s revelations – made the public realize they were being lied to and manipulated, by the leaders of the nation.
The political tactic of the day - in 1968 to keep the nation on a wartime footing -was: FEAR. The red scare was overplayed, very much like terror has been overplayed, repeatedly, since 2001.
As in both wars, MIC contractors made obscene profits, all on the taxpayer's dime, and social programs – like LBJ’s/Kennedy’s Great Society – were put on the chopping block and suffered setbacks.
Interestingly, very much like today, there was some division among the US and its NATO allies, many of whom did not support the war in Vietnam.
As with our current White House occupant, both LBJ and Nixon took issue with the mainstream news media, and resented the east coast elite.
Then as now, there were great pockets of poverty in the world’s wealthiest nation, w/ children, per the usual, bearing the brunt.
But history only rhymes … among some of the dissimilarities, between ’68 and ’18:
The top income tax rate in ’68 was 75%. And no, the world did not come to an end.
In fact, despite GOP propaganda about the necessity of tax cuts to drive the US economy, GDP growth in ’68 came in at 4.8%. (The top corporate tax rate was 52%)
Nineteen sixty-eight GDP growth, at 4.8%, was likely driven by a war time economy, but also the fact that the nation was not faced w/ astounding debt.
In ’68, the national debt to GDP ratio was roughly 40%; today, our national debt to GDP ratio hangs over the economy like a menacing force in excess of 100%.
Unlike today, teens in ’68 faced a draft, and so their interest in foreign affairs was far greater than today’s citizens and youth. One immediately wonders, if there was a draft today, would the US still find itself bogged down in Afghanistan and the Middle East in perennial warfare?
Unlike ’68, Americans today have endless sources of amusement, entertainment, and news and information sources (perhaps the worst of these is Facebook). In ’68, for the most part, three major news networks enjoyed near hegemony over televised war reporting, and reporters were given unprecedented access to the war. Hence, the Vietnam War was dubbed the “living room war.”
Like I said, these lists are by no means exhaustive, but interesting nonetheless.
A little over fifty years ago, Senator Robert Kennedy wrote an op-ed in the NY Times w/ a title based upon the aforementioned Yeat’s poem, entitled: ‘Things Fall Apart; the Center Cannot Hold…’
Among other things, Mr. Kennedy in his essay observed: the upheaval w/in the country; lamented the nation’s direction; noted our significant wealth & glaring poverty; and commented upon some of the external & internal divisions – and our use of tremendous power - rending the nation, indeed the world.
He went on to state:
We have discovered that private accomplishment or affluence affords no escape from the perils and plagues that afflict the nation – and that these questions are far too important to be entrusted to remote leaders.
We search for answers to specific problems; but more than this, we seek to recapture our country. We have not yet discovered how to do it. That perhaps, is what troubles these long nights of our national spirit. And that is what the 1968 elections must really be about.
I’d say Mr. Kennedy was expressing some doubt and reservations about US leadership, and the men who ran this nation fifty years ago.
My how little has changed.
Today, the US enjoys extraordinary wealth, and turns a blind eye to its exceptional poverty. The very foundation of our democracy is threatened by a billionaire class, who has captured government – for their exclusive benefit – from every angle. Money flows through Washington like a river, and our Congress – abdicates all responsibility – and campaigns 24/7/365.
Behemoth multinationals are no longer interested in earning money the old fashioned way, via hard work, and affording exceptional products & services; but rather, monopolistic profits are earned through unexceptional rent seeking behaviors: like M&A, industry consolidation, cartels & monopoly. Gangsters roam the corner of Wall and Broad, thriving upon unpayable global debt (and speculative insurance products affording coverage for that debt - derivatives & swaps).
What remains of the American middle class is stomped daily.
What remains of the American middle class is stomped daily.
America fights unwinnable wars with no end in site, while successive administrations are too afraid to announce the end of failed nation building exercises. As a matter of political expediency then, our nation's youth are sacrificed upon the altar of war for political careers.
The blood of innocents - and our fighting women's and men's lives - stains the nation’s hands, while the MIC reports out record profits for inferior products.
And worst of all, our US leadership appears entirely incapable of learning from history’s mistakes. Which seemingly, are repeated time and time again. Instead, we - as a people - appear thrilled by technology’s totalitarian promises, big data’s magic, and are distracted by the shiniest object of gratification at any given moment.
All of which begs the question, should the center - center right (the GOP) and center left (Democrats) political parties – maintain their duopoly over US power?
Given the complete breakdown in leadership, and the folly & hubris – often - surrounding our experts, why should they remain in power?
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018
