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If Democracy Dies, Will We Even Mourn Its Passing?
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BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Bill Chickering
"Because democracy is noble, it is always endangered. Nobility, indeed, is always in danger. Democracy is perishable. I think the natural government for most people, given the uglier depths of human nature, is fascism. Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy."
-- Norman Mailer, Why Are We At War
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It's unnerving to hear a writer of Mailer's caliber refer to fascism as a "more natural state than democracy." But I think he's right. Democracy, which requires tolerance, a willingness to listen, and an acceptance of unruliness and disorder, is hard to maintain. We want it clear cut, with natural divisions and a natural order. Things are more comfortable that way. We can unburden ourselves of unpredictability and silence or imprison those who trample the status quo. We can shelve the outcasts and keep an eye on them.
Democracy requires forbearance and patience. That flies in the face of our "Just do it" attitude. Don't bother us with committee hearings, grievances and debate. Just get it done. Wake us when it's over.
Up till now we've had a low threshold for fascism. When Richard Nixon attempted to place himself above the law and tried to consolidate unseemly amounts of power into the executive branch of government, we reacted with anger and shock and forced him from office. Elected representatives on both sides of the aisle served us well. When Joe McCarthy launched his witch hunt into suspected subversives within the government, we demanded he show us the evidence. He couldn't. He slithered away in shame and died a broken and beaten man.
And now we have George W. Bush, a man who arguably would be completely happy if the United States reverted to a theocracy and appointed him the titular head of a state religion. He has no stomach for dissent, for the outcast, and seeks to silence anyone who dares question his authority. His two plus years of rule have left the Bill of Rights in tatters and his swagger and jingoistic bluster have rendered us comical or insane in the eyes of the world.
So how is it that junior continues to enjoy even passable approval ratings? How is it that in the midst of a swooning economy and near catastrophic job losses he rests comfortably in the cradling arms of an unquestioning press? Why do we see flags and bumper sticker philosophy draped over or stuck to anything with a flat surface?
Have we lost our stomach for democracy? Has it just gotten too cumbersome and unwieldy? After 227 years, is the great experiment about to come to a close?
Democracy is messy. People we don't like have the chance to speak and groups with views repugnant to our own get a hearing. Our nation's founders knew this and knew it would not be easy. But they also knew that the unruliness of the democratic process was far preferable to the colonial rule of England and King George the Third.
What frightens me most these days is that much of America is quite content with suppressing dissent. School teachers are suspended or fired when they question the president or the occupation of Iraq; newspaper columnists lose their jobs when writing columns unsupportive of the administration; protesters are marginalized by a media charged with presenting both sides of an issue; and shoppers are arrested at malls simply for wearing tee shirts that do not adhere to the presidential line. In the past week alone I've seen several bumper stickers that read: "Support Our Troops, Club a Protester."
So maybe, as Mailer said, we really do prefer fascism. Maybe we prefer the big lie to the often messy truth. Maybe we want to truly believe that a child-man exiting a fighter plane with a jump suit and helmet represents our highest and best ambitions. It's easier that way. We just accept the images and cut back on our thinking. When the massive lies are exposed, we simply shelve them back to that corner of our brain that houses denial. Just one happy country waving the flag, clubbing protesters, and clearing away any debris that threatens to spoil our Norman Rockwell view of the way things should be.
The road back to Democracy does not lie with the Democratic party. In the past two and a half years, they have allowed the Bush administration to trample on individual liberties, lead the nation into potentially fatal debt and barely blinked before stripping congress of the power to wage war. With a few notable exceptions our two party system is morphing into one. And while many Democrats railed at Ralph Nader for even suggesting such an idea, we see it evolving right now. Real Democratic opposition is muted. Tom Daschle, the man charged with leading the opposition, expresses his discontent, but in tones so hushed and guarded that he might as well be saying nothing at all. Joe Lieberman is in the wrong party. Dick Gephardt, the House Minority Leader, could not gain an inch for his party in a mid term election in the middle of a severe economic downturn. Yet he now tells us he wants to lead the country. The Bush team will chew on him like a flock of hungry vultures. He missed a slam dunk and now he wants to be rewarded for it.
Our salvation and that of democracy does not lie in the hands of any political party. It rests completely on our shoulders. If the leaders of the Democratic party want to worry more about protecting their precious turf than serving those who elected them, let them do it. History shows us that lasting change does not come from the top down, but from the bottom up. We pay the bills, we get to say how the money gets spent. Words are good and words can inspire, but it takes more than words. It takes the modern day equivalent of early patriots throwing tea into Boston harbor.
Politicians are instinctive creatures. Their first priority is to survive. And they love a placid and uninformed electorate that will not challenge them.
Right now we appear quite placid. We appear either unable or unwilling to do anything that will infringe on our comfort zone. "The Patriot Act hasn't affected me yet, so what's the rush? Let's not jump into anything. What's a right here, or a freedom there? Not really much when you think about it. I still have a job. I have health care. I can pay my bills."
Perhaps we're lethargic right now because we haven't seen anything "big" take place. We haven't seen repression on a massive and coordinated scale. Maybe we believe that since no one has gone on television and announced that democracy will officially end next Tuesday at 10 in the morning that all is well.
But democracy will not leave us that way. Fascism will not suddenly engulf us or swallow us whole. It will creep up slowly, so slowly that we may not even notice it. We'll keep watching the military triumphs, the parades and the flags waving in the breeze and declare that all is well.
Democracy will not end with a bang, but with a pathetic whimper. It will die and perhaps no one will even notice its passing.
Bill Chickering
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
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