[Peace-discuss] Reply to Dahlheim

[C. G. Estabrook]

The rulers of this country have been contemptuous of the people from the 
beginning of the republic -- because they feared them so much.  "Your 
people, sir, are a great beast!" wrote Alexander Hamilton.  It was 
practically only the conflicted and bemused Jefferson who realized some 
of the implications of what he had written in the Declaration -- that 
the elites "fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers 
from them into the hands of the higher classes," while true democrats 
"identify with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider 
them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise, depository 
of the public interest."  That still seems to me to be the case.

One of the tasks of the ideological institutions (media and schooling) 
in America is to inculcate ruling class ideas in the educated (the rest 
don't matter much).  Eric Hoffer, who received the "Presidential Medal 
of Freedom" from Ronald Reagan, was a darling of the Right because "he 
comes from the working class and knows what they're like."  On this 
basis he could be used against "Anti-American intellectuals." A vicious 
critic of the new Left, Hoffer argued that movements of opposition to 
the American liberal order were the result of interchangeable 
psychological derangement ("true believers").  Therefore their ideas and 
arguments could be dismissed unexamined.  The cure for Sixties 
radicalism was, he thought, work discipline and general conscription.

 From the beginning of the European migration to North America, 
ecclesiastical institutions have been a refuge from and a source of 
opposition to government.  That's one of the reasons that the US differs 
so now in regard to religion from Europe, where post-Reformation 
ecclesiastical institutions were a department of government (the very 
reason some Europeans emigrated). Even the Evangelical current (an 
individualist departure from the communal concerns of most Christianity) 
was socially progressive for most of its career in America -- 
anti-slavery, pro-woman, anti-war.  One of the triumphs of the Right in 
the 20th century -- at the end of which political debate was puerile in 
comparison to the beginning -- was to redirect part of the Evangelical 
current to its concerns.

Then of course the American tertiary bourgeoisie can be taught further 
to be contemptuous of the majority, because of their religiosity.  --CGE


n.dahlheim at mchsi.com wrote:
> I agree with you on your assessment of the Joe Six-Packs of this
> country.  A working class consciousness never will develop here
> precisely because the social capital and the communal ethos are 
> almost non-existent here.  The prevalence of anti-intellectualism and
> bufoonery among the average people of this country is outrageous for
> a country that dares to propose a 21st century "Pax Americana" with
> such bluster and arrogance.  Herbert Marcuse was more right than even
> he could have realized in writing "The One Dimensional Man."  The
> dialectic of global capitalism (and socialism at the time as well)
> leads to the narrowing of all discourse around the constructs of
> power provided by the industrial technique of modern societies.  So,
> the television cameras broadcast tough guys like Reagan and drinking
> buddies like Bush and everyone is happy.  Have them talk about God
> and Jesus and America, and well, people will eat it up like dogs
> eating their own vomit. Finally, the Bible beaters hell-bent on
> witnessing the Apocalypse in the next few years certainly show how
> the American working class embodies real Judeo-Christian ideals! Mass
> movements of people believing either in the conservative vision of
> America or this particular strain of religious insanity are dangerous
> indeed, and I don't know how progressives can reach these dolts.
> When 1/6 of the people in the 18-24 age bracket can point to Iraq on
> the world map, I don't see much hope for them being politically
> influential in a positive way. Check out Eric Hoffer's "True
> Believer" and the Joe Sixpack phenomenon makes a ton of sense.
> 
> 
> ----------------------  Original Message:  --------------------- 
> From:    "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> To:      "C. G. Estabrook"
> <galliher at uiuc.edu> Cc:      peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net,
> discuss at communitycourtwatch.org Subject: Re: [CUCPJ Discuss]
> [Peace-discuss] Clemons released from hospital Date:    Thu, 12 Jul
> 2007 11:23:19 +0000
>