BritGuyTN

Bush unbound
Winning on fear itself, the GOP is ready to take the country even
farther right.
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By Sidney Blumenthal

"This country is going so far to the right you are not even going to
recognize it," remarked John Mitchell, President Nixon's attorney
general, in 1970. Mitchell's prophesy became the mission of Nixon's
College Republican president, Karl Rove, who implemented the strategy of
authoritarian populism behind George W. Bush's victory.
In the aftermath, Democrats will form their ritual circular firing squad
of recriminations. But, finally, the loss was not due to their
candidate's personality, the flaws of this or that advisor or the
party's platform. The Democrats surprised themselves at their ability to
raise tens of millions of dollars, inspire hundreds of thousands of
activists, spawn extensive new organizations, attract icons of popular
culture and present themselves as unified around a centrist position.
Expectations were not dashed. Turnout vastly increased among
African-Americans and Hispanics. More than 60 percent of the newly
registered voters went for John Kerry. Those concerned about the economy
voted overwhelmingly for him; so did those citing the war in Iraq as an
issue. But the surge of the Democrats was more than matched.

Using the White House as a machine of centripetal force, Rove spread
fear and fused its elements. Fear of the besieging terrorist, appearing
in Bush campaign TV ads as the shifty eyes of a swarthy man or a pack of
wolves, was joined with fear of the besieging queer. Bush's announcement
that he favored a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was
underscored by referendums against it in 11 states, including Ohio --
all of which won.

The evangelical churches became instruments of political organization.
Ideology was enforced as theology, turning nonconformity into sin, and
the faithful, following voter guides with biblical literalism, were
shepherded to the polls as though to the rapture. White Protestants,
especially in the South, especially married men, gave their souls and
votes for flag and cross.

The campaign was one long camp meeting, a revival. Abortion and stem
cell research became a lever for prying loose white Catholics. (Rove's
designated Catholic leader, his own political pontiff, had to resign in
disgrace after being exposed for sexual harassment, but this was little
reported and had no effect.) To help in Florida, a referendum was put on
the ballot to deny young women the right to abortion without parental
approval, and it galvanized evangelicals and conservative Catholics
alike.

While Kerry ran on the mainstream American traditions of international
cooperation and domestic investment, and transparency and rationality as
essential to democratic government, Bush campaigned directly against
these very ideas. At his rallies, Bush was introduced as standing for
"the right God." During the closing weeks of the campaign, Bush and
Cheney ridiculed internationalism, falsifying Kerry's statement about a
"global test." They disdained Kerry's internationalism as effeminate,
unpatriotic, a character flaw and elitist. "You can put lipstick on a
pig, but it's still a pig," Vice President Cheney derided in every
speech. They grafted imperial unilateralism onto provincial
isolationism. Fear of the rest of the world was to be mastered with
contempt for it.

These emotions were linked to what is euphemistically called "moral
values," which is actually social and sexual panic over the rights of
women and gender roles -- lipstick traces, indeed. Only imposing manly
authority against "girlie men," girls and lurking terrorists can save
the nation. Bush's TV ads featured digitally reproduced crowds of
cheering soldiers, triumph of the leader through computer enhancement.
Above all, the exit polls showed that "strong leader" was the primary
reason Bush was supported.

Brought along with Bush is a gallery of grotesques in the Senate -- more
than one of the new senators advocating capital punishment for abortion,
another urging that all gay teachers be fired, yet another revealed as
suffering from obvious symptoms of Alzheimer's.

The new majority is more theocratic than Republican, as Republican was
previously understood; the defeat of the old moderate Republican Party
is far more decisive than the loss by the Democrats. And there are no
checks and balances. The terminal illness of Chief Justice William
Rehnquist signals new appointments to the Supreme Court that will alter
law for more than a generation. Conservative promises to dismantle
constitutional law established since the New Deal will be acted upon.
Roe vs. Wade will be overturned and abortion outlawed.

Now, without constraints, Bush can pursue the dreams he campaigned for
-- the use of U.S. military might to bring God's gift of freedom to the
world, with no more "global tests," and at home the enactment of the
imperatives of "the right God." The international system of collective
security forged in World War II and tempered in the Cold War is a thing
of the past. The Democratic Party, despite its best efforts, has failed
to rein in the radicalism sweeping the country. The world is in a state
of emergency but also irrelevant. The New World, with all its power and
might, stepping forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old?
Goodbye to all that.

edwords

Mmmm. Those grapes are sour.
I am really enjoying the groaning and moaning from the left.
So many worn-down socialist places to choose from, only one U.S.

BritGuyTN

I'm right-wing as they come, but religion doesn't come into my politics