My “For These Times” book recommendation #1 and #2: The End of the Myth, by Greg Grandin (2020 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction) and Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram Kendi (2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction)
All nations, empires, and religions use myths. I don’t know whether this country is the worst or best at them and whether “best” in this case--i.e. most effective--actually means the worst. But, I am primarily concerned with American myths because, one, I live here, and two, we are the most powerful country in the world and in human history.
Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and Kyle Rittenhouse have deep historical antecedents. They play different but complementary roles in the myth-making and the myth-unfolding. So does Mitch McConnell. So does Mitt Romney and the Koch Brothers and even the genteel folk of the Lincoln Project. So do even Biden, Obama, Jimmy Carter, and the liberals. Conservative myth-making tends to ignore or justify our sins while claiming exceptionality. Liberal myth-making tends to emphasize the overcoming of those sins as proof of exceptionality. Between the limited two choices, I prefer the latter. I, for instance, prefer Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Hamilton over the actual Hamilton.
When it comes to the Constitution and elementary political theory, there are the cute intellectual exercises that I as history teacher am supposed to song-and-dance and, more importantly, we as citizens are supposed to consider: Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian? Strict constructionist or loose constructionist? Federalist or anti-federalist? These dualities have their later corollaries and tangents: Jacksonian? Lincolnian? And later, “Big government” or “small government”? They are not altogether useless distinctions. However, they are most useful for and by the powerful when they mystify and obfuscate actual power relations and the actual material conditions of people’s lives. This faux intellectualism serves as a smoke screen for the brute taking and hoarding of power and the brute expropriation of land and labor. In short, the Constitution has primarily been a tool to intellectualize and thus legitimate--and to protect and entrench--white, male property rights. To the degree that other genders and races have been able to enjoy similar protections, it has only happened in spite of the Constitution’s anti-democratic proclivities. And it usually is only allowed only when the powerful are not required to give up too much power.
Anyone who says “I just love the Constitution,” doubt their judgment or their sincerity or their exposure beyond prep school and elite university social circles. As for me, I do not love the Constitution. I don’t “believe” in it. It exists whether I believe in it or not. It is what we have to work with, for now, in the electoral/policy realms of a larger political life. I try to operate in the parameters set by it and defend the good that flows from it, in spite of it.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was no radical in the larger sense of the word. To be on the court in the first place, she had to believe in or go along with many of the unquestioned presumptions that come with U.S. hegemony. She could not or did not really question empire or settler colonialism, for instance. Nevertheless, she was still a pioneer, a champion, a good person. Her loss is huge and I mourn her death, on multiple levels. It is unlikely we will have someone like her on the court for a long time.
And now here you have it, in just seven days. Or rather, four and a half years. The coup--a recurring coup--is near complete. The February 2016 death-of-Scalia blocked seat swings all the way back to the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, the third person President Trump will get to appoint to the Supreme Court, barring any miraculous courage or integrity on Senate Republicans’ part. This already fundamentally anti-democratic institution now becomes even less democratic.
She is an “originalist,” I hear! But do not be fooled. “Originalist” is a label that is quickly shed when there is opportunity to seize more power. See the timelines and majority opinions for Bush v. Gore or Citizens United, for instance. Not very “original.” Very “activist” when it suits them. And yet wholly predictable.
Similarly, when someone says, “I’m just a fan of ‘small government,’” call bullshit please. Chances are s/he is only a fan of “small government” when it serves his/her property rights. S/he is ready to shed “small government” allegiances when “big government” means lining his/her checkbook. And when someone (usually white) says, for instance, “I don’t believe in affirmative action,” also, call bullshit please. As Kendi shows, it’s been 250 years of affirmative action for whites, in countless policies in every sphere of our social and economic lives.
There is nothing good to celebrate this week, but at the least the myths are fully unveiled. Stamped from the beginning, on many levels, we can see. Do not try to understand or argue with McConnell’s logic. As you try to do so, he is laughing at you. It has only ever been about power, wealth, land, and more power. Black people have been trying to tell us these things for years. Indigenous people, too. Puerto Ricans. Mexican-Americans and Mexicans. Filipinos, Vietnamese, Afghans, Iraqis. They have been on the receiving ends of this myth-making.
Do I “love my country”? I think it is an irrelevant question. It is where I happen to live. I love the trees, the bodies of water, and the people in it: my family, friends, coworkers, neighbors. It is difficult, but I try to love strangers, too, even strangers whom I indict here--and friends I indict here. For what it’s worth though, I do love my country. Which is why I criticize it. To try to make it more democratic, more just, more honest, and yes, more loving. I have lived in a couple other countries, but I honestly do not want to live anywhere else.
According the Democracy Index, the United States is ranked as the 25th most democratic country in the world. That’s not as good as one, but it’s also not as bad as 167. And it’s also not as bad as 26. A Joe Biden victory, Democratic victories in Congress and in state races do not do enough in and of themselves. That is obvious to any student of history beyond the past four years. And yes, speaking of power, we need to build actual people power outside of this election. But holding steady at 25 on this index--or at least not slipping into the thirties--is a good enough short term goal for me, for the moment.
With as much love as I can muster for these assholes in office that don’t deserve it, I say, vote them out. Vote them out.
Register to vote: https://www.vote.org/register-to-vote/
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PA residents, follow directions carefully: https://www.vox.com/21452393/naked-ballots-pennsylvania-secrecy-envelope
https://postcardstovoters.org/
An older one: http://anelegyfortedmcgrath.blogspot.com/2020/05/yes-butbut-yes-at-same-time-why-i-will.html
