Déjà vu

Maureen Dowd was spot on in suggesting Joe Wilson’s outburst was racial, especially as seen in the context of the “birther” and other trash heard on talk radio and in rallies in the past two months.  My son was right in pointing out that Wilson was “provoked” by the thought that a penny of our money might land in the hands of immigrants.  He claimed to be talking the illegal kind, but I’m not so sure.  When Barack Obama was elected many of us naively, or at least hopefully, thought the country had turned a new leaf.  For the most part, it probably has – no it definitely has.  But Wilson, a son of a certain kind of South, left me with an eerie sense of déjà vu, a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Part of where we are bespeaks the culture of rage about which I wrote on August 19, but this goes much deeper.  The Republicans have been particularly deft at branding and slogan making.  The Democrats still have trouble with both.  As someone who has spent decades helping clients invent or reposition themselves with labels and words, I know something about this subject.  Some brands are stronger than others, and some companies can change their name and still be thought of as who they were not who they are or would like to be.  Altria is still Philip Morris, the reigning riding cowboy of tobacco land.  Much of the Republican Party we know today can proclaim itself “of Lincoln” all they want, but we know they remain the Dixiecrats who ran Strum in 48 and (while not under that banner) George in 68.  Lyndon Johnson famously lost these folks in signing the Civil Rights Act and the GOP gained them, dooming all but the last whimper of Rockefellerism in their ranks.  Obama of Illinois is of Lincoln, the newly infamous Joe Wilson and his ilk are not.

But let’s not put too much focus or blame on the messenger.  That outburst on the Floor and others like it, many much worse, are giving us a message.  A fear of “the other” whether it’s of a different skin color, a different sex orientation, a different belief system (include atheists) or  a different (and funny) accent is alive and sick both here and, for that matter, around the world.  “That fella over there just ain’t like us – he don’t belong where he is.”  Indeed, Dowd contends that the fear and anger of the “other” is particularly heightened when it’s perceived as being the “uppity N” kind, though she didn’t use those words.  It isn’t so much the audacity of hope, but the audacity of being equal or, worse, better.  She summarized it best in quoting Don Fowler who remembers his father’s dictum, “Boy, don’t get above your raising”.  The bounds of "raising" are just seen differently by many of us.

Part of the racist’s tool is to use fear.  Not merely fear of the other, but instilling the fear of retribution in anyone who stands in their way.  That may explain the moral silence, the absent sense of outrage, which is so audible in land.  The few Republicans who still cling to some kind of center shy away from voicing their opinions, or voting their conscience (if one remains), for fear of being taken down in the next primary.  Perhaps that’s why we don’t hear much about this growing problem from any Republican “leaders”, those same people who proclaim themselves the protectors of “values”.  But we also aren’t hearing that much from those on the other side of the aisle.  Everyone is running scared, a fear that can be our undoing – déjà vu!

I’ve asked it before and, sadly, must repeat it again.  Where are the religious leaders in all of  this and, for that matter, where are the captains of academia, industry and the professions?  Frank Rich complains, and appropriately so, that the President has let too much go unanswered since taking office.  I agree, but what concerns me more is what my father spoke of 46 years ago at the March on Washington – that “nation of onlookers”, which is exactly what we are.  It isn’t enough to elect someone seen as an “other” President.  The business isn’t finished, but only begun…if that.

Hate, and that’s what we’re talking about, can grow and become viral.   History suggests that when “good people” sit on the sideline silently looking on, the potential of that happening only increases.  The Southern strategy put Republicans in power.  The thing about Reagan Democrats is that they remained in play.  Nixon’s legacy is that he turned over the store to what has become an increasingly entrenched and narrow group of people who see anyone with whom they disagree as “the other”.  In that context, bi-partisan is as foreign a term as is illegal alien.

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that a disproportionate number of those without healthcare coverage are of color or talk with one of those funny accents.  As the Republicans stand together in shouting and voting their NO, one has to consider what may lie not so far below the surface.  Surely not all Republicans think or feel that way but I find it harder to say of them, “forgive them father, for they know not what they do.”  They know.  Ironically, liar is the tamest of words, and indeed is only a word.  What lies behind its utterance, well that’s déjà vu.

Comments

[Ron Prinz]

Congressman Wilson (mis)represents my district in SC. He was impulsively way out of line. However, things aren't entirely as they may appear from a distance. A good friend of my family headed up his constituent service office here in Columbia (she retired before his outburst). [Background about me: my father escaped Germany in 1937--sound familiar?] Wilson's district includes part of Richland County (which voted for Obama over McCain and Kerry over Bush) and all of Lexington County (right-wing dominated). Majority Whip Clyburn covers the rest of Richland County. There are plenty of progressives in Columbia. Additional info: Wilson is addicted to "NO-DOZ" and was wired when he yelled out. He is not a bright man--and I think he (mistakenly) thought he was right about the provisions in the health-reform bill. Does he have racist leanings? Maybe, but I doubt that fully explains his behavior. I know we look for simplistic characterizations of complex human situations, which makes us feel better, but we may not capture the whole process. Nonetheless--I will work hard to get him knocked out of office!