Supreme Irony?
Extraordinary Hypocrisy?
Or Farce?
Christian fascists understand the deep sickness that infects American society. They know how to exploit the moral and physical decay, as well as the despair it causes, to lure its followers towards their brand of tyranny. They are not wrong when they lambast the cruelty, corruption, emptiness and hypocrisy of the ruling elites, especially the liberal elites. They are not wrong when they mock cultural relativism, the idea that good and evil, right and wrong, truth and untruth, do not exist. It is part of the sad irony that the Christian Right effectively exploits this cultural relativism to seize power. The failure of the liberal Christian Church to denounce the Christian Right as heretics, in the name of tolerance and cultural relativism, has given the Christian fascists religious legitimacy. ~~~ Chris Hedges
[Update below]
As the Cold War was emerging, in 1952, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote an influential book: “The Irony of American History”.
Among many other things, that book provided an historical and ethical framework for understanding the operation of power, particularly salient were definitions and distinctions between tragedy, irony, and farce.
It speaks to us today, as some argue that we are on the verge of a coup after 4 years of unprecedented abuses of power by President Trump.
If that happens, would that be ironic or farcical? Niebuhr wrote:
The ironic nature of our conflict with communism sometimes centers in the relation of power to justice and virtue. The communists use power without scruple because they are under the illusion that their conception of an unambiguously ideal end justifies such use …. Sometimes it verges on that curious combination of cynicism and idealism which characterizes communism, and is prepared to use any means without scruple to achieve its desired end.
No doubt, Trump has and is “prepared to use any means without scruple to achieve its desired end.”
But is Trump alone in that corruption? No.
So, perhaps an even larger irony stems from the fact that the feared and now widely reported strategy Trump is set to deploy – i.e. pressuring Republican State legislatures in swing states to over-ride the electoral results and select a slate of Trump electors to the electoral college – was originated by the Democrats and liberal Harvard Professor Larry Lessig in response to the 2016 election! (as we wrote):
Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig makes the case that electors are not legally bound to honor their state vote, that the ethical obligations are complex, and that they should instead vote their conscience.
Contrary to Naomi Klein’s claim, David Sirota was not the first to report this scheme (even we wrote about it on Election Day). Sirota was only the first to report on the prescient law review article.
I’ve not seen it reported anywhere that, in December 2016, Democrats held protests in State Capitols across the country. The slogan and demand was thus: “Electoral College Do Your Job, Don’t Elect a Demagogue!”
We repost this December 19, 2016 report on the Trenton protest:
“Electoral College Do Your Job – Don’t Elect A Demagogue!”
Message From Trenton, NJ: “Stop Trump”
Despite the cold and wind, over 200 hardy citizens went to Trenton NJ today to give a message to the electoral college:
“Electoral College Do Your Job – Don’t Elect a Demagogue” they chanted during a Statehouse protest.
Electors met in 50 State Capitals today to select the next President.
The question is: should they honor their State vote pledge to Trump or vote their conscience.
Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig makes the case that electors are not legally bound to honor their state vote, that the ethical obligations are complex, and that they should instead vote their conscience.
The electoral college is a vestige of the Constitution’s anti-democratic origins, when only elite white men who owned property could vote (see: “Taming Democracy”). Elite’s structured the Constitution to preserve elite privilege and block direct democratic control of governmental power.
Alexander Hamilton lays out the elite’s justification in Federalist #68 – portions of which raise pertinent arguments, particularly given Trump’s “foreign entanglements”. Hamilton wrote:
Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one querter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union? But the convention have guarded against all danger of this sort, with the most provident and judicious attention. They have not made the appointment of the President to depend on any preexisting bodies of men, who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes;
It erects “obstacles” that serve as barriers to democracy and contradicts the concept of “one man – one vote” that most Americans incorrectly believe is the legal principle that governs voting for President.
The fact that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes but lost the electoral college vote by a wide margin has shone a bright light on this anti-democratic Constitutional reality.
Here’s some photos that prove democracy is alive and that people fully understand the stakes: (apologies for the poor quality – no processing and portable camera)
My friend Jeff Tittel (Sierra Club) urged people to honor the legacy of historical progressive social movements – abolition, women’s suffrage, workers rights, union organizing, 8 hr. wrk day, New Deal reforms, anti-war, gay rights and environment – and unite in common cause to Stop Trump.
Looks like “It’s a hard rain, gonna fall”.
[Update 2/2/21 – Man, is my analysis superficial and I got it so wrong! Historian Rick Perlstein lays out the long ugly history of these tactics’ must read:
- This Is Us: Why the Trump Era Ended in Violence ~~~ end update]