Playin' those mind games...forever Part I

A John Lennon song titled, Mind Games really sums up the way things are in American politics today.

How did we get to the point where our politics is nothing but division and accusation?

The ideological war that rages on in this country goes back more than 40 years during the Vietnam War. In the late 1960's many Americans had come to view the Vietnam War as a senseless waste of human life.

The war had begun under a Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson and was the key reason he declined to run for a second term. He realized that the American public had grown weary of the war. Although much of the public had turned against the war, Republican Richard Nixon won the election.

Fragmented after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and terrible infighting, the Democratic party's nominee Hubert Humphrey was unable to defeat Nixon. Even with the strong 3rd Party candidacy of former segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace, Nixon was able to pull ahead.

What was Nixon's strategy? Simple. He posed to the American public that those opposed to the war were a vocal minority. He put out the call to what he labeled as the "silent majority." He characterized these people as the moral, upright, citizens, who accepted the call to war, and dutifully supported their government. So, the inverse was a simple conclusion, everyone else was immoral, unpatriotic, and opposed to what was right.

When the world is divided into such simplistic terms, it creates great opportunities for those in power, and overwhelming disadvantage for those out of power. From that moment in 1968, the Republican party found a tool that would carry them for the next 40 years - the politics of division and accusation.

Even after President Nixon had left the Oval Office in shame, the Party continued to develop it's themes of division and accusation in order to regain power. From the moment President Jimmy Carter, a self-proclaimed "Born Again Christian" took office the Republicans assailed him as morally weak.

Even though Carter had a distinguished career in the US Navy, the Right portrayed him as one who lacked the guts to go to war if necessary. Near the end of his term the economy was in a shambles, due in large part to the oil crisis which began long before his term. The hostage crisis in Iran gave additional fuel for the Republicans to charge that Carter and the Democrats could not be trusted to lead. Through division and accusation, the White House was recaptured in 1980.

The "Reagan Years" were not nearly as rosy as today's conservatives try to proclaim. Our nation suffered some of it's worst economic distress. The term "homeless" became common for the first time since the Great Depression. And Wall Street began on a course of greed and corruption that would go virtually unnoticed for the next 28 years. The Soviet Union which had spent itself essentially into bankruptcy fighting a war in Afghanistan, could not longer afford to stay in the super power arms race with the US.

Mind games…Part II

Soviet Communist Party Leader Mikhail Gorbachev was a shrewd politician. Rather than admit defeat, he provided Ronald Reagan with a golden opportunity. As Gorbachev began to allow Russians more political freedom, the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union was credited undeservedly to President Reagan. The result was a new round of chest thumping for those on the Right. For more than 20 years, Reagan has been touted as the man who took down the Soviet Empire. This would serve as rocket fuel for the Republicans for years to come.

The Republican Party added a new dimension to their arsenal of political division and accusation tools – religion. They worked carefully with those on the religious right, fundamentalist Christian leaders to make Republican values and Christian values synonymous. The “silent majority” morphed into the “moral majority.” It was a clever move, and both used the other. Religious leaders like Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, and later James Dobson would gleefully look the other way as the party did many un-Christian things in exchange for the unprecedented access they would gain to the White House and party leaders.

George H. W. Bush ascended to the Presidency for two reasons: Ronald Reagan and Willie Horton. While Bush could probably have ascended to the presidency solely on the coat tails of Reagan, the party took nothing for granted. They set out to discredit his opponent Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis as a candidate who was soft on crime, soft on defense, and soft on moral virtues. One of the most controversial political ads of all time was aired coast-to-coast, telling the story of Willie Horton who had been paroled with the Governor’s approval. Horton reoffended by raping and killing a woman. The ad was powerful and many argue that the ad itself cost Dukakis the election. Again, through division and accusation, the Right prevailed in it’s effort to maintain political power.

Unable to compete with the charisma of Bill Clinton, the election of 1992 went to the Democrats for the first time in 12 years. Clinton had wisely chosen to focus on the failing economy. It worked. And despite the Republicans efforts to highlight on Clinton’s alleged moral infidelity and corruption, they were unable to keep the White House.

The Republicans immediately set about to defeat Clinton from the day he took office. Two years after his election, the Republicans took control of both houses of congress using the same basic strategy they had employed with Richard Nixon – that America was based on old fashioned morals, and it was time for the “silent majority” to rise up again.

In Clinton’s second term, his own personal failure played perfectly into the hypothesis that had been incubated for nearly 30 years – Democrats are immoral. Though few would put it so simply, that was the inference drawn by millions of Americans, particularly those among the Religious Right.

Mind Games Part III

The election of 2000 provided a clear picture of the final result of 32 years of what political division and accusation can produce. Never mind that the vote was so close. The real story was in the hyper attitude among those on the right and the left. As the weeks unfolded in the bitter election count, it became clear that this country had never been more divided.

Then came 911, and the county, the world, literally changed. Nationalism, understandably was the first reaction of a nation reacting to the horror and carnage that had been inflicted. But it also proved to be another excellent opportunity to silence anyone who dared to disagree with whatever those in power decided to do. As President George W. Bush would say, “you’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists.” Again, the subtle introduction of division and accusation was carefully embedded into the national conscience.

Democrats would reluctantly “go along to get along” rather than face accusations of cowardice in the face of an unseen enemy. And thus, Bush’s decision to launch into war with Iraq was a foregone conclusion. It provided him with an excellent visual, a ‘crusade’ against evil, one that Americans could root for. Some have suggested that it was no mistake that the term “crusade” had been invoked. The Crusades nearly 1,000 years earlier saw the Christians take arms against a number of “enemies of the church,” among them Muslims. And though Bush proclaimed that he had nothing against Islam, the visual created by his choice of words was a direct contradiction.

In 2004, John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam Veteran, was harshly assailed with the politics of division and accusation. Incredibly, his war record was cast aside in favor of a man who never served his nation offshore, and who’s limited service record was questionable. The Republican Party was reaping the benefits of years of planning, organizing, and indoctrination. They had created the perfect machine for annihilating opponents through the use of conservative talk radio, and the cable outlet, FOX Network. Their use of the media, elected, and religious leaders maintain a constant barrage of division and accusation against their opponents seemed unbeatable.

In each congressional election since 1994, the Republicans employed the “wedge issue” as an excellent means of electing their candidates and carrying out agendas that were harmful to the very people who supported them. By advocating initiatives against gays, promoting efforts to ‘protect’ religious beliefs, and support gun rights, millions of voters blindly supported the party ticket based on one or two wedge issues near and dear to them.

Mind Games Part IV

In 2008, a remarkable thing happened. As an unlikely candidate rose to the forefront of the Democratic Party, the tools which had served Republicans so well for the past 40 years were suddenly lacking. As Barack Obama gained momentum in his quest for the White House, the right unleashed an unprecedented storm of division and accusation against him that one only needs to hear key words to recall each effort: Pastor Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Acorn. Obama was accused of consorting with terrorists based on the flimsiest “connections” they could produce.

There was also a racial and religious undertone not far below the surface that was exploited among whites. He was afterall black, and a Muslim. No matter how many times Obama proclaimed his Christian faith, he was a Muslim, and still is in the eyes of many who have succumbed to careful manipulation by Right.

On November 4, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama won a clear majority of the popular vote and more than twice as many electoral votes than his opponent. Could it be that America had grown tired of the politics of division and accusation? That would be a wonderful outcome, but it would only be wishful thinking to believe that things have changed, they haven’t.

From the day Obama took office, those on the right launched into a new campaign to defeat the new president. In fact, for the first time in history, the voices of the right, proudly proclaimed that they were literally committed to “make Obama fail.”

In the fall of this year, conservatives gleefully responded to the news that the United States failed in it’s quest host the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. They were elated at the news because Obama had personally spoke to the Olympic Committee in an effort to help secure the Olympics. To them this represented failure for Obama, and victory for them.

Our nation is faced with an economy that could be worse than the Great Depression, our young men and women are fighting wars in two nations, and millions of Americans are without health care. At a time when we need to pull together as a people, regardless of political or religious belief, we are more divided than ever.

There is hope. While it is sad to see our nation failing in so many ways, it is during those times when people begin to reach out to one another. Young people, in particular are reluctant to blindly accept the agenda from the right or left without thoughtful consideration.

The only way we will ever be able to rise above the politics of division and accusation is through reason and critical thinking. When we begin to question those who proclaim moral superiority, to fact check, to analyze, to thoughtfully consider, then the politics of division and accusation will lose much of its effectiveness.

Long, long hiatus!

I started this blog a few years ago for a number of reasons.
For the most part, I was despondent about the direction our nation was headed...DOWN!

I had started out in 2007 as an Edwards supporter. It's tragic how that turned out. In many ways, John had the fire and the sincerity in his support of the American people. Unfortunately, like so many men in powerful positions, he succumbed to the temptations prompted by an over inflated ego. He's not the first and obviously, won't be the last. But it is sad...

Then in 2008, like millions of you, I discovered Barack Obama!
For the first time in many years, the word "HOPE" actually had meaning for me.

I was so pumped, I went to my local caucus, got elected as an Obama Delegate and went on to the Kitsap County Democratic Convention and got elected to go to the 6th Cong District meeting for a chance to be elected as a delegate to the Denver Convention. I didn't make it to the meeting due to a family illness. But my chances were almost nill as dozens of people had lobbied for those few delegate spots, and I was hardly a party insider. But just being able to say that I was an Obama delegate is good enough for me.

We had a room full of friends and family in our home on election night, and we literally toasted the moment Barack was officially elected President, with champagne and tears. It was an awesome night!

As we have seen in his first year, it has been nothing less than a constant barrage of hate speech from the right. Now with Health Care Reform on the brink of actually passing, the right is really pushing back along with their buddies in the Insurance and Big Pharma lobbies.

So, I've decided to put my writing "talent" to work and begin blogging again.

I hope you will find my essays thought provoking. I wrote a column for eight years for the Navy News called "Inside the Gate" in which I took on all kinds of subjects but mostly those focused on the American Worker and labor unions. I often received what I consider the best type of compliment from those who read my column: "Mark, quite often I don't agree with your point of view, but I will admit, you make me think."

That's the point, Americans need to think, and think critically. The bandwagon mentality of the right has nearly brought us to total ruin. Most of these people are blindly supporting policies and views that are destroying their own lives and they don't even know it!

I will try to keep my posts no longer than 500 words each, as I did for my column years ago.