[Marxism] Americana: invent an enemy to win swinging voters, or, the politics of negativity

["Jurriaan Bendien" <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Ernst Bloch wrote: "In capitalist society health is the capability to earn,
among the Greeks it was the capability to enjoy, and in the Middle Ages the
capability to believe." (The principle of hope, p. 465). Today I was reading
in The Post that according to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman Democrats "have
been very hesitant to talk about faith . . . and in doing so we have lost a
connection with a lot of people," (quoted in the Washington Post, 27
November 2003). They are kinda hedging between feudalism and capitalism, and
the Grease comes from Iraq. Meanwhile Al Jazeera today quotes specialist
Jack Craig, a military policeman from Minnesota, in an interview about the
"strike first" directive of the US military in Iraq:  "Actually, I see
'hearts and minds' as a tactical doctrine. To me, it means that's where we
should aim first... Shoot them in the body or in the head, but just make
sure you shoot them first." (Al Jazeera, 27 November 2003).

I have to think here of Adorno's remark that "The very people who burst with
proofs of exuberant vitality could easily be taken for prepared corpses,
from whom the news of their not-quite-successful decease has been withheld
for reasons of population policy. Underlying the prevalent health is death.
All the movements of health resemble the reflex-movements of beings whose
hearts have stopped beating (Minima moralia. Reflections from damaged life,
p59).
The Washington Post said (ibid.)  today also that "a recent poll conducted
by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that nearly 70 percent of
Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans expressed strong religious beliefs
when asked questions designed to measure these attitudes." These are also
the parties which support more killing industries and more military wars,
i.e. mass murder and christianism go hand in hand. But what about the other
political parties ?

The interesting thing to notice in the way the Right in the USA scratches
around for itchy issues or scapegoats to capture swinging voters with, e.g.
the focus on anti-homosexuality as a conservative-bourgeois political
unifier, is that, once again they are specifying politically what they do
not want, not what they actually do want. That is what makes their politics
reactionary, because there is no more constructive vision. Perhaps, if they
stated explicitly what they do want, they could not handle the consequences.
So what happens is, that what they say that they want, is different from
what they really do want, and they imply what they do want, by saying what
they don't like. At this point, the self-respecting Marxist is prompted to
think of Hegel.

So, the political Right is anti-gay, but they explicate no constructive
model of sexuality of their own, i.e. what sexuality should be like
according to them.  This creates a potential opportunity for Democrats and
the Left to specify "what we do want" in positive terms, but they don't
really seem to do it much either. But if there is a new Fundamentalist
United Christianist Krusade against gays and lesbians, one is legitimately
entitled to ask what is so good about the sexuality of the crusaders
themselves, and inquire into it, and raise the question of what a good
healthy sexuality and sexual morality would be like. But that is exactly
what they don't want to talk about !

To get back to Ernst Bloch, he writes "Only in his brain is man the most
highly developed living organism, not in other organic capabilities
however." (The principle of hope, 460). Ever seen the balls of an elephant ?

It's not that Americans only think through balls or religion. It is just
that the margin for political honesty is very small. What is there to say ?
I wrote a bit of rap just now:

>From the media boat
you can get a load
It's either time to expose
Or to overdose
I ain't got their prose
but I ain't no doze
I know that the emperor
he ain't got no clothes

I got my "strike first" pose
for a white man's cause
But underneath it all
Is my pantyhose
they're talkin' about Jesus
they're talkin' about God
but all I want to know is
how much money have I got.

They're selling arms to Israel
They're killing in Iraq
And if you don't pay your taxes
The police give you a whack
In Philly they got Mumia
In South Africa Mandela
It almost makes me wish sometimes
I'm in white instead of black

Jurriaan



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