Splinters
Political Cannibals
With very
sharp teeth and a sharper knife
Who can be
found in political theater
Slashing and
scalding and taking life
At times attacking
some tribal group
Or meeting
with ardent drummers
To target a
meal or perhaps some soup
Outside the
circle of comers
But inside
the Capitol loop
Add some tea
bags as the meal begins
And the
lines for family erase
As they find
that the closer the kin
The more
compelling the taste
There is no
hiding the fact that the GOP is not what it used to be. The GOP was once united through Nixon’s
“southern strategy” that linked fiscal conservatives with social conservatives
and the “religious right.” They
are now clearly eating their own. Gone is the time when Reagan demanded the 11th
Commandment that Republicans not speak ill of another Republican. Reagan perhaps employed the most
skilled public relations crew in our national history. That is not true today despite FOX News
providing media support. Unfortunately,
as the GOP is embroiled in this internecine insurgency, they are also destroying
the fabric of commonwealth that once held us together despite our party
differences. It is largely those
differences, exaggerated by the partisan energy of the Tea Party and its sub-groups,
that resulted in John Boehner resigning as Speaker. More recently, Kevin McCarthy surrendered his quest for the
speakership due to the Freedom Party Caucus within the GOP. Additionally, McCarthy blurted out the
truth about one of about a dozen investigations about the Benghazi attack. Four Americans were killed in an attack
that McCarthy used as opportunity to tarnish presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton. More recently and still internally,
the Tea Party has attacked a conservative member of the investigation, Major
Bradley Prodliska, for openly saying it was a partisan investigation. This would not have happened under
Reagan as we will show through 1983 Beirut. In 1983 Beirut, Reagan suffered two disastrous bomb
attacks on Americans within 6 months and yet was not questioned about his
intentions or his skills. The
political climate protected leaders with the concept that political division
ended at the water’s edge. Today,
it never ends. I call this
political cannibalism and there are two major varieties; intra-tribal and extra
tribal.
McCarthy’s
extra-tribal attempt at cannibalism of a Democrat made even a few Republicans
squeamish, at least because he actually unveiled the nefarious intentions for his
investigation. As a direct result,
McCarthy was quickly consumed by his fellow Republicans who also commented that
McCarthy was not conservative enough. In this essay, you will find a case study of two vastly
different periods in American political discourse separated by only 30 years or
so. Some of you may cringe at the
facts, but we need to look at recent history to absorb some powerful lessons in
our own political climate. In
recent years, during the State of the Union Address, Republican Representative
from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, yelled “You lie!” at President Obama during
the speech. It was unexpected,
lacked decorum and was grossly rude and even factually questionable. This is simply an example of the new
way of doing business or more often, hurting business that requires restraint
and compromise. Unwritten rules
that provided a veneer of polite discourse have been replaced by insults and
epithets in open theater. This new
approach has only worsened political gridlock. It is difficult to find common ground over the shouts and
recriminations of a political adversary.
Dialogue is poisoned with invective.
It is ironic
that we are approaching the anniversary of the bombing of the Marine barracks
in Lebanon that killed 241 Americans on 23 October 1983 after President Reagan
ordered troops into Beirut barracks despite pleas not to by Secretary of
Defense Caspar Weinberger. We had earlier
suffered an April 1983 attack on the US embassy in Beirut where 17 Americans
were killed among 61 slaughtered by a car bomb. While both Benghazi and Beirut were tragedies, the scale of
the Reagan incident in the Beirut barracks was 60 times greater and more
directly due to Reagan’s failure to heed the Secretary of Defense than
Secretary Clinton’s oversight of foreign affairs. In my memory nobody of either party attempted to politically
exploit the deaths of 241 Americans (and 57 French paratroopers) in that single
incident in Beirut, but political cannibalism was not trendy in 1983 and we were
at odds with Iran. In fact, the Reagan
Administration armed Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons, including nerve
agent, all through 1983. These
weapons of mass destruction were used in the Iran-Iraq war. (Years later, this sale gave rise to
the charge that Saddam had WMD). Reagan
appointed a military commission headed by Admiral L.J. Long, but there was no congressional
investigation led by Democrats or the GOP. George Shultz as Secretary of State never acknowledged the
loss or attributed it to Reagan. Much
later, Shultz blamed the attack on Hezbollah (not formed until 1985). Reagan retaliated by naval bombardment
of Beirut and environs with the unfortunate loss of hundreds of civilians
unconnected with the truck bomb. Surely,
some lies and history revision happened in 1983, but there was enough good will
to avoid witch-hunts and political cannibalism. Two days after the horrendous
losses of our military in Beirut (the worst in one day since Iwo Jima of 1945
and Tet of 1968), we invaded Granada.
Perhaps this was a well-timed distraction? A huge loss was whitewashed by “success” in Granada as we
quietly retreated from Lebanon in the weeks following the truck bomb despite
assurances by Reagan that we would stay.
The events in Lebanon did not become a political feeding frenzy at home. In fact, Speaker Tip O’Neill and
President Ronald Reagan worked many compromises including a tax hike during
their joint tenure. Compromise was
good for the whole nation and political cannibals were scarce.
Insurgency
within the GOP accounts for the overall gridlock although the GOP PR machine
and much of the media reporting seem to place the responsibility evenly on
Democrats and Republicans. It is
really neither, but a GOP sub-caucus that is petulant and out of control. It might be humorous except that it has
delayed any prudent law making in favor of hostility and constant wrangling,
bickering and wasting taxpayer dollars on conservative political differences
that defy the real definition of “conservative.” The Tea Party is more radical than conservative and the
contest as to who can out-conservative whom is apparent in the presidential
primary races that resemble bar fights more than political primaries. The media often refer to the gridlock as
bipartisan, but it is overwhelmingly a GOP phenomenon led by one of their
minority caucuses; hence 67 votes conducted to repeal or defund the Affordable
Care Act rather than crafting a few meaningful improvements that could get GOP
support with a smattering of Democrats voting with the GOP. Conflict is now built into the process
rather than constructive compromise.
Political
cannibalism will leave long-term scars on the American landscape. It is largely responsible for failing
to invest in our crumbling infrastructure. Our citizens challenge fate daily trekking to work and home
as roads and bridges fail. Investment is essential to the future competiveness
of our nation, but the idea that a small minority can prevail over the vast
majority of Americans is anathema to investment when ideology trumps common
sense. Smaller government is a
myth thrust on us each election season. That code “smaller government” actually
translates as less money for investment in America and more money for the
military along with privatizing programs that make politically loyal privateers
rich. Recently, Jeb Bush has
promised to finish, if elected, what his brother George started on privatizing
Social Security. Had George
succeeded, can you imagine the personal and family pain and chaos of the
2007-2008 recession? We bailed out
the big investors with the very tax income that the cannibals might have
eliminated. Extreme conservatives
trumpet this ideology so that many Americans feel that we can have it all and
not spend money. These plans, however would give great tax breaks to the
wealthy and will reprise the “trickle down” theory that has never worked in
history although it has been tried repeatedly since the late 1920s. We now have scapegoats in Mexicans,
Climate Change, and Obama. The
myth is that we can have guns and butter; lower taxes with a bigger military and
a Great Wall to compete with China. That errs on the ridiculous side of
politics, but does nothing where it counts in manufacturing, the recovery of
the middle class and returning to investment in our people through education and
infrastructure.
We need to
be alert again for the rising mythology that removing taxes and regulation will
create wealth for everybody. The
only stuff that trickles down is not wealth. Removing regulation on the excesses of Wall Street only
exacerbated a financial meltdown that spilled pain and poverty on the middle
and lower working classes. The
mythology that surrounds Reagan gave rise to the notion that government was the
problem instead of the solution.
Replacing effective policies with a vacuum filled by privatized and
unregulated financial mechanisms resulted in a widening income and wealth gap
that often makes the USA the laughing stock of other developed nations. Bad government through political
gridlock of the “Freedom Caucus” is merging with political cannibalism to damage
our democracy. Of course, perhaps
the Freedom Caucus will succeed. There
is at least one example of an absolute minority taking charge of an entire
nation through a beer hall putsch.
We know how that turned out.
Where is the Freedom Caucus beer hall? Are the brown shirts free? Is there a similar strong and paranoid leader in the Freedom
Caucus? Should we get ready for
parades and night rallies? We can
replace progress with spectacles.
Hollywood: move over.
Peace,
George
Giacoppe
12 Oct
2015
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