The Power of No

First let me say that the young are not stupid. Certainly not in the way that some of our supposed grown-ups sound when the discussion turns to matters like global warming, gay marriage or the policies of Barack Obama. On the whole, they are far more broad-minded and savvy, but they are absolutists. However, by sitting out this year's midterms America's young have done something that when they look back from the wisdom-producing distance of ten or twenty years they will probably admit was pretty stupid. How stupid will depend on how we survive the next several years.

The Phantom Left

Chris Hedges, in excoriating Jon Stewart's "Rally for Sanity" pins the blame for our current political apathy and civic dysfunction on the vanquished Left:

"The phantom left took a central role on the mall this weekend in Washington. It had performed admirably for Glenn Beck, who used it in his own rally as a lightning rod to instill anger and fear. And the phantom left proved equally useful for the comics Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who spoke to the crowd wearing red-white-and-blue costumes. The two comics evoked the phantom left, as the liberal class always does, in defense of moderation, which might better be described as apathy."

I admire Chris Hedges but despite his persuasive points I mildly disagree. Jon Stewart's audience may be liberal but despite being cast as such by our corporate media, it is not the Left, it is the 'hip' bourgeoisie. The comics were there to plead, not for Malcolm X or Emma Goldman, but for the status quo, a status quo that the young who do fret about their future rightly suspect is less democratic than authoritarian and fascist. When the campaign that promised you "Change" sees your standard-bearers like Van Jones and Dawn Johnsen tossed from the bus, voting begins to feel like a farce.

And yet, if there is any political space where the system still allows movement it is on issues the liberal class as a whole holds dear: namely civil liberties and the environment. The issue that once inspired the evanescent American Left was not the quality of the air but the workers' standard of living. Tangible, material things that Leftists like Eugene Debs died fighting for:

“I am opposed to the system of society in which we live today, not because I lack the natural equipment to do for myself but because I am not satisfied to make myself comfortable knowing that there are thousands of my fellow men who suffer for the barest necessities of life. We were taught under the old ethic that man's business on this earth was to look out for himself. That was the ethic of the jungle; the ethic of the wild beast. Take care of yourself, no matter what may become of your fellow man."

Twenty years after the collapse of Soviet Communism Debs' altruism would likely earn snickers from the Stewart crowd. Poverty is no longer a scar on a country's civilization in a world surrendered to Monopoly Capitalism. Social Darwinism is the de facto order of the day. The consequence for our privileged young is a dispiriting paralysis: why sacrifice when everyone expects to have to cope on their own?

But in allowing the political void to be filled by the abandoned proletariat's unreasoned passions, when our hopelessly dysfunctional state confronts the crisis of its own neglect it will be the Becks and Limbaughs leading the way right off the cliff and into nihilism. As Chris Hedges knows very well, it has happened before-- "the masses realize very well that they cannot direct themselves."-- Moeller van den Bruck, author of Das Dritte Reich

The young can only hope that the clowns are right: that history can only repeat itself as farce.

Keeping Fear Alive

"The only al Qaeda person was the undercover guy."

When attorney Jim Hardy was chosen to represent the seven men accuse of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago he probably thought he was being asked to defend committed terrorists. Instead he discovered that not only were the men not radical extremists there was no evidence beyond the word of an FBI "informant" that the men were planning any "spectacular acts of violence".

So how were these supposedly innocent men lured into implicating themselves as the latest petty actors in Bush's "war on terror". Apparently the FBI's favorite sting operation goes like this: Infiltrate some cash poor, off beat group in a minority neighborhood then have your informant, usually a former drug convict granted a reduced sentence, to promise the hard luck group a big pay-off if they'll swear to wage "jihad" or pledge allegiance to "al-Qaeda".

In the case against the Miami seven the goverment's "key" evidence was a video of them pledging "bayat," to Osama bin Laden in a March 16, 2006. Their ultimate conviction after three hung juries hinged on testimony that supposedly showed that they had taken photographs and video of "possible targets", including the Miami FBI building, a courthouse complex and a synagogue.

But Narseal Baptiste, the plotter's so-called ringleader, insisted in all three trials that he was only going along with the informant in hopes of getting the $50,000 the man had promised for his struggling construction business and a community outreach program. In fact, no actual evidence of a plot ever surfaced during any of the trials. Despite the flimsiness of its case the government was still given three bites at getting a conviction for what amounts to a "thought" crime.

"Any cases that involve someone's mental intent, their intention when they made certain statements, are always difficult," said Matthew Orwig, a former U.S. attorney who monitored the case. "It was a must-win for the government. They needed some vindication."

Now just as Obama is promising to close our torture gulag at Guantanamo Bay a virtual copycat crime is amazingly "uncovered" in New York. The FBI may be unable to spot potential hijackers, an anthrax killer, or the Bernie Madoffs of the world, but they've got deep and unimpeachable sources tracking every two bit hoodlum, crook and dreamer struggling to survive the 'hood and likely to carry a grudge against "the system".

Maybe, given that criteria, the FBI should also be recruiting folks like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. We all know their outraged circles have folks with similar grudges. Some of them could surely be nudged into "acting out" - especially if it meant keeping the American public shaking in its boots. Of course, seeing they've got a whole lot more to risk-- they'd be a lot more expensive to bribe.