Lost in Transition

The American Socialist Norman Thomas once famously advised 60s protestors at the crossroads that they should wash the flag, not burn it. As we approach the “transition” in Iraq, his words come again to mind.

Why do people hate us? Why would they seek to join a religious movement, or any movement dedicated to death, suicide and futile Ludditism?

People hate America because they do not have what we have. And more importantly because they are suffering. They hate their own rulers as well, but we do not particularly feel this pain, or care. They need to have hope, and to belong, just like anyone else, and so they are grateful to any who offer them food, shelter, education, clean drinking water, health care and a sense that the future will be better, if not for them, at least for their children.

Their not having is not, in itself the cause, though. Thanks to the brave new world of the Information Age, where information is as ubiquitous as, say, iron was in the Iron Age, everyone now knows the sort of life that is possible. This leads, inevitably, to what Durkheim called the “revolution of rising expectations,” which causes huge anger in folks with nothing, who both see exactly how much nothing they have and how much is out there to have.

What do the religio-fascists offer these people? They don’t promise Beemers and bistro food. But they do offer soup kitchens and schools for their children. They offer them a sense of sharing and belonging. They are, in fact, socialist in this regard. They are the new communists.

We, the mercantilists, the capitalists, offer them, in the long run, a much better chance at success. We offer individuals a chance to go as far as drive and talent can take them. We offer them freedom to believe what they wish and freedom from fascism.

But most of the world is stuck where little they can do can help them. Today they are starving or sick. Tomorrow is too long a ways away. And we do not, thanks to some of the more archaic beliefs of our own Puritan work ethic, happily offer them the immediate support that they need so desperately.

Look around. Do our multinationals or government programs offer a coherent, systematic framework that establishes the linkage between the help we provide and the system that makes it possible? Are we catching the huge numbers of people who fall through the cracks, both here and abroad?

How many of these people, through bad luck or bad choices, does it take to make a community that either breeds or harbors violence and terror? Short answer: not that many. A few pockets of powerlessness and poverty would do it. And there are more than that right now.

So if we are looking to make a transition of power, maybe it is time to look power in the eye and speak truth to it. Say to the powerful, “Don’t be a dummy. If you don’t give people a minimum level of civilization in their little, desperate daily lives, what do you think they are going to do? Just go along with your program while they starve and their children die of rickets, polio and all the other untreated, treatable diseases that are out there?”

Right and wrong is a fine lesson to teach. The Puritan work ethic and personal responsibility are good ideas to further. But don’t be dumb about it. If you beat a dog, you wind up with a mean, dangerous dog, you’ll likely have to put down later. Life is just exactly as simple as that.

Likewise, if you want folks to behave as is necessary for democracy to work, if you want them to believe in politics rather than violence, then you have to feed them and respect their humanity.

Unfortunately, this message seems a bit lost in our handling of Iraq, just to name the hotspot du jour. Where is our Bill of Rights?

I know it is fashionable to pooh-pooh socialist things like the New Deal these days. But before we get swept up into ideological squabbles, it’s time to reflect on what it takes to make a safer world and a safer America. Both are only as safe as their weakest links. Were those least fortunate in the world and in America cared for better, there would be no crevices of misery to hide in for the anarchists and nihilists who seek to destroy our social contract and the established order.

It is this transition that is really going on these days. When Bush talked about compassionate conservatism that is what he put his finger on. But he took his finger off it, didn’t he? It got lost in transition, and not just in Iraq.

We’ve got a compassion transition crisis right here at home, too. Now the question is, as the transition gets made by the inexorable force of events, what are we leaving behind and what are we heading to?

So call me a neo-socialist. A believer, sore as I am at the atrocities visited on us by our “enemies,” that the way to beat the tide of anti-Americanism and fanatic, proselytizing religiosity is not by meeting fire with fire. Our humanism must face them where the real battle rages. We must wash our flags, and our enemies, too, and not burn just them. ¶ 8:41 AM