Page Two: Days of Blame

Chapter MCCLXXXVI

Continuing on his way, our hero, Tom, Tom the Shandy's Son, realizes where he comes from is as mysterious as where he is going. Rather than be lost, he begins walking in circles. The seasons change, but of course in many ways they don't. Along the way, he meets a possum, joins the New World Order, reads the Constitution, and, dressed as a preacher, travels through Appalachia on his way to Georgia. He responds to any question or statement by saying: "The problem is you and people like you. It is certainly not me!"

Prelude

In the early Seventies, I lived in McColl, S.C. If you traveled east from there toward the ocean, you'd hit Pedro's South of the Border, a famed tourist attraction and trap right off of I-95, the main north/south East Coast highway. Actually, part of its attraction is that it is so much of a tourist trap. Just south of the border of North Carolina, it embraces a Mexican theme, featuring restaurants, gas stations, a motel, a small amusement park, and shops stocked with an impressive array of tourist tchotchkes – as well as unlimited fireworks. It's been there for six decades now, if it is still there. There were dozens of billboards along I-95 for hundreds of miles north and south of it (each noting the remaining mileage), many of which featured the worst Mexican stereotypes. The signage was so extensive that damn near anyone who traveled I-95 over the course of those decades knew of it, even if he or she never stopped there. The ethnic stereotyping included "Pedro," who wandered around leading a donkey. One of our roommates in McColl worked as Pedro for a while, but that's another story.

While living in McColl, we frequently traveled west, up into the mountains, visiting Boone and Blowing Rock in North Carolina, Hazard in Kentucky, and on up to West Virginia: deep into the mountains, driving rough dirt roads, the vegetation so dense and rich a landscape of deep blues and greens that you felt with it every breath. The roads usually ran along creeks with houses on the other side. Most of the houses didn't have indoor plumbing; most did have junked major household appliances in the front yard. During the most intense spring rains and runoff, the creeks would flood. If you visited after that, all the vegetation and growth on both sides of the creek was draped with toilet paper and garbage, as though it were some kind of nightmare version of horrific Christmas decorations.

Leviticus

"Yep, son, we have met the enemy and he is us."

– Pogo, Walt Kelly's Earth Day 1971 Pogo comic strip

The above comment by Pogo is clearly about the environment, especially the almost nonchalant littering and homestead-derived pollution destroying his beloved home, Okefenokee Swamp. It is also just as clearly metaphoric about all the damage being done to the environment because of people, whether it be because of their thoughtlessness, greed, or very existence. Now, no hysterical worship of Goddess Mother Earth here, but our existence affects the Earth, sometimes in destructive ways, especially when we refuse to acknowledge there is a problem or to mitigate it in any way.

Another step back should be taken, especially during current times, to realize that in so many areas the problem is us. And us only.

Proverbs: Prayer Mantras

These are the days of blame. Vindicating or validating one's own beliefs is most easily and legitimately achieved by attacking someone else. A shocking amount of political discussion is not about solving or even describing the real political, economic, social, educational, health, or justice problems facing this country. Instead, it is spent blaming those in disagreement.

The prayer mantras repeated over and over now are far from the bleeding-heart, knee-jerk, weakhearted "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." The whole notion of walking a mile in someone else's shoes is pathetic acquiescence to those who would kill us. Understanding is viewed as appeasement.

"Two wrongs make a right." If a Democrat or a Republican is criticized, there is neither hand-wringing nor a painful mea culpa from his or her brethren. Instead, examples of similar behaviors by members of the opposite party are cited.

"Stating something as a fact makes it a fact." We are living in times when some are insistent that there are few, if any, "real" problems. Instead, they claim, issues facing us have been deliberately manufactured by people trying to destroy the country and enslave us. Unyielding, self-sanctified certainty may yet save this country, in this view, but reasoned discussion and compromise will certainly end up destroying it.

"In order to really be a patriot, one must not only state that one is a patriot but argue that one is far more so than those who hold differing opinions." And: "True constitutional piety allows for only one true path, one holy and God-blessed way of thinking."

"American exceptionalism forgives all." We are living through a time when communication is demeaned, not valued, and in which political cooperation is regarded as a corrupt and treasonous activity. The idea is not to identify the problem but to identify the "enemy" causing the problem. Given that those in disagreement are quite simply evil and malicious, attempting honest and open communication with them is to play the fool, to be of those slaves who believe every word their masters say.

Statements along the lines of the following are commonly made: "The Constitution has been violated and disregarded; our judicial system is corrupt and our legislative system broken. It is time to return to the Constitution as the basis for our society and our laws. We must take back the government."

With a dull, rhythmic certainty, we hear legislators attacked for not carrying out the will of the people. Frequently, these attacks are offered by other legislators.

On the far left, some believe in destroying the social order entirely, while others believe if we get rid of the upper class, the owning class, things will be fine. Many hate innovative, successful entrepreneurs because they are successful.

Deuteronomy

Many of those most opposed to the government feel as though they are being deliberately oppressed. In their view the oppressors are in complete control, are manipulating the mass of Americans. The rhetoric suggests that if big media, international corporations, and our corrupt and deliberately evil political leaders were gotten rid of, most Americans would be in overwhelming agreement in supporting commonsense politics.

"The American people need to take the power of government back," they insist. Which must mean the current government operates almost completely independent of the people? Take it back from whom? From me? I certainly don't feel as though those who think like I do are in control or are a dominant political force.

Personally, I can think of no leftists who feel that the government is committed to advancing their political agendas. Instead, they distrust the government as much as those on the right, only for different reasons.

There is some agreement that, as some might put it, "The Constitution has been corrupted; all the amendments that [I] disagree with need to be repealed! The original intent of the framers of the Constitution [as interpreted by me and my fellow travelers] needs to be adhered to."

A lot of the Constitution is meant to address how a representative government can work when significant percentages of the constituency are in violent disagreement with other, equally significant percentages. It is a document designed to expedite compromise and to make permanent political change almost impossible.

The vast majority of those most critical of the government, while swearing absolute fidelity to the Constitution, characterizes the core problem as Americans who hold different political views. If one labels those in disagreement as evil or conspiratorial, then citing the Constitution is an act of fantasy, not loyalty. The same is true if one simply wants to limit the opposition's voices or curb the political power of certain other groups of citizens, believes that a conspiratorial cadre is ruling this country, or is sure he or she knows that most legislating politicians are corrupt. To cite the Constitution toward such ends is beyond hypocrisy.

The Book of Joshua

The American people do not want to be pandered to or coddled, but they definitely want to be agreed with almost all the time.

Depriving significant groups of Americans of their rights and power is how to cure national ills. The conspiracy-theorist gang assures us everything will be all right if we only get rid of the New World Order (with talk-radio mainstay Alex Jones talking about how those criminals will be hung from lampposts – a vision out of Bosch rather than the Constitution).

Just consider the tough immigration law recently passed by the Arizona House and Senate, now waiting for the governor to either sign or veto it. The bill, SB 1070, makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork. It also requires police officers, if they have a reasonable suspicion about someone, to determine that person's immigration status.

This means that everyone has to carry papers clarifying their citizenship status all the time.

On the charmingly named website Glock Talk, one supporter of the bill argues: "Cops aren't going to run around randomly stopping people to see if they are legal. BUT if they do have a reason to stop someone (speeding, tag issues, etc.) and something seems off, THEN they can ask for paperwork. ... They aren't asking cops to run around looking for people who are not here legally, they just want them to be able to DO THEIR JOB and confirm someone is who they say they are." I can't wait to hear from this woman when she is stopped and has forgotten to carry her citizenship papers.

Coda

The problems facing us are real; they are not just other Americans. In order to solve them, we will all have to work together, no matter how much our points of view differ. But, good God, isn't hate so much easier than the really difficult, impossibly hard work we really need to be doing?