Delusional Democracy part 1

So…as mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been reading Delusional Democracy by Joel Hirschhorn This is a very thought provoking book. I ordered it because Mr. Hirschhorn is working with Gene Sharpe’s ideas about non-violent revolution within the context of the American System. I’m looking for a framework and a map for structural change in the American Political System, so something based on the ideas of the “godfather of non-violent revolution around the world” seems a reasonable place to start.

I’m about in the middle of the book. It is a pretty easy read, but whenever I sit down to read, someone inevitably needs a peanut butter and honey sandwich, or a listening ear, or help mitigating some conflict over leggos. Then dinner and bath time comes, and I have only read a few pages. It may take a while to get through the book and synthesize what is in it.

At this point, Mr. Hirschhorn has ranted a while about how broken the American Political System actually is. Since that topic has been covered extensively for anyone who has gotten this far in my writing, I’ll skip the coverage. Suffice it to say, things are severely fucked up. Corporatist Plutocracy, Fascist Corporatocracy, insert favorite terminology here. Where this book diverges from the merely obvious is in the detailed psychological profile of Americans themselves—or rather, the detailed description of the forces which maintain the status quo even though so many people really do have an understanding that their government has been taken over by corporatist interests through corrupt politicians using the very political system that is supposed to protect us from such things. Yes, of course I read What’s the Matter With Kansas. This analysis is more general, but still goes deep into the heart of what motivates people to vote against their own interests.

Rather than using the common conservative vs. liberal/progressive paradigm, Mr. Hirschhorn uses the idea of Delusional Patriots vs. Depressed Dissidents. I think this is a more useful way to view the tribal identity wars, so I’m going with it. Tea Partiers are a fine example of Delusional Patriots. They stubbornly cling to the ideas of American Exeptionalism in the face of conflicting facts, they willingly, even compulsively swallow the fictitious propaganda of outlets like Fox News in the hopes that they themselves may someday benefit from the economic system which allowed the strong and ambitious to become so successful and powerful. They compulsively swallow whole the right wing Christian Neo Liberal ideas about the autonomous self, the self-made success story, the brave and hardy economic man. The literate among them read Ayn Rand and watch Sean Hannity. The less literate watch Ann Coulter, listen to Rush Limbaugh and worship Glenn Beck. Depressed Dissidents are watching Rachel Maddow and laughing ruefully at Jon Stewart, trying to clean everything with baking soda to avoid the pthalates, and either ranting within the echo chamber of their local co-op or blogging if they do anything about politics at all.  What is needed is a means to shake the delusions of the delusional patriots and unlock the latent activism of the depressed dissidents.

No one is ever prompted to action by mere facts. Indeed, as we have seen so clearly with the Tea Party movement, many of us are startlingly immune to facts as a means to change our ideas about how things are. In order to affect change, people have to move beyond the hope of minor improvements to the status quo, or fears of its loss. Facts are important, but only insofar as they lead us to an understanding and acceptance of the truth. And when people really see the truth, they are more willing to get up, to stand up, to become activists.

Yet truth is a slippery thing. Mr. Hirschhorn spends a lot of time talking about our culture of lies, and how antithetical this is to democracy. We have reached a point where we accept, even expect, lies– not only from our politicians but also from our news and each other. We lie to ourselves about our lives, and wallow in compulsive behavior to mitigate the hopelessness created by all the lying. This is the first conversation I have read on this subject, and it is a topic dear to my heart. Honesty is a discipline worth pursuing, even when its application causes pain. The pain of honesty is the pain of a lanced wound—it is a necessary step towards healing.

Truth is complex. We perceive it within the framework of our values, our expectations, our personal experience. And the space between truth and action is filled with both fear and hope. We must first accept the truth of what we have lost. Then, we must believe we can somehow gain what we want and need. Then we must be willing to risk what we have. This leads us to the necessity to plan for what we want to create. Planning will be key. We did not arrive at this undemocratic place overnight. It took many years to reach this level of corruption. The corporate funded conservative kleptocracy has been planning and moving efficiently and effectively on their plan for a long time. And it will take many years, and equally effective organized counter-action to find our way to a new and better place. Get ready.

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