The Democratic Daily » World War Ii

The Me Generation, or Generation Text?

Hart Williams — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:48:20 +0000

[Adapted from Feb 5, 2008's, "Waiting To Breathe."]

A pause before the oncoming secessionist storm.

Well, here it is: ~~Super Duper Mega Hyper Tuesday — that monument to electoral greed pioneered by Southern Democrats in creating the first “Super Tuesday” in 1988. 24 states~~* now “Me-Too” it today. Which guarantees that campaigns will be mostly about media buys, and NOT about creating the political infrastructure that will take the eventual winner through the next four years. The South Carolina Primary, which will “decide” the race. Or be decisive or somesuch. Certainly, it becomes difficult to stop Mitt if he’s not roughed up in South Carolina, of course. But we shall see.

In this age of Billionaires staking their chosen candidates like race horses at a cock fight, common wisdom is out the window. (As if were ever included.)

[* I give up. A week or so ago, it was stated with authority in one outlet that 29 states would vote. Then, 24. By the end of "tonight" it was 22. This from a media that tells you it's "trustworthy," "fair and balanced," etc. etc. ]

Look: when the Republicans of Iowa [2012] can’t even count their own votes in their own private caucuses, having made it a national showpiece and with plenty of advance warning, I have NO expectation of normalcy or sanity in the aftermath of that cluster … well, there’s a word for it.

Government of the media, by the media and for the media shall not perish from this Earth.

Forever and ever, Amen: film at eleven.

I think that Barack Obama is, perhaps, more correct than he knows in calling this* a choice between the past and the future. (* 2008)

This long political train wreck that began with Ronald Reagan can be directly traced, perhaps to the the battle on the streets of Chicago in 1968 between the Woodstock Nation and the “Establishment” — the World War II generation who were their parents.

The “Greatest Generation” gets their name from Tom Brokaw’s maudlin coinage in a couple of books that may well have been ghostwritten — these days who can say? Brokaw — February 6, 1940 — is talking about his parents and their friends, and the idea that you admire your parents’ generation is not exactly revolutionary.

Their reign begins with John F. Kennedy in 1961, and ends with George Herbert Walker Bush’s exit of the White House in 1993. Since then, it’s been the Baby Boomers: Bill Clinton (8/19/1946) and George Herbert Hoover Bush (7/6/1946).

Mick Jagger: 7/26/1943

Newt Gingrich: 06/17/1943

John Kerry: 12/11/1943

Rush Limbaugh: 1/12/1951

Tom Petty: 10/20/1950

Jane Fonda: 12/21/1937

Peter Jennings: 7/29/1938

Bernie Madoff 4/29/1938

Paul McCartney: 6/18/1942

Dennis Hastert: 1/2/1942

Jimi Hendrix: 11/27/1942

Fred Thompson 8/19/1942

George W. Bush: 7/6/1946

Robert Fripp (King Crimson) 5/16/1946

Bill Clinton 8/19/1946

Herman Cain 12/13/1945

Micky Dolenz (Monkees) 3/8/1945

Stephen Stills 1/3/1945

Donald Rumsfeld: 7/9/1932

Little Richard: 12/5/1932

Elton John: 3/25/1947

Willard Mitt Romney 3/12/1947

Bob Dylan: 5/24/1941

Dick Cheney: 1/30/1941

David Crosby: 8/14/1941

Trent Lott: 10/9/1941

John Lennon: 10/9/1940

Dick Armey : 7/7/1940

David Bowie: 9/8/1947

Tom DeLay: 4/8/1947

Iggy Pop: 4/21/1947

Hilary Clinton: 10/26/1947

Gene Simmons (of Kiss): 8/25/1949

Bill O’Reilly (of Faux): 9/10/1949

John Belushi: 1/24/1949

Tiny Tim: 4/12/1932

Ruth Bader Ginsberg 3/15/1933

Nancy Pelosi: 3/26/1940

Ringo Starr: 7/7/1940

Eldridge Cleaver 8/31/1935

Ken Kesey 9/17/1935

Jerry Lee Lewis 9/29/1935

Ron Paul 8/20/1935

Oh, and

Karl Rove: 12/25/1950 (right between Tom Petty and Rush Limbaugh)

Yes, evidently, he’s a Christmas baby. Kind of evil and creepy, ain’t it?

Rick Perry 3/4/1950

My point is this: The “Summer of Love” generation has been tearing this country apart politically, polarizing, pugnacious, determined to GET THEIR WAY from the battle on the Streets of Chicago in 1968 to the present day.

nineteen sixty eight

And, perhaps, it is TIME for that generation to begin to take a back seat to a generation raised on computers and cel phones, with a different take on the way that the world works, and a less confrontational approach to American society: The difference between a Rush Limbaugh and an Abbie Hoffman is only a difference of political affiliations, the essentially destructive nature of their political efforts is the same.

All right: they’ve dominated American political life for forty years and more. The “sexism” charges and the “racism” charges being thrown back and forth are hallmarks of THEIR generation. The desire to move beyond the same old ideological pissing matches and the same old approaches comes from later generations.

It’s time for another approach.

Of course, here’s your “youth” vote:

Michelle Bachmann 4/6/1956

Rick Santorum 5/10/1958

Jon Huntsman 3/26/1960

Tim Pawlenty 11/26/1960

Barack Obama 8/4/1961

We will see what South Carolina, with its (as pandering, winking Ron Paul put it: “Well, South Carolina is known for their respect for liberty,” speaking in that well-known code that includes “Barack Obama is the biggest Food Stamp President of all time”) collective Republican wisdom will decide. Because, as voodoo statistics tell us, South Carolina has voted for the eventual GOP nominee since 1960, and therefore they will again this time. [See: Magical Thinking.]

It’s already brought us the intellectual acme — on the day before this all-important contest — of Chuck Norris 3/10/1940 dominating the political discussion of the day.

This UTTERLY refutes MSNBC’s Chuck Todd 4/8/1972 screeching that Stephen Colbert 5/13/1964 is making a mockery of our Presidential Primary process:

Todd went after both Colbert and Jon Stewart for mocking members of the media, then backing off and saying “we’re just comedians” when the members of the media call them out on it. “Actually, no you’re not [comedians] anymore,” Todd said. “You are mocking what we’re doing, and you want a place in this, then you are also going to be held accountable for how you cover and how you do your job.”

Oh yeah. Holding comedians accountable for doing their jobs? How about holding the media accountable for … oh, never mind. [See: Magical Thinking.]

Considering that Chuck Todd is the baby of this entire gaggle of famous persons, I feel strongly that we’re in really good shape, when those ‘Seventies babies start coming on line.

Chuck Norris. America’s Most Influential Pundit.

Chuck Norris T-shirt

No wonder SAT scores keep going down.

Tomorrow, the true comedians of this entire sordid mess will speak. I wonder what they will say?

UPDATE: Newt wins. Delegate count: Gingrich 19, Romney 18.

Perhaps they were terrified by Chuck Norris.

Courage.

================

A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.

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My Birthday Wish

Hart Williams — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:05:06 +0000

The coin minted by Brutus (et tu, Brute?)
to celebrate the assassination of Caesar and
restoration of Roman “freedom” – with unintended irony

I will finish “Selling the New Nixon” presently. Meantime, I am too busy unwrapping cakes and eating presents (or is that the other way ’round?) to fully give attention to a blog today. HOWEVER, I would like to ask you, Gentle Reader, to honor my Birthday Wish and help to make this dream come true. And, no, it’s not “peace on Earth” or “Good Will to Men” or any other pie-in-the-sky notion. It’s just that I’d really like us to fix a certain statue that was messed up by Jefferson Davis before the Civil War.

And my wish is not for me; it’s every bit as much for you and your children. Because symbols MATTER. I wish I may; I wish I might …

From 28 NOVEMBER 2008 · 11:42 PM:

How To Cap Off The Election — A Modest Suggestion

Regular readers will recall the Phrygian cap*, which the “Sons of Liberty” adopted about 1766 as the emblem of our Revolution. Many of the militia who served in the Revolutionary War wore the “Liberty cap” with “Liberty” or “Liberty or Death” or “Congress” embroidered on the headband.

[* "Who Stole Our American Hat?" 5 September 2008]

You don’t see that much in the movies, of course. Nor, does the “Liberty cap” mean much anymore — although at one time, it was not only the emblem of the American Revolution, but was incorporated into the coats of arms of several states (New York and New Jersey, for instance) and chunks of the federal government. The Liberty cap is at the center of the Army seal on the Army flag. It is on the seal of the Senate, and on a very nice stained glass window with that seal IN the Senate.

The Phrygian cap in the U.S. Senate Seal

It was on our first national coin, the famous “Liberty cap penny,” and seems to have vanished somewhere between World War I and World War II. Lady Liberty, the Goddess of Liberty, etc. ALWAYS had the Phrygian cap, which had been an attribute of Libertas, the Goddess of Liberty in Rome.

And, between the Roman era and the American Revolution, the Goddess and the meaning of the cap were forgotten.

We, the Americans, revived the liberty cap, and everyone understood what it meant: we were throwing off the slavery of the King of England. The hypocrisy as regards slavery was a big sticking point in the deliberations that produced the Declaration of Independence, of course, but the SYMBOL reverberated around the world far more than any shot did.

The French Revolution ADOPTED the Libery Cap, and the portrait of Marianne always portrays her wearing a Liberty cap. It is in the official seal of Nicaragua.

Wikipedia:

Many of the anti-colonial revolutions in Mexico and South America were heavily inspired by the imagery and slogans of the American and French Revolutions. As a result, the cap has appeared on the coats of arms of many Latin American nations.

The cap had also been displayed on certain Mexican coins (most notably the old 8 reales coin) through the late 19th century into the mid 20th century. Today, it is featured on the coats of arms or national flags of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Cuba, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Here it is on the flag of Paraguay:

And here it is on a Mexican coin from 1899:

And it was SUPPOSED to be on the statue atop of the Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C. but a funny thing happened, which is why we have the weird Turkey Headdress that currently adorns the statue. It’s more than aesthetically ugly. It’s morally and historically ugly. (And Wikipedia gets this part wrong.)

Let me tell you why.

First, we have to back up a little, and let me explain something about the “Founding Fathers” and their society. They were a classically-educated group of Enlightenment thinkers. They had all read the Roman Histories, the Greek Myths, the writings of the philosophers from Socrates and Aristotle to Marcus Aurelius.

And, as such, the Phrygian cap was an important and instantly understood symbol to them. You see, in ancient Rome, upon manumission (the freeing of a slave), the freedman would shave his head and put on the red Phrygian cap. Which meant, to the Romans, here was someone who had gained their freedom.

The metaphor was so significant even to the Romans that when Caesar was assassinated by a group of Senators (because they feared that their “Republic” would end with an emperor), Marcus Brutus (yes, THAT Brutus) had a commemorative coin minted (no doubt through the Appian Mint™) showing a liberty cap between two daggers.

Like I said, it caught on. It became a universally accepted American symbol with two notable exceptions. First, the Statue of Liberty, which has that spiky thing, in place of the Phrygian cap. And, secondly, in the Statue of Liberty on the Dome of the Capitol, which was constructed during the Civil War (Lincoln and Congress thought it important as a symbol of something rising as the nation itself was reunited).

Only problem was, Jefferson Davis didn’t like the meaning of the Phrygian cap, even though it had been as American as … well, Apple Pie.

Here is what the Architect of the Capitol (who oughta know) has to say on the matter:

The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford is the crowning feature of the dome of the United States Capitol. The statue is a classical female figure of Freedom wearing flowing draperies. Her right hand rests upon the hilt of a sheathed sword; her left holds a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with thirteen stripes. Her helmet is encircled by stars and features a crest composed of an eagle’s head, feathers, and talons, a reference to the costume of Native Americans. A brooch inscribed “U.S.” secures her fringed robes. She stands on a cast-iron globe encircled with the national motto, E Pluribus Unum. The lower part of the base is decorated with fasces and wreaths. Ten bronze points tipped with platinum are attached to her headdress, shoulders, and shield for protection from lightning. The bronze statue stands 19 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 15,000 pounds. Her crest rises 288 feet above the east front plaza.

A monumental statue for the top of the national Capitol appeared in Architect Thomas U. Walter’s original drawing for the new cast-iron dome, which was authorized in 1855. Walter’s drawing showed the outline of a statue representing Liberty; Crawford proposed an allegorical figure of “Freedom triumphant in War and Peace.” After Secretary of War Jefferson Davis objected to the sculptor’s intention to include a liberty cap, the symbol of freed slaves, Crawford replaced it with a crested Roman helmet. [emphasis added]

And here’s the picture of the original model, before Jefferson Davis forced the turkey bonnet on the statue:

This is not only preferable to the abomination decreed by Jefferson Davis, but would, with this election, be the fitting and proper statue on top of the Capitol Dome.

Because the meaning of the Phrygian cap needs to return to us. It, along with the Goddess of Liberty are still so powerful a symbol that the Chinese in Tienanmen Square created a “Goddess of Democracy” not exactly with a Liberty cap (more Sonic the Hedgehog, actually):

Now is the moment, and I cannot think of a more proper and fitting instant in history to remove the abomination of slavery’s representative, Jefferson Davis, and return to the true meaning of the Declaration — that all men are created equal. And to our Liberty cap.

Do you “get” it? The Liberty cap was CENSORED from the statue in the 1850s because of Southern Antebellum Political Correctness. (Or, should I say, ‘Keerecktnis’?). That craven action needs to be rectified.

That would not only correct a grievous aesthetic and historical mistake, but would renew the meaning of the Liberty cap to the world — the same world that we renewed its meaning to once before, in 1766.]

And it would be a statement on racial equality not requiring any statement on racial equality. It is what it is, ever since Thomas Jefferson reminded us that certain rights are inalienable (or, as Adams had the printer emend: “unalienable”).

I think that “fixing” the Statue of Freedom would be a perfect “capper” for Congress to fix this. They’ve already removed the statue once, in 1993 for cleaning. It wouldn’t be a great matter of dollars to do it again.

The statue being moved for cleaning via helicopter in 1993.

But it would be a monumental matter of symbolism. And not just for us, the U.S.

Remember, Americans wearing the Liberty cap were fighting and dying for the Congress now under that dome, before there WAS a Constitution and before there was a Declaration of Independence. No one, to my knowledge, has ever died for our country under Jefferson Davis’ turkey headdress (except, possibly, some Las Vegas showgirls).

Jeff Davis’ Turkey headdress from above (the spikes are ‘lightning points’) in 1993

Fix it. Fix it now. The timing will never be better.

That’s my modest proposal.

It is Gaudete Sunday (“Joy Sunday”), the Third Sunday of Advent, as it was when I was born. Joy to you.

Courage.

==============

A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a veteran of Texas and a survivor of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently berths in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his birthday cake.

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President Obama Has Chance To Craft ‘Pro-Worker’ Trade Deal

Scott Nance — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:32:21 +0000

In Hawaii, hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, President Obama also is negotiating a new, 9-nation trade agreement.

By leading negotiations for a new international trade pact among nine Asian and Pacific Rim nations, President Obama has the opportunity to create “a pro-worker, pro-jobs trade agreement,” a U.S. labor leader says.

In Hawaii hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Obama also is continuing talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). TPP would be trade agreement among the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

It also is the first free trade agreement negotiated by the Obama administration. Although the president supported the recently approved trade agreements with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea, that trio of pacts originally were negotiated during the Bush administration.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union hopes the TPP represents a new kind of trade agreement, according to Leo Gerard, international president of the 850,000-member union.

“The USW appreciates the Administration’s aggressive outreach on ways that the TPP could support manufacturing and create jobs in the U.S.,” Gerard says. “We have spent considerable time with our negotiators and have offered specific ideas as to what provisions will achieve our goals. The USW is committed to working with the Administration to achieve an agreement that will strengthen U.S. manufacturing and create economic opportunity at home for all, not just the fortunate few.”

The USW position on the potential TPP represents some optimism as organized labor, and many other progressives on the left, have strongly opposed most previous large free trade deals because they’ve benefited large corporations, while costing average Americans their jobs.

The number of U.S. factory workers plunged from 17 million to about 12 million, fewer than at any time since before World War II, with many opponents of free trade deals blaming such agreements for the steep decline.

Obama and his administration have a responsibility to ensure that this and future trade agreements not only create “family-supportive” jobs in America and opportunities for U.S.-based producers to share in the benefits of trade, but to ensure there is little incentive for producers to chase the lowest labor and environmental standards in order to maintain their competitiveness in the global market, Gerard says.

“There’s a lot more work to be done and improvements in the traditional approach to trade will be necessary,” he says. “The TPP provides an opportunity to update and reform the trade rules, addressing the real challenges facing working Americans. We cannot abide by countries that maintain and erect non-tariff barriers to our products, engage in predatory practices such as currency manipulation, provide subsidies through state-owned enterprises, and simply don’t play by the same rules that we do.

The announcement over the weekend that Japan is looking at joining the TPP negotiations raises new issues and new complexity, Gerard says.

“Japan has one of the most closed markets in the world to outside players. Its web of interlocking relationships engages in many exclusionary practices,” he says. “An agreement that includes Japan must have provisions to ensure true reciprocity is achieved, not just by lowering tariffs, but through real market access as well as elimination of non-tariff barriers. And, it must address the challenges many Japanese exports will pose to American manufacturers. Other potential future participants in the TPP must know that the status quo approach is no longer acceptable.”

Scott Nance is the editor and publisher of the news site The Washington Current. He has covered Congress and the federal government for more than a decade.

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