David A. Schwinghammer, click here
to update your web pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by David A. Schwinghammer
Scapegoating 6/19/2011 7:56:27 AM
Why do we tolerate such behavior from our public officials
when we don't among ourselves?
Sarah Palin’s recent contretemps with Paul Revere and American History brought to mind the Tea Party’s (perhaps intentional) misunderstanding of their namesake event, The Boston Tea Party. That party wasn’t about taxes; colonists expected to pay some taxes. After all the British were defending them against the Indians. The Tea Party was about taxation without representation. Tea Partiers (who tend to be rich fat cats) may have more representation than the rest of us, what with lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians doing their bidding. Sam Adams and his fellows also didn’t want to be bullied by a monopoly, the East India company, whose tea they destroyed. Tea Partiers and the GOP in general love monopolies.
Anyway, I’m wondering how many voters know about the Know Nothing Party, a political phenomenon that existed from 1830 to 1860 or so. They opposed immigration (sound familiar?) of mainly Catholics, worried that these people would be loyal to the Pope and gradually take over America.
As late as John Kennedy’s election WASPs were worried about Popeism and concocted conspiracy theories.
In 2011 right wing conservatism has replaced the Catholic immigrants with Mexican Americans. One definite characteristic of a conservative seems to be intolerance or scapegoating of one group or another. Alongside illegal (and some legal) immigrants there is homophobia with as many as 31 states passing some form of Marriage Act (It’s on the ballot in Minnesota for 2012; Minnesota voted against Ronald Reagan. Let’s hope they keep up the ornery spirit). Then there are the Moslems. Apparently Moslem Americans shouldn’t be allowed to build a mosque on their own land if it’s a few blocks from the World Trade Center. It’s the good old all or none philosophy of conservatives. All Moslems are blamed for the act of a few terrorists.
Prior to illegal aliens, homosexuals and Moslems, blacks were conservative scapegoats. Southern Baptists found evidence in the Bible that blacks were meant to be slaves, and if they had to be free, they should be segregated. Then there was communism. The worst thing you could be was a black communist. Communism was an effort to redistribute wealth; it was hijacked by such dictators as Stalin and Mao. Prior to that industrialists refused to pay their workers a living wage and they lived in squalor. Since 1920 the Republican mantra has been “the business of America is business.” What voters ignore are the many times business has violated the supposed compact with American citizens. Everybody knows about British Petroleum and Enron, but do you remember the taconite companies who dumped tailings into Lake Superior or the river in Cleveland that caught fire because of industrial pollution? Politicians like Tim Pawlenty will say “That was then, this is now.” But it was only last year that a giant oil company looked the other way while its executives cut corners, causing the biggest oil spill in American history. Business leaders also say that their only obligation is to their stockholders. American corporations are creating over a million jobs in Southeast Asia while Americans go begging. We just went through a horrible recession because business leaders were selling something called derivatives that blew up in their faces. And now there’s a super computer on Wall Street that makes bets on whether stocks will go up or down. Humans are not involved and the bets are not based on whether the companies are run well or offer a viable product. They’re just bets. The computer recently caused a 600 point drop on the Dow Jones in a few minutes, once again picking the pockets of gullible investors. Another bubble waiting for a pin prick. Then there’s the Supreme Court. Antonin Scalia and his four buddies just gave corporations the same first amendment rights as individuals. Actually they just gave them more, since corporations have the aforementioned lawyers, lobbyists and politicians working for them, and more money of course. Another recent ruling made it harder to sue giant corporations.
Atheists can also be scapegoats. A commonly heard conservative epithet might be “Godless communist.” Many remember the attempt by Ronald Reagan to corral the evangelical vote, then referred to as the moral majority, but they were moral in name only with adherents such as Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reid, not to mention Pat Robertson, and Reagan, a notably irreligious sort himself, may have only been after their votes. Bush staffer David Kuo wrote a book about the contempt Bush aides had for Christian kooks. So atheists, and by proxy scientists who tend to be agnostic if not atheists, are a targeted minority. Only one member of Congress is an avowed atheist, Pete Stark, a California member of the House.
As individuals we don’t tend to like people who blame others for their failings or who point fingers, so then, why do we tolerate it from our public officials. Kudos to the gay activists who have been liberally powdering the likes of Gingrich, Pawlenty, and Bachmann , all lackeys of corporate greed, with rainbow glitter. I hope they show up at the inevitable Tea Party conventions prior to the 2012 elections.
