Looking for Mr. Jones

You don’t know what’s happening here, do you, Mr. Jones?

So sang Bob Dylan way back when, in a different American era, one that almost seems like an age of innocence now, even though it was anything but innocent. Still, I get the feeling that nobody knows what’s happening in America anymore – or more accurately – nobody in power knows. People on the street know well enough, even if they can’t put what they know into words. Not that they need to describe what they are living through, day after day.

The Fear that Hunter S. Thompson wrote about so often is upon us and we can’t shake it. The good Doctor saw it coming. What is the Fear you ask? Fear that the American era is over, that our global hegemony is untenable, and that the American Dream is finally and forever DOA. Fear that undesirables with dark skin, speaking in unfamiliar tongues or praying to an unfamiliar god are poised to overrun the country. Fear that our own government is a threat to freedom and liberty.

It’s a strange time, no doubt about it. The will of the people doesn’t seem to hold much sway in the scheme of things, but how can the will of the people compete with the buying and lobbying power of Corporate America? Plutocrats own the machinery of power, the airwaves, the courts, and the Congress; they write the rules and rig the game for their advantage and, judging by the obscene gap between the super rich and everybody else, their success can only be described as spectacular.

Take away the military power and the United States is a model banana republic.

Irony is everywhere. It takes a legislative slugfest to appropriate a relatively modest amount of money to extend unemployment benefits to idled workers, but billions of tax dollars are funneled into corporate bailouts, undeclared foreign wars and tax cuts for the wealthy with little or no debate and no cries for “fiscal austerity.” The Deepwater Horizon explodes and sinks, killing eleven workers and spewing millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. We hear next to nothing about those eleven workers or their survivors while BP spokespeople assure us that BP is doing everything in its power to make the Gulf right again. If this is true, why is so much of BP’s work shrouded in secrecy? Why won’t BP share its data with independent scientists? Our president tells us that Gulf beaches are open and that Gulf seafood is safe. If that’s true, why do locals refuse to eat the stuff?

Welcome to Oz. The Yellow Brick Road is due south. Keep walking.

Former senator Alan Simpson, co-chair of President Obama’s deficit reduction commission, is a crusty old fart who derides Social Security recipients as loafers, while he collects a generous taxpayer funded pension.

Glenn Beck, an unhinged right-wing demagogue, co-opts Martin Luther King Jr. and insists that he, Beck, is the man to restore America’s honor. Only a man with no honor could make such a bizarre claim.

A proposal to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in Manhattan that drew little attention when it was first announced suddenly becomes a lightning rod of controversy and vitriol that exposes a dark side of the American psyche. The deeds of a small group of fanatics from Saudi Arabia condemn an entire religion and its adherents as terrorists. Fear trumps common sense. Religious tolerance is jettisoned in favor of demagoguery. Hysteria tramples reason. All Muslims are guilty by association. All Muslims hate America. All Muslims are hiding explosives and looking for something or someone to blow up.

Where are you, Mr. Jones?

The United States invaded Iraq, destroyed Iraq, occupied Iraq, and is leaving (well, not really, not now, not ever) Iraq in a terrible political, economic, social and environmental mess. We call this victory.

Has everyone gone mad? Is there an antidote for this KoolAid?

Afghanistan is a military, monetary and moral sinkhole. Many of our allies have seen enough and are unwilling to ante up more coin or blood for a cause that is certainly doomed. The war in Afghanistan belongs to the United States, lock, stock and killing field. The war cannot be won under any circumstances, and the United States cannot exit without looking weak and emboldening the terrorists. Or so the conventional wisdom goes. The Afghanistan sinkhole will ruin us, despite General Petraeus’ promises to the contrary. Polling shows that a majority of Americans oppose the war but does this fact sway the politicians and generals?

Come back here, Mr. Jones. I want to talk to you, man.

The Democratic Party cannot tell a coherent narrative about what and who it stands for, and the Republicans do nothing but sing a chorus of No, No, No. Rigid ideology triumphs over pragmatic flexibility to the detriment of citizens from Maine to Oregon. How long can we continue this way?

Mr. Jones isn’t talking. Mr. Jones has nothing to say.

Our Collective Insanity

Endless undeclared wars. Unchecked corporate power. A demagogue like Glenn Beck on the cover of Time. Unemployment high. Real health insurance reform held hostage by the status quo. Misguided “revolutionaries” marching on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Has everyone gone insane? Are we experiencing a collective mental meltdown?

Nowhere is the madness more pronounced than in our determination to remain in Afghanistan.

We can deploy as many troops and private contractors as we want in Afghanistan and still “lose” the war because winning is an impossibility. Echoing his predecessor, President Obama claims that winning in Afghanistan is vital to our security. OK, Mr. President, prove it. Prove that after eight years more American casualties are worth it. Prove that more civilian deaths are justified. Prove that Afghanistan won’t descend into chaos no matter what we do or how long we remain. Prove that for every “terrorist” we kill another doesn’t take his place.

Except for those who have served there, and their families and friends, the American public could care less about Afghanistan -- a far away country with a foreign history and culture. No, Afghanistan is out of sight and out of mind, as invisible and inscrutable as the enemy we seek to destroy. The costs of the war are also out of sight and mind -- charged to our national credit card, hidden in massive budget documents with accounting sleight of hand. Institute a draft and start sending well-to-do kids to die in the Korengal Valley and maybe the public mood changes.

Like all imperial powers throughout history, the United States has discovered that invading another country is a relatively easy affair; leaving is the tough trick. The initial surge of overwhelming military might produces a short-lived euphoria. The real war begins when the dust settles. The cakewalk becomes a quagmire. False honor trumps reality every time. The imperial power can’t admit it blundered without appearing weak or lacking in “resolve,” so instead of cutting its losses it digs in, more determined than ever to “win” what can’t be won. Justifications for staying are created, re-created and recycled; bold new “strategies” for securing peace and stability are unveiled.

Meanwhile, domestic problems mount. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, claims that the recession is over or nearly over, but Bernanke and his ilk live in bubbles protected from the hardships faced by ordinary Americans. How can the recession be anywhere near over when the unemployment rate in California is 12%?

Rest assured, the insanity will continue.