One more passage taken from the Klein book, No Is Not Enough, offered because it reflects an aspect of reality that frustrates me greatly and which I sometimes think is insurmountable because there is no way to even bring about honest discussion that might lead to the fashioning of initiatives that would be focused on bringing about something better than what existed pre-Trump, conditions better than those that led to the election of Trump. As Klein argues, saying no to Trump and what he represents is not enough. To get rid of Trumpism and all it means, something better needs to be available even if it is only a vision but at least a plausible notion of something truly good for the many who do not think what exists now, what has existed for a very long time, has not been very good to them or for them. Something led to the financial crash and the misery it caused so many and before Trump, too little was being done to alleviate that misery. It wasn’t Trump who created or alone supported that financial system and hardly anyone in power, with power stepped forth to investigate and bring about changes that would not only alleviate causes but properly compensate those whose wealth had been stolen and given in large amounts to the very people responsible for the misery.
Come on people! Isn’t it time that we study our recent history, the recent eras of arbitraging, of downsizing, of tax evasion, of law setting not for but against the people? Of bank deregulation, of megamergers. Remember how jobs were lost when the money manipulators bought companies to benefit by bankrupting them? Remember Enron and how its miracle workers were made heroes, celebrated for their business genius, models of wholesomeness and good in American society? And Goldman Sacks, remember, so prominent in the crap loan debacle and good friends to politicians who called themselves liberal?
“This is important to remember because there’s a real risk today of repeating those mistakes— of coming together around lowest-common-denominator demands such as “Impeach Trump” or “Elect Democrats” and, in the process, losing our focus on the conditions and politics that allowed Trump’s rise and are fueling the growth of far-right parties around the world. One thing we know for certain from the Bush years is that saying no is not enough.”
Klein, Naomi. No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need (p. 112). Haymarket Books. Kindle Edition.
I bought the book last weekend and I’ve got through page 147. What goes along with what you are saying is her mentioning the racist history of our capitalistic system (95-96); she says that we need to connect the dots of history (125). I’ve harped on this for some time now with very disappointing results. Perhaps people will listen to Naomi; I hope so! The brainwashing of our children to the tune of the Pledge of Allegiance: “With liberty and justice for all,” has seemed to work. After growing to adulthood, most seem to think that our elites running this nation really take that pledge seriously. However, I think differently. The mindset which committed ethnic cleansing/genocide against the Native Americans and the plantation mindset which enslaved thousands of Africans is still with us. That is, those with the power think that everything, including human-beings, are for their control and use. My point is that the killers of the Natives never thought they owed the Natives Americans anything. The plantation owners never thought they owed their slaves anything, and, now, those who have used and abused the working-class do not think they owe us anything. Hopefully people will start connecting the dots.
Indeed, there is, more important than actions, though actions do count, a mindset that is really impossible to fathom unless you have been dehumanized and dehumanization is a process the tools of which are an educational system, a particular kind of media, and all other things that go into supplanting thoughtfulness with an ideology. The turn around is hardly ever considered because the cause of the problem is rarely considered and the reason it is not considered is because to do so would be uncomfortable, a profound shift in the perspective one takes in viewing what is going on around him or her. Any change in perspective is disruptive and some, I think it is those who pursue truth, live lives regularly punctuated by disruption, disruption being provocative of the kind of thinking that makes one understand the capacities of the human mind. That said, I have found through my teaching, my correspondence, and my interactions with others, including those who were my colleagues in higher education, that few wish to tune out the propaganda that makes the reality that is seem to be the only one possible, the force that makes the truly impossible real and the possibly real impossible. So here I am, rounding the final corners in life and finding that I will, in terms of getting somewhere, find myself spinning out in the last lap and crashing against ridiculousness. I will keep chattering but behind ever word and phrase is a ghastly realization of such as it is will continue to be.