This passage from Boing Boing got me thinking.
I think it is fair to say that the basics of what it means to be an American have been lost. Our shared American identity has been trampled on and trashed by greedy shortsighted politicians and corporate pirates out to collect some quick and dirty booty. If that is true, something that contributes to Barrack Obama’s huge popularity is the fact that he is rebuilding the basics of Americanism for all of us.
I’ll let Paul Spinrad explain:
It seems to me that every so often, the dominant political and cultural machine grows so large and incestuous that it loses its connection to people and makes them feel powerless and irrelevant. When this happens, in the West anyway, there’s inevitably a revolution of words, of back-to-basics and idealism, against the image-conscious, superficial, wealth-obsessed Babylon. Because it’s based on words, people can place their trust in it fully and spread it, and it will continue to make sense over time. It doesn’t propagate through image, might, or personal influence. This empowers people again– perhaps simply by making them feel empowered.
Big examples are the formation of Christianity and Islam, and the Protestant Reformation. Today we see other fundamentalisms. But the inevitable next one doesn’t have to be intolerant and destructive. If we engage with the task of developing it, rather than avoiding it and leaving it to others, it can be a nice one.
So let’s say President Obama’s insistence on bi-partisanship springs from this willingness to form a constructive Amercan consensus around a world view that conservatives can hold in common with liberals.
If that is the goal – I’m for it.