12.15.2005

Orwellian

This is my final essay for history class. I don't expect anyone will read it; I'm just trying to fill up my blog with random and senseless posts. However, if you like it and wish to cite it (somehow I doubt this) give credit where it is due, or I'll hurt you.


Totalitarianism and Economic Disparity in Modern America

Totalitarianism is a modern version of absolutist monarchial rule. It has arisen in fascist and communist states, and has been feared in the minds and hearts of American citizens, and probably the rest of the Western world. However, America has become the very type of empire which it feared for so long. How well do post-9/11 events in America match the earmarks of totalitarianism?

Pretty damn well. The Patriot Act, disguised as a way to 'keep us safe from the terrorists', has taken away our civil liberties, kicking them out the door before they've had their morning coffee. It's a sad thing to see in a country that was founded on dissent and terrorism—America has been a grand experiment in democracy since its conception. Unfortunately, Aristotle was right: Democracy, even in its highest form, is perverted.

Not only the Patriot Act is something to be worried about—other decisions and bills have made America into a fascist state. The Padilla decision vested complete power over the American population—including citizens—in the president. Jose Padilla was arrested and held in prison without a charge for over three-and-a-half years before someone brought the question before the Supreme Court of 'whether or not we can do this'. The decision of the Supreme Court was that citizens can be arrested and put in prison 'at the President's pleasure.' There is a similar practice in Canada and Britain: one can be held in contempt of court "at her majesty's pleasure", but one must be charged first and is only held for twenty-four hours. Jose Padilla is, as far as I know, still in jail without a reason.

Bush's regime is fascist—the blending of corporate and political power into one scary entity. However, one of the scarier facets of Bush's regime is the stacking of the Supreme Court with severe right-wingers. We may be able to get rid of Bush and take our nation back (a hope that many still entertain), but we'll never get rid of these guys. Supreme Court justices will be in power until they retire or die—and as Bush is choosing young Fundamentalist Christo-Fascists, we're going to have less-than-liberal decisions coming out of that court for the next fifty to sixty years. That tyranny will last the lifetime of my generation.

Other practices, such as renditions, torture, and secret prisons, have been in practice in America for over twenty years by the CIA and other such organizations. This is nothing new, except that now we know about it.

Bush's alliance with Halliburton and other oil companies as well as the Carlyle Group gives him complete rule over our source of energy and our media and information technology. Our communications are monitored, what we see as news is controlled, and songs like "Walk Like An Egyptian" or "New York, New York" are banned from radio stations owned by Clear Channel. Al Gore has figured out that the way to get the country back is to start his own television station—which he has done. It can be seen on the internet, the last standing place to get information.

Glorification of war is another hallmark of totalitarianism—or at least fascism. The War in Iraq has been called the 'fight between good and evil' and many soldiers think of it as a 'war for Jesus'. What better way to glorify war than to say it's either Us or Them (thank you, Mussolini)? It stirs patriotism (fancy word for nationalism) in even the most anarchic of our citizens, and adds to a drive to support the war effort. This pushes the gap between rich and poor open wider: rampant warmongering leads to rampant consumerism, and drives people to buy things to prove their patriotism. As well, you don't see rich people's kids going off to war. There is a belief in this society that rich people are inherently better than poor people, simply because of the economic disparity. We're obsessed with celebrities and want to be like them; everything is about the almighty dollar; everything we do is to 'make it big'. The intelligent person forced into mindless work because of a lack of funds for higher training brings a gun to work because he just can't take it anymore; the bright student mocked for her abilities because of her appearance or background shows her classmates what real pain is when she finally snaps and finds grandpa's arsenal. If one isn't rich or pretty, one isn't worth it.

In totalitarianism, war is a constant state—in 1984, Oceania was either at war with Eastasia or Eurasia and allied with the other. Bush has refused to give an exit date for Iraq, and the Army is having trouble finding recruits. The possibility of a draft looms on the horizon. In reality, this war is the same war we've been locked into for a century. World War I didn't solve anything and led to World War II. World War II, in turn, solved some problems but created others, leading to the Cold War. Then, because of our fear of the soviets, the CIA trained people in Afghanistan to fight off Russia—those trainees of ours became the Al-Qaeda, which is now terrorizing our nation. American citizens are banging their heads against a wall—or they would be, if they were informed of any of this (or had you as a teacher). We're going around in circles—these wars (this war) solve nothing, and just create more conflict, misery and waste.

Bush obviously subscribes to the idea of the Divine Right of Presidents—he believes that "God told him to invade Iraq". Alliance with religion is another warning bell—though not necessarily a hallmark of Orwellian societies. The "God made me do it" reason is an excuse, a justification, of his need for revenge on Saddam for trying to kill his daddy and his need to control the oil in the world. Of course, this is all conjecture—Bush could be just a puppet, ruled by his seconds-in-command, who are the real world leaders. I frankly don't know what's scarier.

Marx said that economic disparity [thru class struggle] drives history. What is driving the war in Iraq? The gap between the haves and have-nots? Or the looming end of easy oil and ridiculous consumption by only 5 per cent of the world's population—us? Victory in Iraq means a monopoly over Middle-Eastern oil for a country that consumes too much.

Economic disparity has always driven the survival of human beings—in the dawn of our race, 'economy' meant 'food source'. Difference in food source led to wars and migrations on the part of our ancestors; as economies and money-systems developed disparity there drove the events in human history. Marx held that all politics were class struggle arising out of economic disparity. I don't think he could have foreseen the advent of globalism, best described by the phrase "think globally, act locally" Globalism is taking hold in the thoughts of many people today. Never before have we heard a cry to not be a "have" nation, to back off from "progress" and consumption. For example, in China workers are rioting because the policies of their country are ruining the ecosystem. They want to go back to more sustainable agriculture. Marx never would have imagined that. The "haves" and the "have-nots" want the same thing: demonstators at the World Trade Organization Summit wanted a sustainable ecosystem as well.

Currently, economic disparity is driving totalitarianism in this state. Money talks, and it seems that all the rich people are the conservative right-wingers. The richest people, of course, do not want to give up what they have—today's landed aristocracy wants to keep the status quo.

The gap between the haves and the have-nots, both within the US and among nations, is large and dangerous, and drives the glorification of war. Army recruiters target poor areas, because the appeal of a group that will pay one's way through college is great when one is on welfare or otherwise mired in poverty. In the Iraq War, already more than two thousand of these kids didn't live to use their college education, because they died in senseless war before their tour was up. In Iraq, 'insurgents' are really just mad about the theft of their oil, government, country, and way of life. The need for Fascist America to police the world has ripped away what they held sacred, impoverished them, and driven their need to drive us out. Just as the world did nothing when Hitler invaded Poland, so the world is doing nothing when Bush invades Iraq. So far the War in Iraq has cost 226 billion American dollars—funds that could have been used to get everyone off welfare, to fund finding an alternative to oil, to fund the educational system so teachers don't live hand-to-mouth and kids get a good grounding in not only world politics but also sexual relations, or to give every American healthcare. Instead, the government is more concerned with keeping us cowed with either fear or patriotism and giving healthcare to Iraqis. (Not that I don't think they shouldn't get it—but I do think that we need to start at home.)

Keeping us cowed with fear and patriotism drives our need to consume—when you watch television, that's all it is: fear and consumption, fear and consumption, in an endless cycle. "Killer bees attack; go buy duct tape." No wonder Wal-mart is so big—our very media, the ones who are supposed to bring us the truth, do nothing but fuel our desire to spend. And by spending, we are funding the war effort and the ones who keep this country under an iron thumb of Christo-Fascist b.s. $226 billion is the wedding ring that holds together the sacred fascist union of government and big business—in which government is the bitch. Except that this wife doesn't cook and clean up after her husband—she lets him do what he pleases to her household, destroying the environment with his dirty laundry and leaving bottles of toxic waste around the living room of the world. His depleted uranium is left to poison the children of tomorrow, and the wife goes and plays bridge with her friends, ignoring her children's cry for help. Doctor Mom has become Doctor Kevorkian. The American Empire needs euthanasia.

What many don't realize is that even if we do get a complete monopoly on oil in the world, our way of life is coming to an end. If we stop consuming as much as we do—I'm talking a ninety per cent decrease by 2030—it will be a gentler end than the alternative. If we don't cut back consumption, our society will collapse into total chaos.

Totalitarianism and economic disparity go hand in hand in today's world, fueling a warmongering state and a gap between haves and have-nots. Class struggle is as big an issue today as it was a century ago—with not as clearly defined classes. Today's landed aristocracy—or corporate big-wigs and conservative rich families—want to keep the status quo, and the impoverished 'left' do what we can to stop that. Like it or not, the status quo has to change—and while their god may come with a rapture option, mine doesn't. If we're going to do something, it must be done quickly, before we're living in Orwell's Airstrip One or Huxley's Brave New World, and it's too late to change anything. The time is now.