Gangsterism
It's not that some people are stupid (some are), it's that what any of us believe is seldom a reflection of our intelligence.
Qanon was always a bonding ritual bonding – to profess something inherently unprovable in order to become sufficiently loyal.
The more outlandish, the more incredible, the more powerful the bind. That's its purpose. To make nonsense as a way of establishing loyalty to the group.
Gang rituals
Words can be stripped of their meaning.
Say it out loud with me: Meaning. Meaning. Meaning. Meaning.
See?
For years, I’ve been reading the phrase “the Constitution is not a suicide pact.”
This morning, I can’t think of a more important maxim for the age we are entering.
The wealthy elite who have control over the US government will increasingly rely on the judicial branch to protect their illiberal, undemocratic regime.
Their goal is to remake the people’s court into a court of inherited power and unassailable privilege.
Winning elections won’t be enough. Devising careful policies that tweak the complex mechanisms of our economy won’t be enough.
Organizing communities, home by home, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city won’t be enough – unless our rejuvenation includes a profound understanding of, and commitment to, the Constitution as a living document.
"The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
In the past, this phrase has been used to justify the violation of human rights, the desecration of the values that define, broadly, the American experiment. (It was a bon mot for conservatives.)
It has typically meant a naked betrayal of Patrick Henry's ultimatum: "Take my liberty! Give me security!"
Going forward, its meaning must change.
The GOP is many things. But its ideological effect is that of a death cult. Its chief political architect is a nihilist. Their negotiating strategy is to kill the hostages one by one. Scorched earth as a domestic strategy. Infrastructure week.
For the GOP and its clients, the Constitution already is a suicide pact: their goal in seizing control over the government is to end government itself. To drown it in a bath tub.
Why? Because our government protects human beings against exploitation by recognizing that every human being has the same rights.
Whether you're rich or poor, you have the same rights. If that sounds like a put-on, that's because wealthy elites have never stopped trying to tip the scales in their favor (cf., money is speech). Taxation without representation then, gerrymandered districts today; voter suppression then, voter suppression now, etc.
Our responsibility as Americans is to defend the radical implications of the Constitution.
The beauty of this social contract is that it forced slaveholders and misogynists, seeking their self interest, to submit to rules that ultimately, inexorably, required the emancipation of slaves and full equality for women.
No BACKSIES. (That's it. That's my answer to the Federalist Society.)
The Constitution has outlasted the superstitions of its day, it has protected innovations in every sphere of human activity since then, precisely because of its radical promise.1
It is a sharp knife by which to cut through all circumstance. It is a tool, yes, but one that ensures the enjoyment of both life and liberty – not either/or.
It guarantees that all have equal access to the means for acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
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In the 1970s movies "The Parallax View" and "A Clockwork Orange", people are forced to watch streams of images that are programmed to make them a feel a certain way.
Today, we do it willingly, every time we open up Snap or Instagram. For sure, TV was a version. But I suspect the shorter duration times of modern day "streams" are making us even more susceptible to propaganda.
This is not a good thing.
All I can say for now, in passing, is that it is possible to contribute ideas, images, texts that disrupt the flow; that cause people to want to step away from the stream until they have made sense of what they have just seen.
We should all strive to do this for each other.
Deep states
Why do we like bad people? Why are fascinated by them? So much so that we give them power over us; figuratively but, also, quite literally.
Villains are like fire: a powerful destructive force. We are fascinated by them because it’s in our self-interest to understand them, in order to contain them. They have pedagogical value. Of course, how we approach them, how we describe them, is what ensures our safety.
This is why I cannot forgive this moment. Ever. And this moment reminds of so many, many, many (many) other moments I experienced, with many other people, throughout the run-up to November 2016 and beyond.
There is only one way to survive this moment: to speak clearly about the fire this time.
Some day we'll learn why Donald J. Trump likes to hurt women and children. And why he's surrounded by people like Stephen Miller, who also enjoy hurting women and children. And why they’re surrounded and supported by people who also like to hurt other people.
But let me offer a simple explanation.
Like any person driven by fear, Donald Trump wants to destroy what scares him. When he sees the powerless, he sees some intimate version of himself. Scared, vulnerable. So he must destroy the human mirror. By destroying the helpless.
Unlike some pack animals, human beings haven't survived on this planet by attacking our weakest. If we did, our children would be killed before reaching maturity and our elders would be incapable of passing on their wisdom.
Rather, human beings thrive when we are most vulnerable: by living close together, in constant, truthful communication, providing for one another's needs.
I'll end with an analogy that describes why we are so fucked right now: the success of vaccines has allowed anti-vaxxers to thrive.
Never mind MS-13 and ISIS, which are the toxic fruits of war.
A relatively long stretch of peace and prosperity in America has allowed for elevated gangsterism; widespread cults that equate ignorance with savvy, money with virtue and selfishness with success.
Consider Qanon, for starters. Or the modern GOP.
There's nothing conservative about it. It's burn it all down.
The Constitution is the answer to the question posed by the Declaration of Independence. Anyone who argues that the Constitution should serve only the appetites of the Founding Fathers is either a rich, white man himself (landed gentry, as they were) or his servant. ↩