12. Yes I'll say it. I'm optimistic about the news.
The insurgent right’s fundamental misreading of the American people will ultimately consign MAGA to the proverbial dustbin of history.
Dear readers: You may have noticed this newsletter has been gone for the better part of a year. I am happy to report I had a fruitful sabbatical, so to speak. But I’m back now, metaphorically tanned, rested and ready, so let’s get back into it.
Some good news: I'm feeling quite encouraged at the way MAGAworld keeps overplaying its hand. They’re shooting their wad prematurely and in counterproductive strategic directions.
Crusading against child labor laws. Defunding public libraries. Taking Medicaid away from millions of families. Blocking student loan forgiveness. Keeping rape victims from receiving emergency contraception. Booting out elected representatives. And that’s just one day’s worth from Rachel Maddow!
It’s like the bad guys just can't help themselves. When you give radical authoritarians a taste of power they’re going to start agitating and straining at the bit. It’s not even to achieve a particular policy objective; their goal is simply to foster an ongoing climate of fear.
The MAGAsphere’s stock in trade is attracting angry white people already near the edge, then prodding and riling them further. It’s pathology as a conscious strategy.
Well, fascists gonna do what fascists gonna do, same as it ever was. But the thing is, for all of America’s faults — and they are legion — we are still essentially a freedom-loving, live-and-let-live people. Democratic ideals have been imprinted on our consciousness for 250 years now.
While we often fail to live up to these ideals, we nonetheless continue to stumble forward toward that more perfect union invoked in the very first sentence of our Constitution.
So no, the United States is not ripe for an authoritarian takeover. The insurgent right’s fundamental misreading of the American people will ultimately consign MAGA to the proverbial dustbin of history.
And yes, I realize we are in a very difficult place. Tensions are high; we continue to find ourselves under attack on multiple fronts. Obviously, continued progress isn’t going to happen by itself. It’s going to take a generation of vigilant effort minimum to flush this particular poison from our body politic. PS: Meanwhile, our planetary body is starting to scream in pain.
So please don’t confuse me with the gender-neutral equivalent of a Pollyanna. We must fight with every peaceful means at our disposal. We must defend ourselves against the forces of darkness yet keep moving toward the light.
I believe we will. I have the atheist’s equivalent of faith.
But given the craziness spewing from the far-right, we progressives need to be asking ourselves a strategic question:
Is fire best fought with fire?
Specifically, do you believe that America’s economic, social and political reality is so irredeemable, so racist and corrupt, so fundamentally flawed, that it needs to be torn out root and branch and replaced with something better?
If your answer is yes then you, my friend, are a revolutionary, and you can see where I’m going with this. MAGAworld’s mirror-image is not a good look for you… or for our future as a species.
Please keep that in mind as we enter the 2024 election cycle.
I’m talking to you, my climate activist friends. You, my LGBTQIA peeps. And you, my Brown and Black sisters and brothers. Especially as the election nears, refrain wherever possible from attacking Joe Biden and undermining Democrats, who for better or worse (and it’s generally better) are all that stand between us and a world of shit.
The same applies in reverse to my more moderate and mainstream friends and colleagues. Support the trans community in particular, and LGBTQ rights in general. Give people their pronouns of choice. Stand with immigrants and refugees. Be an anti-racist.
Don’t follow the far-right down fake populist rabbit holes. Which brings me to…
End Note: The Sad Case of Bill Maher
I confess: Bill Maher is one of my guilty pleasures. But I just can’t go on like this any more. Bill’s bitter-bullshit to brilliant-bits ratio is deteriorating before my eyes.
I haven’t completely tuned out Real Time yet, but I can feel it coming. My current compromise is to listen only to the opening monolog on the audio podcast… and sometimes to New Rules.
Why bother at all? Maher is still one of the most exquisitely talented satirists in the business. He has an all-star team of writers, and he still makes me laugh as hard as anyone does, week in and week out.
What I studiously avoid now are the interview and panel segments that make up the interior 3/4 of his show. That’s where Bill is most likely to jump the shark, mount his anti-woke hobby horse, and rage with sympathetic guests over insufferable college students, harping feminists and whiny progressives.
It’s not that Bill’s critique of left activism is totally off-target. It’s not, and we ought to challenge authoritarianism on our own side as well. But somewhere along the way, Maher has crossed the line from crusty curmudgeon to misanthropic misogynist. He’s giving us Boomers a bad name in his senescence.
That’s all for now. I promise to be back to you sooner than last time. In the meantime, if you like what you see, please comment, share and subscribe right now!
Voice of reason, Art! Thank you for your perspectives.
I always enjoy Art's insights. And I love that he consumes so much media so I don't have to -- synthesizing it into insightful analyses that are also a pleasure to read.