Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Remembering a Positive Future

The first time American voters broke my heart was in 1968, when they voted in Richard Nixon. He was a red-baiting racist hater, whose right-wing politics were as ugly as that guilty scowl he wore. I couldn’t believe that Nixon, oh fucking Nixon was elected.
 
It was much like today, where the Democrats weren’t all that much better. In the streets we were chanting “Hey, Hey LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?” Dry Balls Humphrey was the Democrats’ more-of-the same candidate, so the country went for Nixon, the right-wing asshole, whose lying lips promised a “secret plan to end the war.” That, as you might expect, turned out to be a huge escalation in bombing, the invasion of Cambodia, and the rest.
 
Many stepped up to join the movement, in one aspect or another, and the battle raged on many militant fronts. Here’s how it turned out: Although he initially very heavily escalated the war against Viet Nam, eventually Nixon had to shut the war down with a complete American retreat. Nixon also ended the Draft.
 
Nixon presided over the defeat of 30 years of US foreign policy against China. After the US couldn’t beat China on the battlefields of Korea, our policy had been to isolate China using trade embargos, and preventing China from joining international organizations, like the United Nations. That all finally fell apart under President Nixon, and China burst out of the box. Nixon even looked defeated when he was over there shaking Mao’s hand, heh, heh, “opening China.” We also got détente with the Soviet Union under that Republican Nixon, and the first nuclear arms deals (SALT I and then the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty).
 
Domestically, the Nixon years saw the beginning of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), passage of the Clean Air Act, the initiation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Environmental Policy, which required environmental impact statements for Federal projects. Meanwhile, the Federal government continued to enforce desegregation in the South, as we were struggling to put the death knell to Jim Crow. You can bet that none of those victories were right-wing agenda items!
 
For our side, fighting wasn’t easy. Nationalism, and all sorts of divide and conquer are tough things to go up against. Hardhats against hippies. White against black. The Black Panthers were being gunned down, African Americans were oppressed, but they weren’t the only ones who suffered from the effects of racism. For a while in those days it wasn’t uncommon in Chicago for the police to drop white activists off into ghettos ruled by the Blackstone Rangers, a black gang. Nobody official cared what happened next. I was in a vet’s group with a Native American Army stockade guard. He was used by the prison administration to beat up white anti-war prisoners, which he willingly did, because of the hatred he had developed while growing up in racist America.
 
Divide and conquer was--and is--the low road, and it’s ugly. Like today, all too many people back then bought in to the scowl. But many more came to our side. The Army became unreliable, the country all but ungovernable. Nixon finally resigned in disgrace. We kept détente, and the nuclear treaty. We welcomed China, pushed the last helicopters into the seas off Viet Nam. We still have OSHA and the EPA, and Rock n Roll is here to stay.
 
The Nixon years are proof that we can win great victories after losing an election. Trump is all about divide and conquer, all about the scowl. Michael Moore, the lefty film maker, described Trump as a hand grenade thrown into mainstream politics by disgruntled voters. I kind of think that's a good analogy. If Clinton had won, we would have had four more years of stalemate on domestic policy, and a more hawkish foreign policy, but the legions of Democratic Party faithful would have stood down, making it hard to build a movement that really pushes things in a positive direction.
 
Trump makes shifty-eyed Nixon look honest, but we are way ahead of where the movement was at this point back in the 60s. For one thing, it’s not jocks against the peaceniks any more. The message coming out of American sports is the high road; of inclusion, team spirit, and racial unity. Some professional athletes are leaders of today’s movement.
 
Lately, my wife and I have been watching the Seattle Seahawks football games each week at our neighbor's house. A couple games back, the Hawks were defensively on the one yard line, which they are famous for defending. The other team was first and goal, which meant they had 4 tries to move the ball that final yard. The Seattle defensive line held, try after brutal try. The team motto of "defend every blade of grass" was in play here and through shear force of will, the Hawks kept them from scoring. That's the attitude being bantered about in Seattle with regard to Trump.
 
We are, I think, moving into a period of dramatically increased struggle with the possibility of significant progress. Historically, it seems that high points in movement foment are accompanied by leaps in art and culture as well. I can just feel the 60s coming on again. We didn't win every struggle back then, but my generation really did change the political landscape, even with a Republican president. Tough as it was, we proved it can be done. Many paid a price, but we had a great time doing it.
 
You know, in some ways, being an activist in my early years gave me a purpose, made me feel my life was dedicated to something bigger than myself. I'm pretty sure WW II did the same thing for my father’s generation. Things have been building up these last few years and now the Battle for the Soul of America might well give today’s youth that sense of sacrificing for something bigger, which would be a good thing for society in general, and a great benefit for the individuals involved. I feel like my life meant something, that I made a difference. That's a good feeling, and I wish it on the youth of today. They face many challenges and probably need all the good feelings they can get.