The Government We Deserve

Frank Rich, in noting the passing of amateur filmmaker Robbins Barstow, writes a Requiem for the American Dream. Barstow's New York Times obituary is here. And here is Barstow's home movie, "Disneyland Dream":

The Constant Weader Comments:

Thank you, Frank, for once again laying out the big picture and putting our newfound smallness in historical perspective. The fact is that we Americans are busy making ourselves small. Who killed the Disneyland dream? We did.

The main problem is that we have become a small-minded, selfish people. Instead of pulling together for progress, we have all becomes members of narrow special interest groups: greedy geezers, anti-choice, pro-choice, immigration reformers, border defenders, gay rights advocates, defenders of "traditional" marriage, militarists, corporatists, unions, anti-unionists, corn farmers, environmentalists, mountain-top strippers, loggers, home-schoolers, religious fundamentalists, non-theists, "real" Americans, intelligentsia. We are now defined by niche greed.

None of us wants to pay for anybody else's niche. Too bad if you're poor. Sorry you're sick. Out of work? Losing your job? Want better schools? Well, those aren't MY problems.

The tax-reduction mantra, and the tax-cut law the President so proudly rammed through Congress, are symptomatic of a great American pathology. Any half-sensible person can see that tax cuts are a sure path to the defeat of the American dream. In the halcyon days of the 1950s, when the Barstow family believed (with good reason) that anything was possible, federal tax rates were nearly twice what they are now, although they were decidedly more progressive; that is, the rich paid a larger share. And the rich were not as rich. Income inequality was exponentially smaller than it is today. The Barstows' dreams were not delusional; they were possible. Not any more.

In the last election, we voted out the only hope for a better American future. Admittedly, it was mostly hope, and not a lot of change. The cartoonist Darrin Bell perhaps put it best: "We're angry nothing's changed so we vote for those who've spent two years blocking change. Is America the only country that votes sarcastically?" Bell asks.

CLICK CARTOON TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.We have a President and Congress who revel in & depend upon the status quo. I don't care what they say they believe in; I've been watching what they do. Not much. We have a large percentage of the populace who likes it that way, too. Every social or public program that doesn't directly benefit ME is "socialism." Like the politicians, the American people say they want change, but the change many want is to return, not to the hopeful 1950s, but to the oppressive 1780s. These voters are not merely catatonic; they are regressive.

Because of the intense interest over the past two years in a Congress that was proposing grand things but doing almost nothing to change the status quo, Americans saw Washington -- and the Max Baucus/Mitch McConnell Senate in particular -- for what it is: a body that is broken, a legislative body that purposely does not legislate.

Now we are about to watch a new Congress that will be even more dysfunctional. However the Senate tinkers with the filibuster rules, it still won't do much. Besides, with a small Democratic majority in the upper chamber and a solid Republican majority in the House, it would be foolhearty to expect any progress. At all.

We are doomed by the choices we have made. Congress is abominable. The President is either a fool or a charlatan. But we narrow-minded, greedy, shortsighted citizens got the government most of us deserve.