Because You Never Asked

WHAT DOES NEWT REALLY BELIEVE?

     (This essay was written in 1995 and is the second in a series beginning with the essay “A ‘Newtered’ America”.)

     There is one all-encompassing, overriding factor that should never be forgotten in analyzing what the “Newt-Rush” animal is up to: its foundation, its center of gravity, its Holy Grail, its most deeply set, thickly grown root from which all else grows, is a persistent, methodical attempt to have private business interests operate under the least amount of public scrutiny, while paying the least amount of taxes. There are times when this serves the public interest and times when it doesn’t, but that doesn’t interest the “animal” all that much.

     If we examine the core of everything the Republicans have put forth in 1994, we see it is all a smokescreen, a diversionary tactic meant to camouflage this knee jerk, primal conservative concern. Calls for an immediately balanced federal budget, crusades against unfunded federal mandates, lower taxes, decentralized power, block grants to the states, the constant deregulatory bitching, etc., all give the private sector a field to run on with less and less defenders. The would be tacklers are being clipped, held, grabbed by the face mask and pushed aside without a penalty flag in sight. The business community is running to “paydirt” and disguising it all under a withering barrage of anti-government rhetoric.

     Strangely enough --- and I say “strangely” because the “Newt-Rush” animal is currently riding a delirious wave of upbeat emotion --- I see a quintessentially pessimistic philosophy in play. It is an attitude that, contrary to their self serving Gospel, has very little faith in the human character. They believe the only way to improve the human condition is to set us all against each other in fevered commercial combat, in an all out, no holds barred struggle to earn dollars and accumulate things. The closely held dancing partner to this concept is the unquestioned belief that “success” in this forum is conclusive proof of one’s superiority, while “failure” is self perpetrated and not worthy of pity. As they see it, by competing for all the spoils of this business activity, we will push ourselves on to greater heights, and, indirectly, as a bi-product of this behavior, improve our lives. What they never seem to see (chances are, they’d rather not) is that another significant bi-product of this concept is the increasing amounts of social problems this overly-competitive, self centered, every-man-for-himself outlook is creating.

     So called progressive people have much more faith, much more optimism in the potential of our species to do good. There is a belief that we can look our problems right in the eye and directly attack them in a cooperative way. This is where government comes in. When it performs in an inefficient, wasteful, ineffective way, we should look to improve it, but we should never abandon the idea that our government, representing us in an altruistic search for an improved human condition, is a concept beyond our reach. If we do, we are throwing in the towel by allowing the “market” dictatorial rule over our spiritual and material well being, a risky move indeed. I don’t think it will be long before the supposed inefficiency of government will once again seem desirable when compared to the amorality-immorality of the free market. (The free market has no “morality”). For example:

     With Newt and his court in control, it is safe to say that one of the first shrines of progressive thought to be dismantled will be anything having to do with ecology. In spite of the whimsied ga ga we hear about balancing business interests with environmental concern, it is becoming more evident that these two points of view --- like Tweety and Sylvester, pitchers and batters, desserts and waistlines --- have become traditional enemies which “Newt’s World” increasingly antagonizes. The plain truth is that Newt and his gang of wise guys, like religious non-believers that scoff at the concept of God, don’t believe in ecology. As long as there is money to be made, you’ll have to show them “Soylent Green” before they’ll change their ways. They think ecology is a lot of hooey; that the air is being breathed, the water is wet, there are plenty of trees, lots of animals, what are all these tree-hugging, furless faggots getting all riled up about? For them, a huge expanse of freshly paved tarmac filled with the cars of eager shoppers is far more beautiful than the forest, meadow or marsh that was there before they built the K-Mart, the Walgreen’s, the Publix, the Shoney’s and the Blockbuster Video. C’mon, let’s go shopping!

     Speaker Gingrich would have us believe his vision is something new, even “revolutionary”. He calls for us to totally rethink everything, as if he has something astoundingly new to offer. This is an interesting spin to put on a policy which seems copied from Herbert Hoover. This is a lot of

     bull!

     The buying and selling of goods and materials we need or simply want, is neither a new idea nor a bad one. However, in the last fifty years, with the advent of television, the greatest commercial tool ever created, this concept has been recklessly accelerating its psychic conquests (see essay “Consumerism, T.V., and Europe”). As stated previously in this mass of dubious philosophical patter, this commercial activity has done us a lot of good, but it might be time to put a leash on it rather than set loose a now rabid dog (see essay “Technology”). This commercial beast has become an insatiable predator stalking us all. We must be careful with it, not just in an economic or ecological sense, but emotionally, spiritually and morally as well.

     Relevant Material: “Success and failure don’t exist, Greg, they are inventions of the gringos.” From the novel, “El Plan Infinito” (The Infinite Plan), by Isabelle Allende.         

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Email: JerryG@postcman.info