The Age of American Unreason

Susan Jacoby's book has been revised and updated in a post-election paperback (Vintage,2009). Inspired by Richard Hofstadler's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, this book covers the waterfront in terms of our culture wars, the fight for real science, the deterioration of our public discourse and the rise again of Christian fundamentalism. On the later, she is very good, pinpointing the re-emergence of fundamentalism as a reaction to the 1960s and she has an excellent understanding that this is not just some Third Awakening as characterized by George W. Bush but a new institutionalization of fundamentalism in all aspects of American life. She is also very good about the deterioration of our public educational system and the losing struggle for our civic culture. This is more a cultural critique than a political treatise. But she has some keen observations of how the elite foreign policy establishment, for example, has totally overlooked the role of Christian fundamentalists in shaping our Middle East policy. And if we scoff at Jan Brewer saying that God made her Governor of Arizona, Jacoby tells us we should believe that she really, honestly believes this. She provides a very necessary caution for any analysis of the Christian Right, take their statements seriously, they really do believe these things.

It's a wonderful read for her side observations. For instance, she says that her love of books came from watching two parents read and that books were always around the house. For her, books were to provide entry into the adult world. Which is what alot of parents should share with their children. Today, 4 out of 10 American adults do not even read a book a year. If books are seen as valued, maybe children would read earlier and retain that interest through their lives. Otherwise, they'll grow up believing that humans played with dinosaurs or that the Constitution was inspired by God and is dependent on the 50 states (Sarah Palin).

Jacoby is a very good observer about our Culture of Distraction and how we became so cretinistic. In many ways, this book is a good companion to Chris Hedges' Empire of Illusion. Her stints overseas as a Washington Post reporter gives her an excessive view of how cultured other countries are.

One strange fact from the book: Of all the United States Government--military and civilian--we sent to Iraq, only 6 spoke Arabic fluently. This means we waged a war for the last six years without understanding a word any of the Iraqi citizens ever said. The implications of that are mind-boggling.

If you want to pursue the issue of what went wrong with Christianity--at least its American version, read chapter 25 of Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity--the First Three Thousand Years (Viking 2010)which covers the Culture Wars from 1960 until the present day. This 1,000-page history is what used to be called magisterial.

Susan Jacoby's book explains why our lawmakers have such a hard time figuring out what our Constitution means. It's not that the population has dumbed down but also our elected representatives as well. Joe Lieberman's TEA Act--Terrorist Expatriation Act--is a great example of a proposal that is so counter to every fiber of constitutional law. Even Tan Man Boehner scratched his head about this one, saying he didn't think it was constitutional and he has supported many a anti-constitutional measure over the last decade. Or Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions' op-ed today in the Washington Post on the founders' view of the Supreme Court and why none of Obama's choices fit the criteria even though he has chosen a new pick as yet. Or Sarah Palin's comment yesterday about the constitution that I referenced above. If political leaders can't get our own heritage straight, why expect the general population to know anything about the law or the Constitution?

Today continued the hounding of the President on his anti-terrorism strategy. Even though NYPD police chief said the coordination between all arms of government was " seamless", this has not deterred conservative pundits from proposing more illegal things. Charles Krauthammer writes today that we have to change the Miranda law in this age of terrorism, even though the Times Square bomber has been talking up a storm. Krauthammer raises the possibility that maybe one of these days the terror suspect won't talk. So far in over 300 cases brought to civilian courts, every one of the accused has talked incessantly after being Mirandized. Maybe we should create a Star Chamber of conservative pundits like Marc Thiessen who would be called upon to torture the one guy that doesn't talk. For all their bluster, maybe they should be given direct responsibility for their ideas. This would give them practical experience. Ralph Peters, now a columnist for the New York Post. claims that all these misadventures are because we as a culture have appeased Muslims and we must become tough against this religion.

The Republicans are still bleating on about how after 9/11 there were no terrorist attacks on American soil. I counted about 20 since 9/11 but that includes anti-abortion killers, the Washington sniper,two envirommental terrorist attacks in the Pacific Northwest and at least one real Muslim attack. Then if we know that American diplomatic posts abroad are considered American soil, the number increases dramatically.

As for American Muslims, they're a pretty nasty bunch. Of the 14,000 murders last year in the U.S., they committed 14. They have one of the lowest crimes rates of any minority in the country. Even when you consider the Somali terrorist recruits from Minnesota and the kids from Northern Virginia and the American Muslim at Ft. Hood, this is not a vast recruiting pool for Islamic terrorists. Over 40% of the Muslim community says they are "thriving" during this time of Recession, about the same number as well-to-do white Americans. Almost all have college degrees and a plurality have more than one degree. The most upwardly mobile of the group are Muslim women.

BFD Biden was right. Today's job figures came out and 290,000 jobs were created last month, which is the largest monthly number since 2006. Yet, unemployment increased because of the expanded labor pool. This is an example of the problem I wrote about yesterday where I said even with a rapid recovery we are facing a persistant period of high unemployment. The Republicans--those great job creators--won't let you forget it. The RNC blasted off a fax today about how this level of unemployment is Obama's new normal and that all his taxes--fill in the blank--is stopping job growth and turning our economy into a European one. A few more months of these numbers and the RNC fax machine will stop on this issue.

Charlie Cook, who is a big believer in the GOP taking back the House, warned today that they are risking this by not courting the independents and moderates with their extreme right agenda. Polling numbers reveal a shrinking enthusiasm gap between the GOP and Dems but more importantly GOP-leaning Independents have cooled on today's Republicans. Only 36% say that they reflect their values--a dramatic fall from the high 70s of last year. That's why you see a Charlie Crist as an independent leading Rubio by 8 points in the Mason-Dixon poll. The same applies to Lincoln Chaffee's bid for governor of Rhode Island. As the economy heats up, some of these fissures will become apparent. Even younger Republican House members are telling Tan Man Boehner not to start measuring the drapes. I think the GOP's overt triumphalism is going to be their achilles heel.

Yesterday a Democratic blogger outlined his reasons why he didn't believe Democratic losses this year will be as bad as believed. He pointed to the 1994 elections and how Democrats misplayed their agenda and were perceived as incompetent. He also pointed to the 2006 elections and how the Republicans literally didn't have a legislative agenda and that voters rebelled at their lack of time in session. This year he says that no one can accuse Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid of being incompetent and not getting results. For that reason, he concluded that while Americans are mad at government--they often are--, that doesn't mean they want to trade the status quo in for new Republican leadership. I think that's a point well-taken. Losses yes but nothing to totally shake up the current situation. I would campaign against Tan Man--who must be the creepiest person we've seen around town in years. Even Newt at his most obnoxious never made one's skin crawl like Boehner.

TPM caught John McCain going to a fund-raising lunch at the Chamber of Commerce as the Senate debates a new camapign reform bill opposed by the Chamber. John's remarks to the ambush was to attack Labor's campaign financing, despite the fact that too would be limited. He has travelled a bridge too far.

Rev. Long Stroke Rekers was set up by "liberals" according to the religious right,because he had been an effective campaigner against gay rights. For his part, Brent Bozell claims that Obama is anti-gay for his remarks about teabaggers. He says that if Bush said the same thing about the Tea Party people he would be severely criticized.

The oil spill threatens the Redneck Rivera on the Gulf Coast and Bobby "Small Government" Jindal has sent to the Obama Administration a laundry list of aid requests to virtually bail out the entire economy of Louisiana.

The UK election is over and if you are in the least bit interested you might consult Andrew Sullivan's blog. He's the only one really interested.

Call me very skeptical about all the news reports about the Times Square Bomber wannabe. I don't believe he was actually trained and I don't believe with what has been said that he's connected to any real terrorist group. The only one who seems skeptical along with me is Rachel Maddow, who the last few nights keeps knocking all the reports down. I'm still of the belief that he did it because Chase Manhattan closed on his house.