Debate has now coalesced around Rep. Bachmann stumbling into egging the media into looking for anti-Americans in Congress. Are we on the verge of another McCarthy scare? But, that misses the real issue, which is the consistent vilification of liberals (“the left”) as anti-American. Chris Matthews tried to pin her down on this, but she evaded that question. We should not let her off the hook, because the ironic truth is that the extreme right is, in fact, anti-American.
It is exactly people like Bachmann who have the deepest and most abiding hatred for what American is at its core: a liberal democracy, founded by liberals to permanently prevent the forces of repression from turning our country into a dictatorship of the rich and powerful. They conflate defense of the established societal order with patriotism. This is anathema to those of us who believe in core American principles as embodied in the Constitution and want to continue the tradition in this country of a free society where everyone can speak their piece.
Bachmann is anti-American. Her call to the press to go looking for un-American thought in Congress is a misdirection (perhaps unconscious) that would take us away from looking at the stark truth about her and her beliefs.
The political right is anti-American. Take a look at what they believe and compare it with American values:
Right-Wing Thought: There are specific people (basically white people) that constitute the core of American society, and defending that group of people from anyone outside the country and anyone outside that ethnic group is patriotism.
Right-Wing Thought: The unrestrained market is a sign of personal worth. Therefore, any money you get in the market belongs only to you and should not be taken for any reason. You have no responsibility for paying for a functioning modern society, and you can take advantage of the services it provides without paying for them. You can take anything you want from the commons without responsibility for the effects.
Right-Wing Thought: It is okay for the government to use any means at its disposal to look for things that might inconvenience American citizens. It can spy on anyone, regardless of whether there is a specific reason for suspecting them of evil activity or not. It is okay to bend or break the law as laid out in the Constitution or federal statutes if it poses any inconvenience in looking for problems. Anyone who disagrees with government policy is anti-American, and should be censored. Dissent is criminal because it could hurt the established order.
Right-Wing Thought: It is okay for the executive to take and hold people in prison, and to torture them, for any reason without review by an independent authority. Personal rights, civil rights, human rights are secondary to protecting society. Our society is weak and easily undermined, so we have to be vigilant and counter every threat, no matter how small, with overwhelming power.
Right-Wing Thought: There’s one, true religion and it wants you to adhere to a very strict code of personal conduct. If you violate any of this seemingly rather ad hoc set of standards, then you are a threat to society and should lose your rights. However, if you’re part of the in-group and you violate the code of conduct, anyone in authority can forgive you and like magic, you’re back in.
What would an American think? First of all, to be an American means to believe in the core principles of our country. These principles are embodied in the Constitution. There are about two dozen core principles, including:
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
- Protection from Legal Proceedings Not Supported by Probable Cause
- Freedom from Fishing Expeditions
- Rule of Law
- Equal Protection Under the Law
- Freedom from Unfair Use of the Law
Anyone who doesn’t believe in these principles is, literally, anti-American. They don’t believe in the core principles of our society, the core principles of what it means to be an American. But right-wing thought does not accept these principles, or limits them to people who are part of the in-group. It says that you can speak freely as long as you are one of the leaders of the Republican Party. In that case, you have the right to be a “maverick” and say things that others disagree with. But if you are outside the leadership group, you are supposed to curb your enthusiasm and observe message discipline. You have no right to speak freely because that might undermine the country.
Right-wing politics is about how to control the country without observing democracy. The right wing believes that the President can do anything he wants, regardless of what Congress directs, regardless of settled law, because he is responsible only to elite, right-wing forces. Congress represents the democratic will of the people, so right-wing thought is that Congress is secondary to the President. This is exactly contrary to what the framers wanted from the Constitution and what they told the people in the Federalist Papers in order to get it passed. The Constitution puts Congress first (in Article I) because the framers considered power to come from the people. So, Congress is first among equals in the structure of our government.
Not surprisingly, right wing beliefs are diametrically opposed to what liberals believe. Liberals believe in the core principles of American society, as embodied in the Constitution. You will not find liberals arguing for the suspension of habeas corpus, spying on people without warrants, or giving the President unlimited authority to do whatever he wants.
Why does the political right have such a warped view of how society should function? Because it isn’t designed to help the country or society as a whole. It’s intended to support the position of the rich establishment.
When your political philosophy is designed to keep one group up at the disadvantage of others, it’s anti-American. But that’s the whole point of right-wing philosophy. It’s a conscious attempt to keep the country from progressing and developing. It’s intended to keep things largely as they are, to the detriment of those who are being exploited. There is nothing more anti-American than this.
And to do that, it warps morality to its own purposes. It will gladly subvert the rule of law to protect very special interests. It will ignore and distort the plain rights of others to protect the money and power of those it favors. It’s entirely short-sighted, ignoring the needs of other countries and the environment to the point of undermining long-term interests of the country.
Message to Chris Matthews: You blew it. You let her off the hook without getting to the core of the controversy. The first question was the right one: Are the left wing, the liberals, anti-American? Michelle, are they? The answer is that she thinks we are, that we hate the country, that we are trying to harm it. But the truth is, it’s people exactly like Bachmann that are really anti-American. If the media starts looking for “anti-American” members of Congress, they can start with her.