Red, White, and Oh So Blue

 Dear Blogger Formerly Known as Reformed El Windbaggo!

Your new title didn't last long! :)

And so we come to the final chapter. As I read The Illusion of America I thought how familiar it might seem to our old friend, Gibbon. I got the impression Hedges was practically quoting him on p.142, when he wrote about how we still use "the same civic, patriotic and historical language" along with "symbols and iconography" as well as "national myths, but only the shell remains."  But even more than Gibbon I was reminded of a latter day prophet's words:


"Politicians are put there to give you that idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, and they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, and the City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear." ~George Carlin

To see GC with someone else we are very familiar with on this blog, Glenn Beck (who was actually at his best when he was at CNN) click here. 

Hedges points out that none of this is really new, as we've discussed before. We just don't ever seem to learn the hard lessons as humans, do we? 


"Cultures that cannot distinguish between illusion and reality die. The dying gasps of empires, from the Aztecs to the ancient Romans to the French monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been characterized by a disconnect between the elites and reality." p.143



While I'm writing this evening I'm watching the Republican debate. Congressman Paul is making many of the same points as our author while the remaining three candidates seem to have a firm grasp on the illusion or at least a great stake in maintaining it. The fact that so few young people seem to be interested in politics, and yet Paul has such a groundswell of support among them is encouraging. Perhaps there is an awakening on the horizon. Revering the Constitution as the law of the land. There's a concept.



I had a few disagreements with Hedges when it came to what he wanted but they were the same kinds of things we wouldn't see Paul and Nader agree on. The big things are what matter most.  I thought Wollin's concept of inverted totalitarianism (p.146) was interesting. Maybe the fact that it doesn't revolve around a strong leader is why we see such a lack of any kind of leadership. We recognize something familiar on p. 148: "...inverted totalitarianism, consumer goods and a comfortable standard of living, along with a vast entertainment industry that provides spectacles and appealing diversions, keep the citizenry politically passive."


Bread and circuses. That theme just never gets old.