America, we have a problem. But, the trials we face as a culture will not be solved by flipping a political switch back to a Democrat or any other political party. Our problems go far deeper than the occupant of the chair behind the Resolute Desk. They are far deeper than draconian cuts to the Federal workforce by a slash-and-burn billionaire whose concern is limited to his bottom line. It is far deeper than the MAGA movement with its racism and xenophobia. It is even deeper than the divisions and suspicions growing between the USA and our former allies worldwide. Yes, America, we have a problem!
But this is not a new problem. We stepped back from this abyss in the 1950s when the problem surfaced the last time. Back then, our culture was drifting back toward its racist, xenophobic past with the McCarthy Hearings. Despite reeling from the threat of nuclear annihilation, post-WWII America got a taste of the good life, driven by the GI Bill. America rediscovered how “exceptional” we were when compared to the rest of the world that needed us to save them from fascism.
Believing that we were incredibly blessed by God, we declared that our Pledge of Allegiance needed to include “... under God….” We printed "In God We Trust" on our currency. That same burst of pride extended to cities that red-lined districts to keep out those elements (POC) who would lower the value of their newly mortgaged houses financed with the FHA. The nuclear family was clearly understood as the only real family, and women knew their place in the kitchen. Television promoted this post-WWII America as the greatest country to have ever existed. Patriotism, meaning American First, came across small screens with flag-waving movies and series. And, if you didn't "Love it," then you had only one other choice, "Leave it." We learned that politics alone could not solve our drift into this abyss. Eisenhower tried. But the John Birch Society and the KKK would not be denied their time and place, center stage in the “American Century!” Our age-old sickness of hubris and hatred of diversity, equity, and inclusion came to the surface. But the antidote arrived in the late 1950s and 1960s, bubbling up from the barrios, slums, and other communities that sheltered the oppressed.
It began in the ghettos, in the churches of minority groups, and in the communities that gathered around our colleges and universities. These diverse people wrote music expressing their sorrows and hope in the values that foster life. They shared poetry and preaching that helped us declare these values and look beyond their moment to a new day. They wrote books that offered clear statements of these values and envisioned a path into the future. Women, who earlier would have been called suffragettes, gathered behind the banner of feminism. African Americans gathered behind men and women who were the spiritual children of Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and W. E. Dubois. Young people brought their passion and energy out of the coffee houses and into the streets, where they proclaimed "Flower Power" and "Power to the People." Native People started listening to Vine Deloria and Dennis Banks, who carried the passion of Geronimo and Sitting Bull into a new day. Through the 1960s and 1970s, this synergy of ideas, a passion for freedom, and the cries for justice coalesced into what was eventually called "The Countercultural Revolution." This ongoing and ever-evolving movement is driven by a group of values and ideals that embrace the hopes and dreams of a generation of people. The revolutionaries, past and present, are driven by a deep commitment to make a difference, relying on love and rejecting all forms of power-mongering. They declare their opposition to the "Man" with music, chants, art, and speeches that clearly communicate their values and ideals. They challenge the racism, injustice, and segregation of post-WWII America. This is the antidote to what ail
s us, and it continues to work, engaging us all in the ongoing fight for justice and equality!
America has made remarkable progress in the 50 years since the Revolution began. We pushed the former John Birchers underground, where they licked their wounds and nurtured their own vision of an America that would take us back to their “good old days.” Barriers to voting for women and POC were torn down. Women were granted the right to make decisions about their health without the consent of their fathers or husbands. Equal opportunity laws were enacted in employment, housing, and education. Public acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights to live their lives in public, including marriage, grew exponentially. As social progress took hold and the many liberation movements began to erode the hold that the WASP Males held in political, economic, educational, religious, and other social institutions, a broader segment of the American People became uneasy. When the uneasiness became dissatisfaction, this broader segment of Middle America began listening to the voices of the reactionaries that were amplified by talk radio and Fox News. This progress should make us proud and optimistic for the future!
The wealthiest Americans began to promote a return to laissez-faire capitalism and lifted a second-rate TV star turned politician to the national stage from his post as president of the Screen Actors Guild via the California Statehouse. The presidential mouthpiece of the oligarchs, Ronald Reagan, promoted the mythology of trickledown economics that convinced this dissatisfied midsection of America that if we took care of the top 1%, then the wealth would trickle down into their bank accounts and they could become millionaires, themselves. He convinced us that the government was the problem. Taxes on the wealthy drained away Middle America’s share of the wealth. Regulations on industry and business made it harder for the uber-rich to make enough money to share with the middle and lower classes. The Counter Revolution had begun to gain traction. As the standard of living began to drop, the middle class began to shrink, and the old voices of racism and injustice were amplified even more by the growing use of a new technology called the internet.
The Countercultural Revolutionaries of the 1980s doubled down, ignoring the lessons their parents had learned in the 1960s. They became shrill, further alienating society's broad and vulnerable middle section. The next 30 years saw the message of freedom becoming lost in demands for more. Less attention was spent on bringing the broad middle along with them. They began talking in their own language to one another, no longer concerned with communicating with anyone outside of their shrinking circle. They had tasted power and wanted more. Many preferred being seen as properly progressive rather than effective agents of social change. By the 2010s, the oligarchs and their puppets in the GOP had begun seriously eroding the gains of the Revolution.
Then along came an amoral opportunist who saw a way to divide the country and claim a power not seen in the US in many, many years. After switching parties to the GOP, he relied on a political theory that was applied to Germany in the 1930s. You know the rest of the story. The division worked, and the oligarchs found a new mouthpiece to advance the same old mythology. The Counter Revolution fell silent, waiting for the energy to burst forth again and continue the job that was most recently employed in the 1960s.
The Countercultural Revolution will not find its rebirth in a politician. If so, the last presidential election would have turned out differently. No, our problem goes much deeper. This is a battle for the values and vision of America, just as it was in the late 1950s. We must recapture our values and vision of who we can be and then change the heart of middle America with that hope.
How can we do that? Politics is only a small part of the solution because political leaders follow cultural change. They do not lead it. They follow the leading of those who vote for them. We need to recruit those voters for the continuing countercultural Revolution. All the revolutionaries had in the 1950s were a few core values. But those core values were enough to birth a movement. How do we help rebirth this movement, especially in Middle America?
Here are a few ideas to consider as you look for your role in this latest iteration of the Revolution.
First, we must admit that MAGA accurately represents American Culture! MAGA is our culture! It is who we are and have been since we first landed on these shores 400 years ago. It was the culture that spawned the counterculture of the 60s. Our current struggles are not new. The current crop of counterrevolutionary leaders in the White House and Congress are not leading us forward. They are dragging us back into the darkest days of the American experiment when women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and immigrants were denied the rights that WASP males enjoyed. We are engaged in a cultural revolution against the same powers and principalities that prevented Americans from finding their best selves. We are the latest generation to take up the banners of freedom for all.
Second, we need to continue the countercultural Revolution against MAGA. We do not have to invent the Revolution; we only have to continue it. We already have half of the country on the side of the Revolution! And another 10 –20 % are ready to join if we can declare our values in ways that they can hear it! Listen to the Beatles if you are confused about what those values were. It is time for our poets and songwriters, comedians and screenwriters, preachers and college professors to share the words of Revolution that have become part of the American counterculture of the last 50 years. And then encourage new voices to pick up the mantle and declare their vision of what America can be. Just as the third wave of feminism extended the work of the suffragettes and their successors, we need a new generation of counterrevolutionaries to build on the successes of their grandparents.
Third, we need to identify and isolate the voices that keep the countercultural voices from coming together. We need to become better at translating what the oligarchs and counterrevolutionaries are really saying by their words and actions. We need to avoid temper tantrums expressed in rhetoric. Our task is to help that 10-20% see through the MAGA fog. We must speak plainly without the hype of exaggeration. We must point out the underlying values that support the counterrevolutionaries' words and actions, exposing them for what they are. Yep, they have no clothes, and we need to point that out at every turn. Their own words and actions are enough to turn the tide against them and toward freedom. We must speak the truth in love without fear or hyperbole.
In my next blog, I will go into more detail about how we can take up the challenge and continue the Revolution. For now, I hope you see that you can make a difference. You can be part of the rebirth of a revolution that has stalled in the last few decades. We are a people who love freedom for all. We still believe that the words of the Declaration of Independence are true. We have a vision of an America that is beyond oligarchs and laissez-faire capitalism. Please read the next blog, where I will share some things that each of us can do to be part of the continuing counterrevolution. Join the Revolution!
Yes, America, we have a problem. But the good news is that you can be part of the solution!
Bob
