The (Debatable) Republican Imagination 4 of 4

Upon Further Reflection:

Regarding opposing ideas and policies of Republicans and Democrats, Ed Kilgore, in TPM, has provided an excellent survey.

I’ve been thinking (pages 1, 2, 3) about the Republican imagination of life, as exhibited by the stories and major images used by that Party’s 11 main candidates for the presidency.

Wondering what in the world I mean by that? Please see my “Note on Method.”

On this final page of this episode I’ll offer some aspects of the Republican imagination of life that seem to me to be permeating and controlling patterns, i.e. life, for them, has this deep and pervasive look and feel, especially at its most politically urgent.

But first I want to mark the image that was foisted on the candidates and the TV audience by CNN (and maybe was agreed to by the Party?) and which some candidates affirmed and others tried, in various ways, to resist. If we think of dogs fighting, with teeth and growling and yelping, sometimes blood, and when arranged as a sport for gambling, death, CNN set us up to be entertained by a “dogfight.” They introduced it as if it was a sport like wrestling or hockey, but they conducted it to provoke a fight. They figure that their audience enjoys imagining it that way (and after all it’s TV). I, for one, didn’t find it entertaining. But then, I don’t have a dog in this fight. But most important, CNN did the country a disservice by encouraging voters to imagine a highly important political contest in terms of physical combat.

But there was little disagreement about these, received and shared, motifs:

Nostalgia—the imagination of a past Golden Age. Mark Twain, a border Southerner who grew up among slaves, wrote that the ideology of the Plantation South was provided by its mostly widely read fiction, The Waverly Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott about a lost, noble and heroic, Golden Age (of Scotland). After the Civil War, this image became the lost, noble and heroic, paradise of Antebellum (not anti-bellum) Plantation Society (with its “Old Black Joe” and “Mammy“). The image today is of a longing for glory and a desperate desire to regain…  [2-22-24 Wow, soon to be “Make America Great Again” for folks who are dissatisfied with life, and angry about it.] 

Power—this is armed power (not strong enough in 1865), which is the only part of government and governing that Republicans imagine positively. On the local level it means police, and to some extent the broader justice system, which should be used to keep order, control undesirable peoples, and protect property; on the national level it means the military, which should be used to dominate opposing governments and protect and promote corporate interests. [2-22-24 And if Trump gets a second term, used to oppose/kill the opposition in the streets.]

Business—the making of deals between High Flyer competitors, who heroically maintain, within a cut throat, dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, Spenserian-Darwinian existence, an established order of corporate interaction, in order to produce and accumulate wealth, as an extension of power. It is a higher calling than service in government, because it is directly, proactively productive, while government is a necessary nuisance (for reasons stated).

Security—the sense of being protected from people who threaten (and they are legion). They threaten me because they want the life that I have; but they aren’t capable of doing what is required in order to have such a life, or at least they aren’t willing to do what it takes. If they did what I have done, they would have a life such as mine, and furthermore that would show that they are worthy of it; but they don’t and they aren’t. I make what I am, and they are trying to take it away from me. It’s always… [2-22-24 Great Replacement Theory:  Whitefolks are being replaced by alien vermin who are “poisoning the blood” (Trump) of true America.]

Us or Them, those Others—they’re not like me, they’re not like us. They have different values. They don’t see straight. They can’t control themselves. They do the worst things imaginable. Some of them seem even less than fully human.

Indeed the country is being overrun by unworthy profligates, and recently there have been enough of them who have been allowed to vote that they have put an Unworthy into the Presidency. That was a surprise, both times; but it is not surprising that he has miserably failed. Everywhere and at everything. He was born to fail. Now, more than ever, America needs Republicans (but might be too ignorant to realize it).

Respect—in a world in which I am not respected for what it is about me that shows that I deserve respect—my money, power, and nobility/skin color—it’s no wonder that those people have no respect for life itself. I know, because I am godly, and God so loves the world, when life begins; and we, Republicans, will not tolerate threats, under any circumstances. For the protection of life, those wayward, ignorant, self-serving, irresponsible, callous (even vicious) people must be controlled. [2-22-24 Supremacist white Christian nationalism.]

Women—should be respected, and are respected when they respectfully live as God planned.

So, what have I left out?  [Update: I should have mentioned the Republican inclination to believe that they always have “enemies,” not just opponents, and that the solution is to destroy, or at least achieve unconditional surrender.  I think that this is an aspect of a “death cult” imagination, and another is their refusal to consider any regulation of guns, in the face of horrendous shootings.]

At this point I see three possible interpretations of the second debate and the socio-political content of the patterns of imagination that it revealed:

1) The Republican Party and CNN thought they could entertain us by lining up 11 candidates—speaking mainly on behalf of paranoia, narcissism, and hucksterism—in front of an airplane and goading them into arguing with each other.

2) Actually, I’ve told my story of them, not theirs (but using their material).

3) One of our major political parties is fundamentally narcissistic, pays almost no attention to ordinary people, dislikes democracy, detests foreigners, and soils its diaper with fear and greed.

I’m thinking it’s All of the Above; but then, that’s my bias (and my image).

At any rate, don’t forget to breathe.