In case you don’t remember or never knew, the Maginot Line
was a famous French delusion after WW I that if they built a seventy mile long defense
line on their border with Germany they would be invulnerable while maintaining their
own superiority. Instead of working to
create an equitable balance among European nations for an enduring peace the Maginot
line was built that continued the confrontation. Every possible military and technical device
was installed in the line, further fortified by French convictions about their
cultural and moral superiority. The
combination of moral virtue plus military power seemed unconquerable.
Nevertheless the day of grand disillusionment came. On May
10th 1939 the German blitzkrieg-style attack simply went around the Maginot
line with high speed motorcycle brigades and light tanks, trapped the British army
at Dunkirk, and within a month marched through the streets of Paris.
A similar delusion seems to stalk both political parties
today. The grave danger to U. S. stability is composed less by the rivalry between
the presidential candidates than by their shared national delusion about
America’s God-given exceptionalism. Both parties repeatedly pronounce the U. S.
to be great; greater than all others; headed for greater greatness! Although warned in Michelle Obama’s speech Tuesday
evening about the centuries of White racial superiority baked into American
culture, that her family lived in a “White” house built by slaves, it appears
to have done little to deter the preening delusion of a special American contract
with God.
The net result is that for the Democrats it has become
inconceivable that they could lose in November. So much political organization partnered
with God cannot fail! They also hope their skillful
oratory (setting Bill Clinton loose to go on forever on the second night) will provide
cover for the large failings of the Obama years in spite of its several successes
and the President’s oratorical prowess. The Trump followers do not hear these Democrat
speeches which have become illegible to them in any case. Instead they see what
Sanders’ followers see:
·
the failure to prosecute a single banker/CEO after
the 2008 crash--several of them clearly culpable for practices that destroyed
millions of lives as people lost their homes.
·
the failure
to stop the huge export of jobs out of the country;
·
the catastrophic failure of both the Bush and
Obama war efforts in the Middle East;
·
the profound hypocrisy of a Congress voting billions
annually for Israel that support their occupation of the Palestinian lands.
·
Above
all, the failure to address the expanding disease of racial violence, an issue
with global echoes.
This is the picture Trump supporters intuit to be why they
want to “take America back.” It’s also why the resistance of Sanders supporters
cannot be counted on to blow over. Considering themselves the rationalists in the
crowd, the Democrats with their skills in the arts of political theater have
actually blinded themselves to how deeply disillusioned and fearful many
Americans are. They orate to themselves.
The shadow of tragedy is following the Clinton candidacy. She
is the first woman to be this near to breaking the last glass ceiling but is besieged
by unpopularity among both her opponents and in her own party because of her complicated record and ties
to Wall Street money. It is not so clear
how much of the Sanders reforms she claims to now embrace will receive her enduring
support. The decision to answer the
Sanders revolution with more Clintons may have built another Maginot Line.
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