But after listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. So, I want to speak to you first tonight about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy.
I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. And I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might.
The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.
The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.
– Jimmy Carter, The “Crisis of Confidence” Speech, delivered this televised speech on July 15, 1979 (primary document (courtesy of PBS))
Even though he never actually used the word, this speech came to be known as Carter’s “malaise” speech. And while the President’s candor was appreciated initially by the American people, it had a boomerang effect on his popularity. Carter’s presidency never really recovered from that speech, and many historians and political analysts will, even today, name it as the beginning of the end (his inability to rescue the hostages from Iran being the death knell).
Last week my friend Bill sent me this Oliphant cartoon. In case it has cycled off, it shows a sort of chunky male figure on his side, his back to the viewer, napping on a busted out looking couch, a couple of empty cans are strewn on the floor. To the left, at the end of the couch, stands the Grim Reaper scythe and all, holding a paper labeled “British Memos Indicate Bush Mislead U.S. Into War” The sleeping figure on the couch is mumbling “What’s the latest on Michael Jackson? Did he get off?”
When I first saw this it made me groan and sort of chuckle, making fun as it does on its face of Americans’ distaste for hard news, of our inability to pay attention to anything for longer than the life span of the average fruit fly (37 days in case you’re wondering). It made me ask: what is exactly is wrong with Americans that we can’t pay attention to anything serious?
And then I started to think.
The last four years in America have been characterized by a climate of fear. Sure, the events of September 11, 2001 (never 9/11…9/11 is to me like saying “pro-life”: it just sounds so scuzzy and sound-byte inaccurate to my ear) were horrifying, absolutely terrible with respect to their suddenness and the shock value. I spent September 11, 2001 with, largely, a group of foreign nationals, sitting helpless on a boat that was forced to anchor off Brooklyn and watching Manhattan burn in the distance. At some point someone made a remark that all Americans were culpable in the policies of their country and that we were simply reaping what we had sown. It was his tone of voice that carried that “those people in the towers deserved what they got” undertone. So I asked him, extra-politely since I was ready to chuck him over the side, if a citizen votes, if a citizen fully participates in the electoral process, and lives her life in a conscious way, what more would you have her do? He replied after some thought, admitting finally that people do, indeed, have a right to live their lives in peace and die in bed. The Bush administration, though, has taken the jingoistic route. They’ve used the “death of innocents” train of thought and genetically engineered it into “this could happen anywhere.”
They have, in essence, taken that initial shock and turned it into a prod. And by creating a low-level state of fear, by spending the past four years manipulating the terror-alert system (ever notice how when Bush’s approval ratings went down in his first term the terror-alert system indicated higher possibilities for terrorism? (I’m working on the source; give me a minute, willya?…update: here’s the news release from Cornell; here’s the primary document)) and convincing us that death is just-around-the-corner so why shouldn’t we run up that $15,000/year in credit card debt because it sure doesn’t pay to save to buy what you want ’cause you might not live to enjoy it, they’ve made us easy to manipulate.
The media are no help: 2,000 correspondents covering the Michael Jackson trial? I mean, Jesus Christ on a bicycle people, they couldn’t even get a camera inside the courtroom! They had to rely on reports that, ironically enough, wouldn’t have stood up on the witness stand (hearsay). On the other hand, we do get to choose. If the coverage doesn’t sell, then, theoretically, in a capitalist society, they’d cover something that did. Except capitalism doesn’t work with a market where people have given up hope, where people are willing to eat the steaming pile of dog shit because, in truth, it’s the only thing that’s being sold as food.
I think that’s really the problem with America: we’ve given up hope that things are going to improve. Sure, Democrats in Congress are now demanding an “exit strategy” from Iraq…by October 2006. It only took poll numbers where 60% of the people surveyed said they wanted a partial or total withdrawal of troops from Iraq to get that esteemed group into gear. Given that the news has been filled with stories of gridlock in Congress and the impotence of the Democratic party (maybe with some intervention from big pharma they could turn this into the right moment and make it a lasting, quality experience…like say through November 2008), does anyone really believe they’re going to be able to push BushCo. into ending the war?
Does anyone working minimum wage, or working more than one job, or working a job where there are no benefits really believe the economy is recovering?
And don’t get me started on Social Security…I’m just happy the money I’m paying in will go to pay out for my aunt who is retiring in July because I’ll sure as hell never see it.
With nothing but bad news, is it any wonder that we have become more naked in our material desires, that our society has become one that so blatantly and obviously worships self-indulgence and consumption, one where, as Carter said nearly 26 years ago, “Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns?”
It only makes sense, right? I mean, if we’re all potentially targets of terrorism and we could all die at any given moment, why not indulge yourself? Why not comfort yourself with all the DVDs you ever wanted, or the newest gadget, or go right on and buy that H2 which gets a whopping 10-13 mpg despite the fact that, pre-“summer” dips notwithstanding, gas prices only go higher?
Why not? Because it’s hopeless. Yes, that’s right: living that way is living without hope. It is admitting that you have no future.
Big news flash folks: that you could die any minute without warning was always true; you don’t need some religious zealot to fly a plane into a building. All it takes is that one extra Big Mac to push your ticker over the edge or looking the wrong way as you step off the curb in front of the 16 year old who is trying to drive, jive with his friends, and change the CDs in the in-dash player and you’re feeding the flowers.
The problem is that we’re too self-indulgent to really, truly give up on the future. There’s always that one little seed of it, the little voice that tells you it’s time to rebalance your retirement plan’s investment profile, or the random thought that wonders what’s for dinner tonight as you stand at the sandwich counter wondering if you should have the tuna or the club sandwich. The problem is that without hope the future is like a tree planted in sand: it has nothing to nourish it and no soil in which to sink roots. Without hope, by the time the future becomes the now, we won’t have anything left but a single, dead stick. No living tree against which to lean, no leaves to provide dappled shade for a nap. Just a damn dead stick. The good news is, we can fix this.
Hope is a pretty simple thing: it’s planting flowers. It’s investing in things that you may or may not see the end results of, because them coming to fruition will exceed your life span, or because, by the time they finally do blossom, they’ll be out of your sight, out of your realm of influence.
Behind the hotel we stayed at on our recent vacation there was a banyan tree (pictures soon, I swear) that was planted in 1903. Think of it…more than 100 years ago. And I’ll bet you that the man who planted it knew that he probably wouldn’t live to see it grow taller than he was (100 years later the tree is barely two storeys tall). Imagine what hope that must have taken, what faith, though I’m loathe to use that word since it, like hero and values, has had all the marrow sucked out of it in recent years, he must have had that the tree would go on living past him.
Things may get worse – to be honest, I fully expect them to – before they get better, but they will get better. They have to: you can only go down so far before you hit bottom and rise to the top again.
Sources:
The American Experience: Jimmy Carter: People & Events: Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” Speech
Gene mutated in fruit flies doubles life span, CNN.com, December 15, 2000
The War On The Ground, The Debate At Home: The Halls Of Congress, Democrats turn up heat on Bush for exit strategy, SFGate.com, June 17, 2005
Hummer Mania CBSNews.com, February 3, 2003
The Effects Of Government-Issued Terror Warnings On Presidential Approval Ratings, Robb Willer. Current Research in Social Psychology, volume 10, issue 1, September 30, 2004