Race and ethnicity - not the same thing, and not because of biology. Racial classifications lock one into a situation where one is not free not to be a member of that race. Ethnicity is less constraining (e.g., I grew up thinking I was in Irish - then when I lived in London, everyone knew I was a Scot. Go figure.) In fact, it's only the "less constraining" aspect of ethnicity that makes it a category distinct from race.
Your discussion of ressentiment in right-wing politics is, I think, basically right. (And consistent with Rick Perlstein's Nixonland, which I just finished, and brought back so many bad memories of my youth). But - not always. That kind of ressentiment was even more prevalent in the 1920s than it is now. The Klan ran Indiana, for god's sake. So where did the popularity of the New Deal come from? Why, in 1934, was LBJ able to get elected to the Congress in rural Texas by shouting "Roosevelt" every chance he got? (See Cato's biography on this stage of LBJ's career). It wasn't because the culture had fundamentally changed. And it wasn't just because of economic crisis - we've been through this on LBO, and it's clear that economic crisis alone is more likely to turn people to the right than to the left. So what was it? My best guess - it was the sudden sense that the person in charge was, for a change, on your side.
I've only experienced this once in my lifetime: when I moved to Chicago in 1985, up until Harold Washington's death in 1987. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen.
----- Original Message ---- From: Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Tue, February 22, 2011 10:56:42 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Obama reelection prospect
Dissenting Wren: "So, if ignorant, hidebound culture were to prevent the left from getting anywhere, then the left would never get anywhere anyplace ever. But sometimes it does. Ergo, the U.S. culture of stupidity is not the primary impediment to the left here. If you're going to try something to compete with money, try race, which really does fuck the U.S. up in ways that not many other countries can approximate."
[WS:] Two points:
1. Your point about race is obviously true, but hardly unique to the US - ethnic divisions coinciding with class stratification are quite common.
2. As to the "ignorant hidebound culture" - it is not the direction I was heading. My point was somewhat different - that the so called masses are for the most part apolitical rather than "stupid." Their main concern is maintaining their own respectability rather than fighting ideological battles and saving the world. Republicans "won their hearts ans minds" because they successfully linked their ideological agenda to infusing the sense of pride and respectability into "the masses".
I do not think the "masses" are as alienated as Joanna claims, or as callous as Dennis claims. They have their churches whose main function is maintaining social networks and connectedness (and have little to do with religious-theological concerns) and they are genuinely abhorred by killing people and babies, especially unborn ones. Most of them are likely to help others in need and can be very friendly with strangers. Most of them are generally "nice people" in everyday life, albeit not particularly concerned about politics.
They veer into politics only when they feel that their sense of respectability has been threatened - that someone treats them like unthinking hicks without any dignity or respect. When they believe - or are led to believe - that their "honor" or "respect" has been threatened or "violated" - they fight back with vengeance.
The problem is that the Republicans - and fascists in general - have been particularly skilled in manipulating this sense of "injured honor" in the masses. From hippies spitting on troops returning from Vietnam, to liberal elites despising hard working Americans, to union bosses betraying the rank and file and ripping off the taxpayers, and to ungrateful or envious foreigners hating America for what it stands for - the right wing propaganda machine inundates the public with stories whose main theme is "outsiders" insulting the "America's honor." And do not forget the never ending barrage of crime stories. People are abhorred by crime not because they fear for their belongings, but because crime "disrespects" and violates the dignity of people "like them" - and that is why it needs to be "avenged."
So once the masses have been properly inculcated with the sense of "disrespect", the Republicans (and fascists in general) offer a "solution" to restore this respectability by punishing the alleged offenders - the hippies, the flag burners, the liberal elites, the union bosses, the ungrateful and envious foreigners, etc. And it invariably works - especially in hard times when people's way of life seems to be undermined, so the sense of being "disrespected" sounds particularly true.
That is why the left stands no chance in this country - especially during the hard times. It has nothing to offer that would speak to the sense of "lost respect" and "disappearing way of life" that many people feel. It does not matter to what degree those feeling are manipulated and to what degree they are genuine - as long as people feel "disrespected" they are likely to respond to calls to re-gain their "respect" by punishing the perceived offender. The left's ideas of "economic justice," equality, fairness, etc. are awfully vague and unappealing vis a vis right's cries for "avenging the honor of the common man." So it does not mater how much money a candidate spends on promoting this vague and unappealing message - he or she is bound to lose to a candidate that promises to "avenge the disrespect of the common man." This is also why states that are particularly hard hit economically increasingly turn Republican http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/gallup-republican-states.html
So to sum it up - it is not the supposed Menckenesque "stupidity" of the masses, which in my view is a false diagnosis of a fundamentally social (not individual) problem, but rather their generally apolitical outlook and concern about their own respectability, skillfully manipulated by the right, that makes them rather immune to the left's message.
Wojtek ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk