US Culture Clashes and the Return to “Clash of Civilizations” Theory
Based on the bourgeois ideals and value system of the Enlightenment,
Western open societies are culturally pluralistic but have limits in social
cohesion owing to the hierarchical structure created by the political economy
of capitalism. Symptomatic of the market economy, social differentiation and
exclusion are a permanent fixture regardless of what the social contract
promises about social integration. Founded as a colony of immigrants who
conquered the lands of North America and used Africans as slave labor, America
carries the legacy of contradictions from the Age of the Enlightenment
promising egalitarianism and integration but in practice institutionalizing
social exclusion and differentiation that precludes social cohesion. These
contradictions become intense in periods of economic expansion or contraction
when fissures are exposed on the surface of the social structure because
socially excluded groups strive to integrate into the mainstream and demand its
reform. Such societal fissures undermining social cohesion are more evident in
American society in the second decade of the 21st century than they
have been since the 1960s.
According to post-presidential election polls in 2016, America is more
divided than at any time in post-WWII era, a reality that filters down from the
political, corporate media and financial elites to ordinary people as skeptical
about the legitimacy of their institutions as the elites. Republicans supporting
the populist rightwing President Donald Trump have revived “Clash of Civilizations” (Samuel Huntington’s work, 1996) as a core
value in US foreign policy in order to distract from the widening social divisions
and presumably forge greater unification under a common foreign enemy. This theory
as Republicans interpret it has broad ramifications for immigration policy,
race and ethnic/religious relations and issues related to multiculturalism in
an open society whose financial elites view the population as the consuming
public than citizen with constitutional rights.
The US is a divided society amidst its own socioeconomic and political
polarization reflected in clash of cultures shaped in part by a changing demography
and shrinking middle class. While Trump Republicans are looking to “Clash of Civilization” as a means of
projecting strength and rallying popular support for the flag, their Democrat
opponents are trying their best to revive the Cold War US-Russian confrontation
as a catalyst to appeasing the militarist and corporate elites while unifying
their divided popular base. Both strategies are manifestations of a bankrupt
political system that perpetuates divisions and foments more domestic culture
clashes and is dumbfounded about how to deal with the contradictions of social
exclusion and differentiation that has become intensified under neoliberal
policies in a climate of globalization.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/197828/record-high-americans-perceive-nation-divided.aspx; http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-team-islam-clash-of-civilizations-214474
If people link their identity to culture and religion, according to those
espousing the “Clash of Civilization”
theory intended to explain the post-Cold root causes of future global conflict,
then logic dictates that the same holds true for people of different cultures,
religions, ethnicities, races, and ideologies inside the US. Considering the
multicultural nature of the US demographic map and the dominant culture and institutions
under the control of the descendants of European immigrants, culture clashes
are just as inevitable when the country fails to deliver what people perceive
as the social contract, namely the American Dream and keeping the nation strong
in relationship to the rest of the world as Manifest Destiny promised when
European immigrants created God’s “New Israel” in North America. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/mandestiny.htm
To maintain political consensus among the disparate political, military,
economic and socio-cultural elites “Clash
of Civilizations” makes as much sense for Trump Republicans as the
anti-Russia campaign does for Democrats. This is especially so in light of a
Trump return to a Reagan-style ‘rightwing revolution’, particularly with regard
to fiscal policy as the Republicans will be transferring even more wealth from
the bottom 90% of the population to the top 10% by trimming social programs and
raising the cost of government by contracting out more public services at a
higher cost and less efficiency than if government kept control. http://www.politico.eu/article/will-donald-trump-follow-in-ronald-reagans-footsteps-elections-victory-republican/
While trying to expand their popular base, Republicans and the conservative
media promote culture clashes as a means of mobilizing popular support among
largely religious and cultural conservatives. This is especially in the white
community that feels besieged in the age of globalization which has entailed
de-industrialization and downward wage pressure; a phenomenon that has resulted
in greater social exclusion from a group that identifies itself as
representative of national values. Democrats and their supporters in the media
also promote division largely by remaining focused on identity politics rather
than restoring America’s eroding middle class and working class living
standards. Culture clashes manifest themselves in congress and state
legislatures over all sorts of issues, some with very broad significance such
as health care others linked to narrow identity politics and lifestyle issues;
all indicative of social exclusion from an institutional mainstream that claims
its foundation are rooted in inclusion.
There are cultural, ideological, political divisions so deep among
disparate groups that one encounters two very different Americas when traveling
from San Francisco, California to Jackson, Mississippi. The concept of America
as an open society may very well apply to major cities, especially coastal and
urban upper Midwest, but it is a stretch for much of the rest of the country.
The media, political and institutional endeavors to suppress class
consciousness and opt for identity politics and culture clashes only points to
cracks in solidarity among the working class and middle class against the
elites lining up behind the two major parties. Because social exclusion and
differentiation assumes different socio-cultural forms in different parts of
the country, the political elites are able to divide the population against
itself and undermine class solidarity of socially excluded groups. http://www.cultureclashes.org/book/8-conflicts/
Public opinion polls in 2012 indicated that 69% if Americans viewed their
nations divided, while that number jumped to 77%-80% right after the November
general election in 2016. Just as significant, they indicate dissatisfaction
with the way their society functions and see their prospects becoming worse not
better. These same people do not see the forging of consensus any time soon,
and fully expect deeper divisions, thus reflecting recognition of social
exclusion and differentiation. A reflection of deep divisions, public opinion
polls a few days before inauguration range from 37% to 44% approval rating for
Trump, a historic low since such polls were conducted in 1992. As disturbing as
such low numbers may be given that they are below those of the outgoing
president’s, an even greater concern is that they will only decline going
forward once congress implements policies resulting in lower integration and
greater exclusion. http://www.gallup.com/poll/197828/record-high-americans-perceive-nation-divided.aspx; http://www.trueactivist.com/trumps-approval-rating-plummets-to-historic-low-just-days-before-inauguration
This does not mean that non-urban, southern and Plains States America is
any more racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, sexist and less tolerant of
non-natives than their counterparts in Russia, France, or Germany where there
is a rise of ultra-rightwing political movements not much different than the
populist wing of the Republican Party. Social exclusion and differentiation
exists in all capitalist societies, some like the Scandinavian less, others,
like Russia more. The demographic structure of US is changing and the
realization of that incontrovertible fact has many whites reacting with anger
amid eroding living standards and the economic pie so unevenly divided.
Naturally, an apologist of the status quo could argue that the US is hardly
the world’s most divided nation, considering there are developing nations
immersed in civil wars or under authoritarian regimes that maintain the status
quo by police methods. Apologists of the status quo point to developing nations
as authoritarian and to the US remaining a defender of human rights and civil
rights, despite a record of government practices that indicate otherwise.
Apologists of the status quo refuse to accept that developed Western nations
are experiencing the rise of extreme rightwing political parties challenging
the neoliberal centrist and conservative ruling elites. This ‘revolution’ from
the extreme right will result in even deeper divisions across the entire
Western World as societies claiming the legacy of 18th century
Enlightenment ideals of John Locke’s liberalism and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s social democracy are
evolving from liberal capitalism to an authoritarian neoliberal capitalist
model. (Ian Bruff, “The Rise of Authoritarian Neoliberalism”, Rethinking
Marxism, Vol. 26, Issue 1, 2014)
American Divisions in Historical Perspective
American colonists and immigrants were bound by the common goal to seek a
better material life and enjoy freedom from religious persecution. However,
these freedoms never translated equally for all ethnic groups and social
classes in a country founded as a colony of the British Empire to advance its
imperial economic and geopolitical interests. Indicative of the lack of social
cohesion and political consensus among the colonists, when the War of
Independence was declared, Americans were hardly as united behind the
independence movement. Interested in national self-determination, largely
wealthy white colonists led the revolution at a time that the colonies had
slavery as an entrenched institution. Representing the landowning and
commercial class, the Founding Fathers drafted a constitution declaring all men
are created equal but in practice social differentiation and exclusion
prevailed.
The chasm between what is declared in the Constitution about equality,
freedom, and the pursuit of happiness and the reality in practice is at the
heart of America’s historical divisions. The famous July 1852 speech “What,
to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglas reveals the
deep divisions in American society that has relevance to this day. “The existence of slavery in this country
brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your
Christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your
politicians at home. … it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters
crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it,
as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes.”
Historical divisions and culture clashes stem from the gap between the
political principles of equality and justice for all, and the reality of
wealthy predominantly Anglo-Saxon protestant elites that owned most of the
wealth and enjoyed institutional privileges from education to elected office.
Institutional obstacles to progress for the lower classes, women, and
minorities were overcome throughout the Republic’s history by peoples’
attraction to the promise of the
constitution about equality and the pursuit of happiness for all, and by the
prospect of integration into the institutional mainstream where the elites
enjoyed society’s privileges. As long as the economy expanded and the social
structure evolved to permit working people to move into the lower middle class
and their children to secure education and create a better life, people
conformed to the hegemonic culture and subordinated socio-cultural differences to
the system that rewarded them at least in the domain of religious freedom and
the promise for a better life.
Despite massive economic expansion as a result of the Westward expansion,
industrialization (187-1900), and imperialist expansion in the form of the
Spanish-American War (1898), society remained at war with itself through the
struggles of workers to unionize, women and immigrants to achieve equality of
opportunity as their Western European white male counterparts, and blacks
fighting to end institutionalized racism that is a permanent feature of America
at war with itself. Unlike ethnically and culturally homogenous societies, America as a nation
of immigrants that conquered the natives is at war with itself because its only
common value system is the immigrant dream of wealth and cultural freedom.
Deeply imbedded in the consciousness of the people are Manifest Destiny and the
dream of greatness, even if by association.
It is not only the case that 71% of Americans are
Christians, but that there is a longstanding tradition of linking politics to
Christian doctrine (America as God’s country with a mandate from Divine
Providence). This has been the case from its early history to the present and
it has been an integral part of the social contract that the elites have used
to forge consensus and conformity among the masses. (Nicole Guetin, Religious
Ideology and American Politics, 2009) Although the same phenomenon is
less evident in urban-suburban areas and Coastal and upper Mid-Western areas
where secularism and a more cosmopolitan culture prevail, the concept of
expansion and America’s greatness mandated by divine providence is an unspoken
underlying assumption. The degree to which political and financial elites can
rely on religious leaders to help engender sociopolitical conformity and
mitigate systemic divisions is an open question, although Christendom has been
the catalyst to sociopolitical conformity for many centuries.
The merging of pseudo-science and religion, Social
Darwinism and creationism in American history has helped to maintain
sociopolitical conformity to the institutional mainstream from the 19th
century to the present. As a nation that took the concept of competition more
seriously than Adam Smith, Americans found it easy to merge Social Darwinism that
assumed human progress rested on competition which is found in nature. It is
indeed remarkable that no less than twenty-four states enacted ‘sterilization
eugenics legislation’ between 1911 and 1930 intended to “weed out” the mentally
ill and criminals, and the American Eugenics Society advocated laws to limit
inter-racial marriages.
While Social Darwinism was popular among certain
segments of society rejecting the concept of social cohesion and integration
for all people as the US Constitution promises, creationism reinforced social
exclusion and differentiation. With deep historical roots in culture clashes,
creationist beliefs remain prominent just below the surface with a substantial
percentage of Americans. In 2014, 42% of Americans believed in the creationist
view of human origins, down 2% from 1982 when Reagan and the Moral Majority
were contributing to the culture clash against those they demonized as humanist
liberals. According to various public opinion polls, 13-28% of Americans
responded that God was not involved in the creation of human beings and that
evolution was responsible for life as we know it, while 51% accept the Bible as
the word of God. By contrast, 69% of Britons believe in Darwin’s theory of
evolution, and 61% of Canadians. The striking differences are a manifestation
of far greater social cohesion in the neighboring nation to the north also a
former colony with not such a strikingly different historical experience. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2014/12/creationism_poll_how_many_americans_believe_the_bible_is_literal_inerrant.html
A society steeped in the psychology of realizing it potential of greatness
as Divine Providence mandated necessarily finds itself at odds its own
disparate elites vying for influence and control to determine the nation’s
destiny and preserve their privileges, while socially excluded groups struggle
for integration. Advocates of the Enlightenment secular ideology as the
foundation of modern society clashing with the more conservative ad
religious-oriented groups associating secularism with the privileged elites
have been a permanent fixture in society. Clashes become more evident in times
of glaring contradictions of economic expansion but contracting living
standards. While social cohesion and integration is important to the political
and financial elites in order to maintain stability in the political economy
and social order, the same system produced greater social exclusion and
differentiation.
De-legitimizing of the Political System
In a fierce power struggle, the Democrat Party and Republican Party elites
have been delegitimizing each other in the eyes of the public. Political
de-legitimization was evident ever since Barak Obama became the first black
president. Although many conservatives viewed Obama’s election as the end of
white political monopoly of the executive branch of government, there was
hardly any change in social integration and social exclusion under an
administration that faithfully served the same elites as all its predecessors.
In the 2016 primary season, Trump accused his Republican opponents and Democrat
nominee Hillary Clinton of serving Wall Street for a price. Trump
de-legitimized all others except himself because they were conduits of social
exclusion. During the presidential election season, the increased journalistic
interest regarding the division of American society assumed added dimensions
largely because of the surprised election of Trump, now enjoying a Republican
majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as in most state
governments and in the judicial branch.
Skepticism about legitimacy continued when the Democrats did everything
they could to link Trump’s election to alleged Russian hacking, one of the
major distraction issues regardless of whether Russians were involved or not.
This does not even take into account social media “fake news” and mainstream
media intense propaganda campaigns reflecting and promoting the culture clash
among disparate groups. America’s war against itself became more intense when
Trump compared the practices of US intelligence and media organizations to
those of Nazi Germany in reaction to alleged Russian video tape of Trump in a
compromising situation. Ironically, the so-called ‘Nazi’ practices were
attributed to the Obama-Clinton Democrats who have the institutional power to
undermine the Republicans and persisted on the Russian hacking theme without
ever providing evidence.
By comparing the US to the Third Reich, Trump expressed the deep divisions
among the political elites while lending legitimacy to the criticism of America
usually reserved for leftist critics arguing that the US has been sliding down
the road of authoritarianism. If Noam Chomsky, for example, leveled the same criticism
as Trump, it would have no significance beyond a small circle of those who
follow Chomsky. When Trump compared his country to the Hitler’s Third Reich, it
afforded legitimacy to critics’ arguments that indeed the US has authoritarian
aspects, while preaching democracy to the world. Moreover, it revealed the
depths of division in America that goes beyond politics and into the nature of
the country’s institutions failing both in social cohesion and political
consensus.
By refusing to accept Trump as a legitimate president, perhaps because he
lost the popular vote or because of email leaks through WIKILEAKS via Russia as
a possible source, black Civil Rights leader and Georgia Congressman John Lewis
contributed to de-legitimizing the new president in the eyes of the world. As a
symbolic representative of the black community, Lewis was affirming that social
exclusion and differentiation cannot be legitimized by a president who lost in
the popular vote.
Behind the de-legitimization efforts, the media, social, academic, and
financial elites naturally take sides, as do many ordinary people who watch and
wonder if these clashes entail that the politics of consensus are a thing of
the past and polarization the new reality. According to a Pew Research study,
the partisanship and animosity between Republicans and Democrats has never been
greater than in the 2016 presidential race. Each side sees the other as
closed-minded, immoral, dishonest, unintelligent, and lazy, thus lacking trust
in the other’s ability to represent the social contract and lead the country.
To distract from the internal clash, the Democrats keep focusing on Russia,
with their European Union allies doing likewise as the latter fear Trump may be
less committed to the world order as they inherited it since the demise of the
Soviet Bloc. Keeping with favorite theme of racism and xenophobia, Republicans
focus on the “Clash of Civilizations”
thesis as a means to distract from Russia and placate the domestic elites and
rally popular support behind the flag. Neither “Clash of Civilizations” with Muslims as a target nor Russia with
the evil Vladimir Putin and the corrupt oligarchs is enough to quell the
culture clash; and neither is a credible substitute for addressing income
inequality, lack of social justice and growing social exclusion and
differentiation.
America at war with itself is unlikely to change toward the kind of
consensus that existed in the early Cold War from Truman to Kennedy when the US
was the undisputed superpower and upward social mobility kept the population
hopeful about achieving the American Dream, at least for their children. In a
world where power is shifting from the West to East Asia with a resurgent
Russia despite Western containment policies and sanctions, the American elites
are scrambling to preserve and expand their privileges while forging some kind
of political consensus that will enable them to maintain the status quo. Against
such efforts comes the reality that eight individuals, including Bill Gates,
Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Michael
Bloomberg, all Americans, own as much wealth as half of the world’s population
of 3.6 billion.
The Nature of Division and Polarization in the US
The topic of culture clashes has been analyzed by hundreds of books and
articles dealing with the deep divisions in American society. These are
multifaceted divisions rooted in identity politics and class struggle politics
of the last two centuries. However, the rise of social exclusion and
differentiation is more evident today than at any time since the anti-war
movement of the 1960s. From the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement to the
controversial election of 2000 and the equally contentious election of 2016,
more scholarly works and journal articles have been devoted to growing rift in
American society and what it entails. According to one poll at the beginning of
2016, 56% of Americans believed that their children would be worse off than
they were. Another poll indicated that 81% were worse off in 2016 than in 2005.
By contrast, only 20% are worse off in Sweden for the same time frame,
indicative of income stagnation amid massive capital concentration. While these
statistics clearly illustrate a policy intended toward greater social
integration in Sweden, the exact opposite is the case for the US. Money.cnn.com/2016/01/28/news/economy/Donald-trump-bernie-sanders-us-economy/;
https://mishtalk.com/2016/08/07/mckinsey-study-shows-81-of-us-worse-off-than-in-2005-france-63-italy-97/
Polarization extends beyond the domain of income gap, encompassing
geographic, racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and cultural issues and finding
expression in the political parties and factions within factions of two major
parties. Current polarized conditions are due to a general decline of the
middle class and living standards among the working class at a time that
identity politics - cultural, religious, racial, ethnic, and gender-based
issues – is a necessary tool of the elites to prevent systemic institutional
changes and maintain political consensus.
More resistant to the well-established bipartisan cooperation on key
issues, including foreign policy consensus, armies of journalists, consultants,
analysts, lobbyists, and academics promote the divisions of the political and
socioeconomic elites. If the energy sector has vested interests in US-Russia
cooperation, while the auto industry has vested interests in NAFTA, and high
tech in East Asia, it is understandable that the respective corporate lobbies,
journalists, consultants, think tanks, and of course politicians would disagree
about foreign policy consensus. Not only is US economic power reflected in its
corporate structure at a time of national economic decline, especially when
taking into account that debt as percentage of GDP stands at 105 and rising,
but the nature of the US economy in comparison to that of Asia speaks volumes
about its dim prospects and continued socioeconomic and cultural polarization. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
Whereas China is strengthening its infrastructure and that of countries
where it invests from Asia and Africa to Latin America, it also has sound
domestic foundations in the primary and secondary sectors of its economy. While
China has created the Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank involved in nine major projects in 2016 and
planning many more in the future, the US was busy trying to forge trading blocs
in order to exclude China while securing better terms of trade and higher
profits for multinational corporations, as the Trans-Pacific Partnership
illustrates, assuming it is ever implemented.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2017/01/14/how-chinas-asian-infrastructure-investment-bank-fared-its-first-year/#7acaad81f4d1;
http://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/14/06/2016/trans-pacific-partnership-against-and-prospects
Unlike China, the US relies heavily on the service sector, largely
speculative and parasitic, along with the defense industry that is even more
parasitic than the financial sector. For 2016, US GDP grtowth was 1.6% while China's was 6.7%, US industrial production nearly flat at zero, while China's at +6.2 reflecting GDP grrowth; US current account balance in 2016 was -2.6% of GDP, while China's was +2.3%. (The Economist, January 14-17 2017 issue)
One could argue that high tech, especially robotics and biotech are pioneering areas with a great deal of growth since the 1990s and good prospects for the US economy. While many of those operations are at home they are hardly exempt from globalization. That US companies are keeping at least $2.5 trillion overseas and refusing to repatriate it under the current tax rate speaks volumes of their lack of commitment to economic nationalism. This is one reason that high tech corporations backed globalization advocated by Clinton.
One could argue that high tech, especially robotics and biotech are pioneering areas with a great deal of growth since the 1990s and good prospects for the US economy. While many of those operations are at home they are hardly exempt from globalization. That US companies are keeping at least $2.5 trillion overseas and refusing to repatriate it under the current tax rate speaks volumes of their lack of commitment to economic nationalism. This is one reason that high tech corporations backed globalization advocated by Clinton.
Despite Trump’s tariff threats which are an admission of inability to
compete by trade rule the US established, the outward trend of US capital and production
will continue because of low labor costs and market share competition. One
reason that the Trump administration is viewing globalization with skepticism
and downplaying the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2017
where globalists gather very year is because globalization favors the US less
than China, Japan and other nations. For the first time ever, China will
dominate the Davos conference a historically a Western-dominated affair.
Whereas China is a producing country enjoying a trade surplus, the US is a
consumption-driven economy with a balance of payments deficit and rapidly
rising public debt financed in part by the artificial value of the dollar as a
reserve currency still widely used around the world for transactions such as
oil trade. Reflationary economics, combined with infrastructural and defense
spending intended to stimulate GDP growth will work short term but add to the
national debt, a prospect that will result in even greater socioeconomic
inequality and greater sociopolitical and cultural polarization.
Because countries producing about one-third of the world’s output have
pegged their currencies in dollars, and 39% of the world’s debt is in dollars,
the greenback has value much higher than any other hard currency. With its
large productive capacity in all sectors of its economy and a large domestic
consumer market, the US will remain economically strong. The question is for
how long would the dollar continue to enjoy such a preeminent role; what
happens when other reserve currencies become more competitive, and how long can
the system sustain its viability under the weight of massive defense spending
combined with a corporate welfare state. This inevitable development will
further weaken the middle class and workers who feel increasingly marginalized
but are confused about who is exactly to blame and how to fix the dysfunctional
system.
Trump’s inane slogan “Make America
Great Again” by waving the magic wand of economic nationalism and flirtation with
neo-isolationism reflect the realization of decline and a highly symbolic
approach to stop the inevitable decline that enriches US-based multinational
corporations at the expense of the socially excluded segments of society that
make up the majority. His insistence that companies selling products in the US
must manufacture them domestically is a tacit recognition of the corporate
sector profiting to the detriment of the weakened middle class and workers.
However, asking powerful multinational corporations to cooperate with economic
nationalist policies without massive tax incentives, corporate subsidies, and a
much more relaxed regulatory regime is unrealistic. While the president could
follow some variation of a statist model, Wall Street and congress will never
allow any deviation from neoliberal policies, and Trump has demonstrated his
interest is to enrich his family and supporters.
Caught between policy contradictions and the realities of capitalism, the
middle class and workers will pay the price because the government cannot find
the money, unless it raises the national debt and slashes entitlements, for
both the corporate welfare state and relaxed regulatory regime while
maintaining a commitment to defense build up, higher living standards and
protecting the environment. Just as the governor of Michigan opted for
corporate givebacks at the expense of providing lead-contaminated water for
Flint, the federal government will face similar choices and it will opt for
corporate tax breaks, corporate subsidies, and privatization schemes that
transfer income from the public sector to the private.
The growing absence of political consensus and the intense competition of
the elites to influence policy has swept away the masses and divided them
politically, ideologically, culturally, geographically and demographically and
unable to grasp why there must be perpetual social exclusion and
differentiation if the economy is expanding as evidenced by the GDP and stock
market. Amid this political-ideological-cultural war in which America is
engaged, it is ironic that establishment Democrats are not fighting their
opponents from a leftist position associated with FDR’s New Deal social safety
net across the board with a strong central government role in the economy, but
cling to identity politics – gay rights, environmentalists, blacks, Hispanics,
women, etc. Trying to out-Republican Rockefeller Republicans who have more in
common with the Cold War anti-Russia neoliberal Democrats than they do with the
populist extreme right wing illustrates the bankruptcy of the Democrat Party as
a realistic vehicle to social integration.
Is Secession a Possibility? In case of Secession, what would be its impact on the dollar and trade?
By 2016, the majority of Americans were angry and dissatisfied with their government led by a neoliberal Cold War Democrat President Obama whose actions did not match his rhetoric when it came to social justice and economic opportunity for all. Two weeks before the presidential election of 2016, a survey indicated that the nation was sharply divided on nearly everything from race relations to health care. The majority of people, 20% more than in 2012, believed the country was headed in the wrong direction and blamed the establishment Democrats and Republicans.
Polarization was evident when considering evangelical Protestants who associated America’s glory with the Eisenhower administration, an era when institutionalized racism was legal and witch hunts against dissidents entailed absolute conformity in a country that called itself a democracy and castigated totalitarian Russia. Many populist conservatives that voted Trump are not bothered if their president violates the constitution and goes above the law to crush all enemies foreign and domestic, from ISIS in Iraq to illegal aliens and Black Lives Matter in the inner cities. In short, if authoritarianism is what it takes for social integration, then so be it, as far as the populist right wing is concerned. That populist conservatives lump together jihadists, illegal aliens, and minority activists speaks volumes of deep-seated cultural, political and institutional racism.
Beyond the obvious socioeconomic divisions that tend to be much more
evident in southern states and rural areas, coastal states are enjoying higher
living standards than the rest of the country and are culturally very different
from most states except the larger Midwestern and even some large southern
cities. The “Red-state” (Republican) vs. “Blue-state” (Democrat) divide
transcends class and reflects more of a cultural and ideological chasm that
reflects historic societal conditioning. Although it is true that the social,
cultural, religious, financial, and political elites have shaped the
ideological/cultural chasm largely to suppress class solidarity which poses a
threat to capitalism, this divide is deeply rooted in American history layered
with the experiences of the dominant white Western European culture as
hegemonic subordinating all others.
As a political tool of rallying support behind the flag, shifting blame to
external enemies has limited staying power, although the US did very well using
Communism for half a century to achieve a domestic and international political
consensus. Although large segments of the population feel excluded by the
institutional structure, indoctrination has them convinced that enemies du jour
are to blame, whether they are Russian and WIKILEAKS hackers, illegal immigrants,
Muslims, the Chinese, etc. According to Pew Research public opinion data, the
US did not become divided in 2016 as a result of the general election. The
divisions in fact predate 9/11 and become sharper with the
ideological/political gap widening as the income gap widened after the great
recession of 2008. The decline in living standards follows a corresponding rise
in the phenomenon of culture clashes and various socially excluded and
differentiated groups seeking integration by different political means. https://www.quora.com/How-and-why-has-the-United-States-become-so-divided-politically-and-socially
Considering the US progressive tradition was limited to the trade union movement from the late 19trh century until the Great Depression but thoroughly co-opted, and considering the women’s movement along with all other identity politics issues were also co-opted by the Democrat Party, there is no historical tradition of an effective progressive grassroots movement that takes under its umbrella all socially excluded and differentiated groups. Given this reality people turn to the right when a populist extreme right wing demagogue like Trump comes along and promises to restore the American Dream, although in practice will deliver more wealth concentration that will lead to even lower social integration levels than what he inherited.
Is Secession a Good Idea? Would liberal California or conservative Texas be better off as breakaway Republics?
Considering the polarizing societal conditions, one could imagine how perpetual division, even secession may enter the public discourse. Secession is a deep-seated fear or wish on the part of some Americans who see that country geographically, ideologically, politically, racially, ethnically and culturally divided. It is true that southern states do not reflect the values or lifestyles of the coastal states. It is equally true that the smaller less populated southern states enjoy as many votes in the senate as the larger coastal states, thus determining the national agenda for the majority of the population. Does such a system reflect the will of the people, the social contract, or is it simply a reflection of states’ rights mentality that had relevance during the pre-Civil War slave era?
Secession was tried in the 1860s and failed miserably despite the
considerable confidence of the southern elites who believed that their
interests were better served by closer integration with England than the
northern states. The secession movement that resulted in the Civil War suggests
that secession is beyond the realm of possibility. Of course, people understand
politics on the basis of their educational level, their family and local
influences, their religious and ideological-political leanings, as well as
cultural conditioning.
Rural Mississippi populist Republicans who link their identity to the
Christian faith view New York Democrats as leftist atheists interested in
destroying cherished southern traditions and values. In such case, the individual
subordinates material self interest to religious faith and culture, as Samuel
Huntington argued in “Clash of
Civilizations” referring to a Middle East-West conflict rather than a
domestic culture clash. Conservatives are spending billions of dollars every
year trying to convince the masses to disregard their material self interests
and focus on religion, cherished traditions, and loyalty to the nation, even if
that means that every year their living standards decline and their prospects and
those of their children for social integration diminish.
Conclusions
Not just the mass anti-Trump-inauguration demonstrations estimated at more
than 200,000 people, but the media wars, social media and mainstream media
‘fake news’, the political elites’ wars, the struggle for the country’s
direction either toward a more authoritarian course or a liberal bourgeois based
on pluralism, all provide a glimpse of a polarized society where social
integration is the presumptive theoretical goal but exclusion and
differentiation are realities. Although dialogue about the issues concerning
the lives of the middle class and working people raises conflict in a capitalist
society, the question is to what degree and how do the bourgeois political
parties deal with social integration to achieve political consensus.
Under an imaginary scenario of secession, the cultural elites and some people on either side of the cultural divide would be happy if they were not bound by the federal government pursuing an ideological and political agenda with which they disagree sharply. Clearly, there is an ideological, political and cultural chasm between Texas and California, at so many levels, despite similarities especially in the larger cities of both states. It is also the case that while in many southern and rural areas there is convergence of religious dogma and conservative political ideology.
States have a great deal in common and would not give up the safety and security of the federal umbrella which makes possible US global reach partly because it has military bases around the world, military alliances, and the strong dollar as a reserve currency that is overvalued to the benefit of those holding it. Unless their privileges are taken from them by force as has been the case in revolutions, financial elites always manage to protect, preserve and expand their interests by backing the political status quo even if they have to reform it with a more progressive agenda, or support authoritarian policies, whichever side manages to forge a better popular consensus.
The reality of the well-integrated economy with global ties takes precedent over all other issues. California and Texas have economies largely in the primary sector of production but also in banking and high tech. This means that they need markets beyond their state borders and beyond US borders. Not just the costs of running an independent nation-state with sovereign currency, trade and investment policy that is in line with international organizations such as the WTO, World Bank, IMF, but also the reality of a mobile work force would complicate matters and make the breakaway states less competitive.
In the end, the political, ideological and cultural benefits would be so minor to the breakaway states, and economic costs so high that they would rejoin the union even if they were given the freedom to form their own nation. There is strength in unity and weakness in division. However, human beings are indeed irrational and material interests are not their only motivating factor in political choices. Indoctrinated by “Manifest Destiny” ideology and the American Dream of achieving greatness again even by association with the nation-state, people will sacrifice self-interest as they perceive it so they may satisfy their illusions such as identity with the militarily strong nation.
One possible scenario for the future of the US amid rapidly changing demographics is that it may resemble some aspects of post-Mandela South Africa. South African blacks have entered the political arena and government bureaucracy, they enjoy political rights and in theory equal protection under the law, but the economy and the entire institutional structure is designed to serve the white capitalist minority. As much as the US criticizes Russia for its authoritarianism and crony capitalism, is it that far off and is it not moving in that direction rather than the direction of the Scandinavian countries?
As the trend of massive wealth concentration under a corporate welfare state continues to erode the middle class and working class, the struggle against the tide of domestic and global history will keep America at war with itself and tilt it even more toward the road of authoritarianism and militarism after the next inevitable deep recession. Because popular expression of discontent lacks class solidarity owing to cultural divisions and identity politics in America, political leadership will not be under the umbrella of a leftist or even a center-left movement. America’s future is an even more authoritarian regime with roots at the local and state levels financed by wealthy individuals like the Koch brothers among other likeminded billionaires, finding expression at the federal level with populist demagogues like Trump.
