12/31/16
As we all know, the Obama
Administration has sanctioned Russian
entities and expelled Russian diplomats over the suspected hacking of the
Democratic National Committee and the resultant claimed interference with our
election process. Most the political establishment, and, most
saliently, most of the Republican Party,
always eager to go toe to toe with them Russkis, has jumped on the bandwagon. And, as predictably as yet another miserable
Bears season, John McCain and his
South Carolina mini-me, Lindsey Graham,
are the most prominent figures on that overloaded bandwagon.
Yours truly, like the President-elect, has long questioned
the wisdom of this reflexive anti-Russian foreign policy that is seemingly
engrained in the DNA of the likes of Messrs. Graham and McCain and of most of
the political establishment, especially those of its elements with an “R” after
their names. Yes, the Russians and we
have a lot of bad blood in our history and we have points of conflict in the
current geopolitical scheme of things.
However, we have managed to get over much worse blood with the Japanese and Germans. Further, we and the
Russians have several very important common interests in today’s world
landscape, the most salient of which is the fight against terrorism, which is as
big a problem for the Russians as it is for us.
Despite the presence of so many common interests, or at
least of so many common enemies, most of the Republican establishment, and
nearly all the Republican Party, excepting its leader, nearly automatically
reject whatever the Russians try to do in a seemingly mindless “Russians bad,
we good” view of the world. Why?
As I have had time to think over things these last few
days, I have come to the conclusion that nearly all GOPers and “conservatives”
are reflexively anti-Russian for the same reason that most Democrats reflexively see everything in terms of race. Most of the Republican leadership cut its
political teeth when the conservative movement, and much of the Republican
Party, was defined by its staunch anti-Communism. Similarly, most of the Democratic leadership
cut its political teeth when the Democratic Party was defined by its staunch
support for civil rights. It’s hard to extricate one’s self from the
type of thinking that becomes engrained in one’s formative years, and this
becomes more difficult as we age. So if
one grew up, literally or figuratively, defining one’s self as anti-Communist
and anti-Soviet, it becomes natural to engage in thinking and behaviors that
one construes, rightly or wrongly, as anti-Communist and anti-Soviet, even long
after the disappearance of the Soviet Union.
Similarly, if one grew up defining one’s self as pro-civil rights, it
becomes natural to engage in in thinking and behaviors that one construes,
rightly or wrongly, as pro-civil rights.
When one combines this natural tendency to revert to the ideas of one’s
youth with the relative ease of feeling vs. thinking, it becomes obvious why
Republicans, who incessantly declare their interest in doing what’s good for America,
tend to see everything the Russians do as inherently evil and why Democrats,
who piously proclaim their opposition to racism, tend to see the world in terms
of race.
While some (okay, many) of my readers tend to not believe
it, I don’t like to make predictions, especially those that can’t be made
through simple analysis of numbers, like my presidential election prediction. (And, no, I’m not about to stop talking about
that yet.) However, I will make an
exception and make one prediction for 2017, to wit…
As a result of the presidential
election, things will not change as much as many of us would like or as
much as many of fear. The system is
built to stop elected officials of any branch of the government from making
wholesale changes to the way our nation, or even our government, works. Given the largely miserable parade of
presidents we have had to endure for most yours truly’s lifetime, this
deliberate inherent inefficiency of government is a priceless gift left us by
our founding fathers…even when we
would wish otherwise. Funny how things
work that way, but this post is not designed to get into the spiritual realm.
God bless you all as the new year dawns; much peace,
prosperity, and blessing to you and your entire family.
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