Over the weekend Sarah Palin gave us another dose of seductive untruth. Her complaint about the Christmas bomber “lawyering up” wasn’t about finding the right policy against terrorists. It was a come-on to the Tea Party’s prejudices, egging them to believe that what Muttalab deserved was a dose of good old fashioned torture. Never mind that the Bush administration “lawyered up” Richard Reid, the failed shoe bomber in exactly the same fashion.
Her appeal to jingoism came with the phrase about giving the Christmas bomber the rights guaranteed by “our Constitution,” which she intoned a second time to make the point — also beloved of the Tea Party — that nobody deserves any rights except red-blooded Americans. Never mind that the whole point of operating under the Constitution is that everyone is given the same guarantees and rights.
But we all know why Palin has spiked the tea. In the past year the Republicans have decided, as a group, that fostering lies, attacks, and smears is good politics.
So it is. Americans are worried and jittery. The very mention of terrorism still makes millions of people believe that the next 9/11 is just around the corner. Rationality is cold comfort in such a climate. In politics, morality often comes down to whatever works. And what is working right now is to spike the tea with poison and tell people that it’s actually sugar.
The overall picture of a fix-it President struggling to get the country to follow him may be discouraging. Every rational adult knows that the social cost of entitlement programs and health care has one inevitable outcome: higher taxes and lowered benefits. But when the kids are throwing a tantrum, the adults feel helpless.
I take a different, more positive view. America turned a dark corner when Nixon and Reagan inflamed the worst aspects of populism with manipulative demagoguery. After a generation of social reform and altruism, they brought back selfishness, prejudice, and xenophobia — with add ons against feminism and gay rights, Using code words like “law and order” and “silent majority,” the right brought about a populism that was really the revival of the Know-Nothings of a bygone era.
Palin plays into that Know-Nothing strain the way George Wallace did with his “pointy-headed intellectuals.” Because of it, the very smart people who saved us from a potential depression and who want to solve other looming crises can be vilified in favor of very crafty people who play upon rough prejudice.
My positive take is that Obama and the other smart people (always remembering that they are more than smart but also good-hearted, far-seeing, honest, and credible) are playing the role of adults trying to call forth the adult in all of us. Americans have had the luxury of a long period of post-adolescent irresponsibility. The crown prince of that trend was George W. Bush, for whom both luxury and irresponsibility were a given. It will take a long time to bring a turn around, and Obama may drag the Democrats into some tight places. No one has the right to demand that this society grow up. But eventually that’s where we are headed, and since Obama gives adulthood the best face I can imagine from a President, I am encouraged, no matter who thinks they want another glass of poison tea.
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posted February 8, 2010 at 4:14 am
Chopra probably does not think tht the constitution is worth abiding by but I do. People like Ron Paul, the Tea Partiers and Sarah Palin bring us back to what this country was founded on and respected for: THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS. I didn’t hear one specific point from Chopra…just Progressive generalities.
posted February 8, 2010 at 5:00 am
I don’t think much of Chopra’s spirituality. His ego seems quite expanded when he calls an entire country immature. He seems to think Obama can lead us into maturity by bigger government. We want less government as in the Constitution. Bigger government taking care of the populace on every level is only parenting an entire country that doesn’t know what is good for itself. That would make us less mature. The fact that we want less government and want to stnad on our own two feet – would indicate maturity. Chopra seems to have succeeded quite well in this country. Does he tell his patients that they ar immature? I don’t think so.
posted February 8, 2010 at 5:32 am
It’s too funny. In the late summer of 2008 when candidate John McCain announced his curious choice of a running mate, I immediately ran to the computer to do a google-search of the name, “Sarah Palin”. I knew next-to-nothing about the woman other than the fact that she was the governor of Alaska. The first thing in her paper-thin biography that stood out for me was the date of her birth: February 11, 1964. I remember that day – distinctly! That was the day my beloved grandma, Loretta Doran Clements, died in South Bend, Indiana at the age of sixty-eight.
But other than that interesting coincidence there was not a heck of a lot in her biography that really stood out. Truth be told, I was more than a little puzzled as to why the GOP would think her an asset to the ticket. The moment she opened her mouth at her first campaign stop in Dayton, Ohio, I could only think of one thing:
Sally Field as “Gidget”.
When someone like Sarah Palin can make it as far as she has, it can mean only one thing and it’s not a particularly good sign: we are living in a culture that has been custom-tailored for idiots. When a person who can barely put two coherent sentences together without the aid of a teleprompter becomes one of the best-selling non-fiction authors of the decade, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that society is spiraling downward at a fairly decent clip. Fasten your seat belts, kiddies!
I had always believed that Monty Python alumni Michael Palin was the funniest person in the world to bear that name. In fact it should be stated for the record that the two Palins are equally funny. The only difference is that Michael works very hard at it. Sarah’s funniness, on the other hand, is purely accidental. The woman is a scream; the Buster Keaton of unintentional comedy
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
posted February 8, 2010 at 11:42 am
Joany,
Actually, I think that you are the one with the distorted idea of the Constitution. Our constitution protects everyone’s rights – not just Americans. I understand that you are afraid of foreigners and want to make them all go away but that is also not part of our country’s history. We have stood as a beacon of the Rule of Law for over 200 years because we apply our law equally to all who come to it. If we allow you and your fellow Tea Party xenophobes to deny rights to anyone, then it is a step toward denying rights to those with whom the ruling party does not agree. If you truly value your rights, and believe in this country, you need to fight to ensure that those rights are extended to everyone who is alleged to have committed a crime. Remember, innocent until proven guilty?
posted February 8, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I’m sorry, but if Sarah Palin is the candidate for president three years from now, It is going to make my life a whole hell of a lot easier. If she wins it will make my life a dream come true. As a blogger, I will never again have to touch my computer keyboard. These things will write themselves.
I know this sounds exceedingly selfish on my part and I am embarrassed to say it in so public a forum. I hope she never goes away. For the self-described political satirist, she is the gift that keeps giving and giving and giving….
I’m so ashamed.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen NY
posted February 8, 2010 at 8:15 pm
This was a very mature article Dr. Chopra. J. Lawrence we all stood on our legs for eight years with our last President, and we almost fell over with his Republicanism. Did you really enjoy it? If you did then I can understand how Palin seems like the next President to you.
Deepak Chopra I’m reading your book Life After Death, finally. Enjoying it, and the consciousness it brings.
posted February 10, 2010 at 9:11 am
I read “Deepak Toohey’s” remarks about Palin at Huffpo. It reminded me of Mencken’s description ofVeblen: “A veritable fountain of pishposh.” I
I’m wondering: Since when is statism and the concept of using the power of the State to coerce others into your vision of the just society “enlightened”?
And when is it “adult” to want to be dependent–and want others to be dependent–on Daddy and Mommy State?
If you think our “liberal fascist” leader, “Il Dufe,” is the torchbearer of enlightenment, apparently drinking too much twig tea and inhaling too much incense robs one of logic, all sense of history, and any grasp of basic economics. I guess it’s just a hop, skip and a Hindu rope-trick from swallowing New Age snake-oil into becoming a true-believer in the Cult of the State.