Mark Naison: Who Are the Real Elitists? Michael Moore, Barack Obama, And The Resurgence of American Liberalism
[Mark Naison is Professor of African American Studies and History, Fordham University.]
Ever since the late 60's, conservatives in the US have done a brilliant job in portraying liberals as self righteous elitists who are out of touch with hard working Americans who keep the country going and defend it from its enemies
. George Wallace pioneered this approach in his two presidential campaigns in 1964 and 1968 . By attacking liberals as "pointy headed intellectuals" and describing himself as the voice of the "hairdresser, the cop and the construction worker" Wallace made huge inroads into traditionally Democratic constituencies in the Northeast and the Midwest and gave conservatives a rhetorical weapon that they have used effectively ever since. From Spiro Agnew to Bill O'Reilly, conservatives have devoted so much time and energy to denouncing liberals as "tools of special interests" and themselves as the voice of "real Americans" that many liberals have become ashamed to publicly identify themselves as such.
But although some liberals live in middle class enclaves like the Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side, or in university towns like Cambridge, Ann Arbor or Berkeley, there has been another, less publicized group of liberals who have been anything but sheltered from the real problems of the society. Teachers, social workers and union organizers, priests and nuns in the inner city, public interest lawyers, teachers in community colleges, elected officials and ministers in minority communities, they have been there, year in, year out, when their cities and neighborhoods were buffeted by factory closings, savaged by drug epidemics and aids, and alternately revived and challenged by new waves of immigrants. While capital and resources were systematically withdrawn from their communities by banks corporations and the federal government, they were the ones who stayed to bear witness, comfort the afflicted, and set the stage for rebirth. If you didn't regularly visit Brownsville of the South Bronx, spend time in Youngstown, Baltimore or Buffalo, or go to church services in North Philadelphia or the Central Ward of Newark, you might never know they were there. But little by little, they are beginning to register successes in their work and project their voice into national politics
One of the major signs of their success has been the astonishing presidential campaign of Barack Obama, but years before George Bush self destructed and Barack Obama became a national figure, the demystification of American conservatism was undertaken, with tremendous energy and effectiveness by a fat, ugly, film maker from Flint Michigan who emerged as the nation's most effective tormenter of the National Rifle Association, the Religious Right, Corporate America, and George W Bush- Michael Moore.
What gave Moore's attacks their moral force was his unabashed use of the experiences of his hometown- one of the most decayed and battered industrial cities in the entire nation- as a reference point for judging conservative rhetoric and policies. Moore may manipulate information to get his message across, but the images of Flint's abandoned factories, ragged neighborhoods, and struggling, suffering people which he put in all his films are all too real.
In showing these images, Moore revealed conservatism's dirty little secret- when the factories closed, and people lost their jobs; when the banks redlined neighborhoods, and landlords abandoned their properties; and when millions of people were left without police protection and decent schools and adequate health care-conservatives were MIA. They weren't there in the food pantries helping families of the unemployed; they weren't there in the union halls fighting to protect workers pensions; they weren't there picketing banks to get them to reinvest in redlined neighborhoods.
Instead of rolling up their sleeves and helping deal with the consequences of deindustrialization, conservatives made a cottage industry of attacking the poor, blaming welfare, sexual immorality, and single parent families for the travails of the inner city. It is not so much that their arguments were always wrong- preaching personal responsibility is not a terrible thing- but that they didn't back up their words with actions that gave substance to their preaching.
What job programs do conservatives operate in the nation's poorest neighborhoods? What health centers do they run? What schools for poor children do they teach in? What AIDS clinics do they staff? What libraries and arts programs have they opened? What welcome centers have they opened for recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America?
Whenever real life, on the ground programs can be found to help immigrants, displaced workers, the elderly and victims of corporate greed and neglect, the people on the front lines are almost always "liberals." Not rich liberals. Not pampered liberals. But tough, resilient, hard nosed people who work day in day out to make a better life for people who have been had some tough breaks.
For more than 15 years, Michael Moore has given voice to millions of people who are sick and tired of conservatives painting themselves as the voice of practicality and patriotism when they have abandoned the nation's most vulnerable communities and done nothing to help its most vulnerable people
Now, the tide is beginning to turn An unashamed liberal named Barack Obama, who began his career as a community organizer, is making a strong run for the Democratic presidential nomination and has an excellent change of being elected President of the United States.
The Conservative run is over. Thirty years of Conservative rule have brought us the world's largest prison population, the world's largest gap between rich and poor, a bloody, expensive war against a nation that never attacked us, and a recession and a credit crisis that threaten to drive millions of people out of the middle class.
In the hope of promoting economic growth, Conservatives handed control of the economy to owners of private capital, who used that power to enrich themselves to a degree unknown in modern American history. The last time that happened was during the Great Depression, and in that situation,the American people knew exactly what to do- they elected Liberals to office who used the powers of government to make sure the wealth the nation produced was distributed fairly and reached most Americans.
Despite all that is going on in this campaign- the race baiting, the attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism, the misplaced focus on the political views of Rev. Wright- I am confident that the American people will do exactly the same thing as they did during the Great Depression, and call upon a Liberal, who has both vision and compassion, to set things right..
That is why Barack Obama is going to be our next President.
Ever since the late 60's, conservatives in the US have done a brilliant job in portraying liberals as self righteous elitists who are out of touch with hard working Americans who keep the country going and defend it from its enemies
. George Wallace pioneered this approach in his two presidential campaigns in 1964 and 1968 . By attacking liberals as "pointy headed intellectuals" and describing himself as the voice of the "hairdresser, the cop and the construction worker" Wallace made huge inroads into traditionally Democratic constituencies in the Northeast and the Midwest and gave conservatives a rhetorical weapon that they have used effectively ever since. From Spiro Agnew to Bill O'Reilly, conservatives have devoted so much time and energy to denouncing liberals as "tools of special interests" and themselves as the voice of "real Americans" that many liberals have become ashamed to publicly identify themselves as such.
But although some liberals live in middle class enclaves like the Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side, or in university towns like Cambridge, Ann Arbor or Berkeley, there has been another, less publicized group of liberals who have been anything but sheltered from the real problems of the society. Teachers, social workers and union organizers, priests and nuns in the inner city, public interest lawyers, teachers in community colleges, elected officials and ministers in minority communities, they have been there, year in, year out, when their cities and neighborhoods were buffeted by factory closings, savaged by drug epidemics and aids, and alternately revived and challenged by new waves of immigrants. While capital and resources were systematically withdrawn from their communities by banks corporations and the federal government, they were the ones who stayed to bear witness, comfort the afflicted, and set the stage for rebirth. If you didn't regularly visit Brownsville of the South Bronx, spend time in Youngstown, Baltimore or Buffalo, or go to church services in North Philadelphia or the Central Ward of Newark, you might never know they were there. But little by little, they are beginning to register successes in their work and project their voice into national politics
One of the major signs of their success has been the astonishing presidential campaign of Barack Obama, but years before George Bush self destructed and Barack Obama became a national figure, the demystification of American conservatism was undertaken, with tremendous energy and effectiveness by a fat, ugly, film maker from Flint Michigan who emerged as the nation's most effective tormenter of the National Rifle Association, the Religious Right, Corporate America, and George W Bush- Michael Moore.
What gave Moore's attacks their moral force was his unabashed use of the experiences of his hometown- one of the most decayed and battered industrial cities in the entire nation- as a reference point for judging conservative rhetoric and policies. Moore may manipulate information to get his message across, but the images of Flint's abandoned factories, ragged neighborhoods, and struggling, suffering people which he put in all his films are all too real.
In showing these images, Moore revealed conservatism's dirty little secret- when the factories closed, and people lost their jobs; when the banks redlined neighborhoods, and landlords abandoned their properties; and when millions of people were left without police protection and decent schools and adequate health care-conservatives were MIA. They weren't there in the food pantries helping families of the unemployed; they weren't there in the union halls fighting to protect workers pensions; they weren't there picketing banks to get them to reinvest in redlined neighborhoods.
Instead of rolling up their sleeves and helping deal with the consequences of deindustrialization, conservatives made a cottage industry of attacking the poor, blaming welfare, sexual immorality, and single parent families for the travails of the inner city. It is not so much that their arguments were always wrong- preaching personal responsibility is not a terrible thing- but that they didn't back up their words with actions that gave substance to their preaching.
What job programs do conservatives operate in the nation's poorest neighborhoods? What health centers do they run? What schools for poor children do they teach in? What AIDS clinics do they staff? What libraries and arts programs have they opened? What welcome centers have they opened for recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America?
Whenever real life, on the ground programs can be found to help immigrants, displaced workers, the elderly and victims of corporate greed and neglect, the people on the front lines are almost always "liberals." Not rich liberals. Not pampered liberals. But tough, resilient, hard nosed people who work day in day out to make a better life for people who have been had some tough breaks.
For more than 15 years, Michael Moore has given voice to millions of people who are sick and tired of conservatives painting themselves as the voice of practicality and patriotism when they have abandoned the nation's most vulnerable communities and done nothing to help its most vulnerable people
Now, the tide is beginning to turn An unashamed liberal named Barack Obama, who began his career as a community organizer, is making a strong run for the Democratic presidential nomination and has an excellent change of being elected President of the United States.
The Conservative run is over. Thirty years of Conservative rule have brought us the world's largest prison population, the world's largest gap between rich and poor, a bloody, expensive war against a nation that never attacked us, and a recession and a credit crisis that threaten to drive millions of people out of the middle class.
In the hope of promoting economic growth, Conservatives handed control of the economy to owners of private capital, who used that power to enrich themselves to a degree unknown in modern American history. The last time that happened was during the Great Depression, and in that situation,the American people knew exactly what to do- they elected Liberals to office who used the powers of government to make sure the wealth the nation produced was distributed fairly and reached most Americans.
Despite all that is going on in this campaign- the race baiting, the attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism, the misplaced focus on the political views of Rev. Wright- I am confident that the American people will do exactly the same thing as they did during the Great Depression, and call upon a Liberal, who has both vision and compassion, to set things right..
That is why Barack Obama is going to be our next President.