Historians like Toynbee and Vico have argued long
argued that civilizations have life-cycles that are similar to the arc of the
human lifespan. That is, societies pass
through golden ages of youthful vitality, periods of stability and maturity, and
eras of inertia and decline.
The actor Clint Eastwood unscripted and somewhat incoherent
endorsement of Mitt Romney at the Republican national convention is only a
small blemish on an otherwise distinguished career, but his rambling and
unbecoming diatribe against President Obama only reinforces the notion that the
Republican party is dangerously out of touch with reality and even a tad senescent.
Eastwood’s performance undoubtedly left Republican
image makers wincing. However, the
82-year old actor’s views – and his crude attempts to caricature President
Obama – are hardly an anomaly in the Republican Party. Chastising Obama for failing to fulfill his
campaign pledge to close Guantanamo, when in fact Republicans have obstructed
all attempts to shutter the facility, is as disingenuous and reality-defying as
Paul Ryan’s attempt to blame candidate Obama for the closure of a Detroit auto
plant that shut its doors in the waning days of the Bush administration.
Eastwood’s and Ryan’s jabs at President Obama were
reminiscent of Ronald Reagan’s false but sincerely held belief that acid rain
was caused by trees. But what happens to
a political party, or a country, when so many demonstrably false beliefs are widely
held by the population?
Conservatives deny the possibility that global warming
could be a real or manmade phenomenon.
They also hew to a demonstrably false ideology, which insists that free markets
never fail, tax cuts pay for themselves, and government regulations are
unnecessary to prevent economic crises.
The Republican ideology failed spectacularly last
time it was tried. Bush’s tax cuts
busted the budget and deregulation allowed the financial sector to run
amok. As a result, America’s financial
system nearly collapsed. Astonishingly, Republicans
refuses to acknowledge the bankruptcy of its ideological agenda. Instead, they’ve taken to blaming the Obama
administration for the ills the Republican agenda inflicted on the United
States.
This sorry state of affairs was symbolized by Clint
Eastwood’s rather lame mock interview with an empty chair, which supposedly
represented President Obama. Eastwood’s shtick may have come across as entertaining
to a certain segment of angry white male voters, but his crude
characterizations of Obama will probably come across as the vulgar
stereotypical distortions they are to the demographic groups that will decide
the election (namely, Hispanics, women, and independents). No wonder, Romney’s political operatives were
reportedly cringing during Eastwood’s performance.
Eastwood is not senile, but a certain segment of the
Republican Party – the birthers, those who think Obama is closet Muslim or a
covert socialist, or those who think Obama bears primary responsibility for the
jobs crisis in America – is dangerously untethered to reality. Ironically, the politician most responsible
for America’s current misfortune – George W. Bush – was absent once again from
the Republican convention. The American
icon Clint Eastwood’s showdown with an empty chair may have fell flat. But what is more telling is the Republican
Party’s failure to engage in an honest dialogue about the legacy of George W.
Bush, a man who can’t show up at his own party’s convention because he is so deservedly
reviled.
Sphere: Related Content
