We are not ourselves. We no longer know what it means to be American. We are letting our secretive government fleece us. We’re broken and we are on the wrong path, at a tipping point, we’ve lost our way. From Star Parker to Sarah Palin, from Roger Ailes to Glenn Beck, the message that the Media Right is riding is that we are a country that has forgotten itself, forgotten its exceptionalism, become too complicated, gotten too far from its values; and because of this lapse of self-knowledge, we’re about to hit dire straits. While it’s a strong, simple and compelling (and rather Biblical) narrative — we must change our ways now or soon perish — some major plot points are missing. Who are “we” for instance? And whose values are being forgotten? What is American exceptionalism and how or why should we get back to it? While the Media Right works to stage a self-help intervention for our failing country, few are talking about what really ails us with detail. This “we are going down” talk serves a distinct political purpose though; as Tony Judt writes in a new, lengthy essay,“The Disintegration of the Public Sector” for SSRC: Continue Reading →
