Center right?

The conventional wisdom seems to be that the people of the US are "center right" meaning, I guess, that we are basically a conservative people who will tolerate a bit of innovation and forward thinking so long as it doesn't offend us too deeply. And clearly I am not one to accuse my fellow Americans of being overly progressive, or liberal, or just plain rational for that matter.

(I will admit to being slightly more jaded than usual, having just spent three days in various parts of Mississippi. At one point I actually heard a group of people agree that - and I am quoting this EXACTLY - "those stupid niggers aren't smart enough to get a job that pays more than minimum wage" as part of a conversation on how Obama was doing "real damage" to the country. The leading shit-head in this collection of ignorant red necks was a career Air Force officer - retired. This level of pure idiocy was on display for several hours but I was waiting for passengers and could neither leave the premises or risk starting another civil war. And well, fuck, I was in Mississippi after all ... it isn't like I should have been surprised. My work requires that I spend a lot of time south of the Mason Dixon line and my experience is that this kind of racism is expressed openly and often.)

Any yet, if the polls and my conversations with people in other parts of the country are any indication, "center right" includes some very non-right ideas. Civil rights for gay people is a done deal. It will take a while to implement given the retrograde jack asses that still hold a lot of state offices, but it is a done deal. Most people think women actually should have control over what happens to their own bodies with only the very few thinking the victim of rape or incest should be victimized again by being forced to carry such a pregnancy to term. The vast majority of families in the US, including Catholic ones, use birth control. Some overwhelming majority are for real and rational gun control. The legalization of pot is a pretty popular idea as well. Very few seem to approve of the current level of spending on the military or of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, drum roll please, there even appears to be a growing understanding that not everyone believes in the Jewish / Christian / Muslim god and that is okay.

So an America that most Americans would recognize is one where pot is legal, gun control is real, women and their doctors are left alone, birth control is still widely available and equally widely used, gay people get married, military spending is down, and atheists just are.

I haven't talked with anyone who thinks those worth multi-millions of dollars or corporations should get special tax breaks. I don't know of anyone who believes the tax code of this country is anything but a farce. No one thinks that current election system bought and paid for by "Citizens United" is a good idea. Everyone is appalled by the crumbling infrastructure of the country and understands full well that fixing it is both a good source of jobs and an investment in the future. Everyone wants the schools to do a better job of educating our kids and no one thinks an education should be the purview of the rich alone.  The vast majority don't want their kids to be taught that religious doctrines are the same as science.

So an America most Americans would recognize would be raising taxes on the very wealthy, have a tax code utterly unlike the current one, would pass and enforce real campaign finance reform, would be mobilizing a work force to fix its roads, bridges, dams, waterways, water and sewer systems, and would be spending more money on its public schools and teachers. Protestant Christian Fundamentalism would not be writing the text books.

No one I know wants to breath poisonous air, drink contaminated water, pave over all the wild parts of the country, or thinks the global weather is not changing dramatically and before our very eyes. No one thinks the oil is going to last forever or that alternative energy sources are a bad idea. An America most Americas would recognize is pro-environmental protection and pro-clean energy.

Such a country would not even be "center-left", it would be a progressive nation once again championing universal civil rights, religious tolerance, and social justice and responsibility. Yet it appears to be impossible to elect a government that reflects this national consciousness. How could such a situation be described as a "democracy"?

I don't think it can. Whatever this is, this two party system that serves only the elite and the war machine, where those holding office answer only to the lobbyists, religious fanatics and gun nuts who pay for their election campaigns, can not be described as a democracy. It will be no great tragedy when the collapse into something new, maybe even something remotely democratic, takes place.

Which, one must admit, appears to be happening before our very eyes. The government of the US is now completely broken. The sequester looms, apparently unstoppable. The Senate is locked up over approving a Purple Heart recipient, Vietnam war veteran for national service. Gun control, revising the tax code, revoking "Citizens United", virtually nothing is getting done. I don't know what happens next, but warm weather is right around the corner. Going outside, maybe in masses, maybe in masses surrounding the Supreme Court or the Capital building, maybe in masses surrounding the Supreme Court and demanding the resignation of some Justices, surrounding the Capital building and demanding some democracy, might be good exercise for a lot of us. See the sights, take some pictures, carry a few signs, chant some slogans, push back some police lines, dodge a little tear gas, maybe turn over a few limos carrying congressional leaders (make sure their seat belts are fastened first, don't want to hurt anyone) ... a little resistance training and some cardio work. It might be good for all of us.