Real Choices

 

The stuff I've read and heard is about all sorts of things: art, science, politics, economics, medicine, etc. Other than being composed of words, one might suppose all those things had little in common.

There were two articles in the LA Times this morning, an editorial complaining about Dr Dean and a report on nuclear waste. It was the nuclear waste problem that suddenly made my head go "click." Yup, there it is; it's there all over again. What's there? Well, what else but a refusal to accept reality, things as they are.

It should be fairly obvious that, if you don't have a handle on what's real, you won't get too far. Now, that doesn't mean I have a better handle on things than others, nor does it mean that some blithely ignorant people won't reach their goals. Not getting "too far" is statistical, so totally deluded people have a smaller probability of reaching the finish line than the accurately well-informed. But even being well-informed is not enough, because one has to be willing to act on what one knows. Thus, an ignoramus can achieve something by acting correctly out of ignorance (accidentally doing the right thing), while the knowing stay seated, sip their tea and accomplish nothing. So, there has to be a connection between thought and action to bring about achievement. Everyone knows that, but somehow it doesn't change the results.

Now, what do Dr Dean and nuclear waste have to do with each other? Very little, except that people deal with both unrealistically. It's more obvious in the case of nuclear waste. Nuclear plants were built legally and operate legally. A long time ago, the government (that's us, We the People) contracted to provide a nuclear waste repository, and the nuclear plants have been paying premiums for that service every year. Naturally, those premiums are passed on to the ratepayers (that's us, We the People) in electric bills. Here, in California, we are even paying some additional fees on our electric bills on account of some craziness about nuclear power during the Reign of Pete Wilson. So, clearly We the People imposed on ourselves the burden and costs of disposing of nuclear waste. Nevertheless, organizations representing We The People have been preventing the disposal of nuclear waste for decades. We the People don't want the stuff anywhere near any of us. Our managerial elite is convinced the Europeans and Japanese don't know what they're doing, so they won't recycle nuclear wastes. There are many different reasons for this stalemate, but it amounts to a stalemate. The waste is there and accumulating, because We the People cannot forego the 20% of all electric power nuclear plants provide and we won't deal with any of the consequences.

It should be obvious to even the casual observer: We need the electric power nuclear plants generate, so we cannot shut them down. Nuclear plants create potentially dangerous waste, so the waste has to be handled properly. The same sort of logic and physical causality applies to the use of oil, or the maintenance of a septic tank. Even the Earth, considered as a giant septic tank, has a limit. Sooner or later, it has to be flushed. Or else.

It's really the same with Dr Dean. He has been right so many times. Of course, most of you don't want to hear what I have to say about the good Doctor: I supported his Presidential run. All perfectly disgusting and embarrassing facts because it means a lot of other people were wrong. But, anyway, let us recite a few facts, such as Dr Dean saying that the Iraq War made America less safe. How about his belief that it was wrong to invade Iraq? His warnings on the huge and growing Federal budget? His opposition to privatizing Social Security? In this and many other things, the conservative media and politicians encouraged the American people to revile Dr Dean, but where do they stand today? ALL the polls say the same thing: Dr Dean was right on all counts. The American people now believe what Dr Dean pointed out was true, but they've "forgotten" it was Dr Dean who pointed out those things. Of course, had they believed Dr Dean when he first said those things, there would have been no war in Iraq, no mounting casualties, no huge Federal deficit, etc etc etc. It's humiliating and embarrassing, isn't it, that such a vile creature could be so right so often, while the Good People were so wrong?

So, now, the same Good People are after Dr Dean because he pointed out that Republicans are mostly White Christians. I agree the Doctor was a bit hasty in his words. He forgot to specify more completely that Republicans are mostly White Christian fundamentalists, a particularly obnoxious and belligerent variety of White Christian. That remark succeeded in offending the Good People, most of whom happen to be White Christian fundamentalists. That is the main thing wrong with what Dr Dean said: it offended the people who are what they are, because it was said in a tone suggesting that what they are is not a Good Thing. Now, I definitely agree that it is NOT a Good Thing to be a White Christian fundamentalist. As a matter of experience, many White Christian fundamentalists I have known were not Good People So, I believe Dr Dean struck pay-dirt when he exposed Republicans for what they are. They are mad as hell at Dr Dean, because they want other Americans to believe they are not what they are.

Dr Dean's presumed allies - Establishment Democrats - denounced him as well. Why so? I believe the bottom line of their behavior is that they've learned to bow and scrape before whoever is in power today. They must feel Dr Dean is an Enemy of the State, someone opposed to the Power Structure. Anyway, he is unalterably opposed to those now in power. This makes it very difficult to carry on bowing and scraping by those pretending to oppose those in power.

The unreality of Dr Dean's "friends" who denounce him is their belief that White Christian Fundamentalist Republicans will somehow come around to voting Democratic. What really happens is the weak Center and apologists just give ground, and become more and more like White Christian Fundamentalist Republicans. The same thing has happened in the process of the Conquest of Iraq: We are becoming Them. Those who have no really independent thoughts, but only a career to maintain, are unable to stand against those who do. Dr Dean's sin is exposing that hypocrisy. The way out of the critics' dilemma is an old one: kill the messenger.

Is the situation with Dr Dean just like that with nuclear power? I think it's close enough. To want something is also to want its consequences. To believe otherwise and act accordingly is pure and simple delusion, possibly insanity. In the end, what is real will prevail.