George W. Bush, properly understood, represents the third and most
powerful wave in the right's assault on the governing order created by
twentieth-century liberalism. The first wave was Ronald Reagan, whose election
allowed movement conservatives finally to attain governing power, though he
accomplished very little reordering of government. The second was Newt Gingrich
who, despite some victories, flamed out quickly, a zealous revolutionary
ineffective as legislative leader.
Bush II may be as shallow as he appears, but his presidency
represents a far more formidable challenge than either Reagan or Gingrich.
Bush's governing strength is anchored in the hard-driving movement of the right
that now owns all three branches of the federal government.
The movement's grand ambition is to roll back the twentieth
century. That is, defenestrate the federal government and reduce its scale and powers
to a level well below what it was before the New Deal's centralization. With
that accomplished, movement conservatives envision a restored society in which
the prevailing values and power relationships resemble the America that existed
around 1900, when William McKinley was President. Governing authority and
resources will be dispersed from Washington, returned to local levels and to
individuals and, most notably, corporations and religious organizations. The
primacy of private property rights will be re-established over shared public
priorities. Above all, private wealth will be insulated from the progressive
claims of the graduated income tax.
Constructing an effective response requires a politics that goes
directly at the ideology, lays out the implications for society, and argues
unabashedly for a more positive, forward-looking vision. The Democratic Party,
alas, is accustomed to playing defense and now sees its role as managerial
rather than big reform. If a new understanding of progressive purpose is to get
formed, the vision will not originate in Washington but among those who are
struggling now to change things on the ground.
My own conviction is that a lot of Americans are ready to take up
these questions and many others. When conscientious people find ideas and
remedies that resonate with the real experiences of Americans, then they will
have their vision, and perhaps the true answer to the right wing.
-- Excerpted from
The Nation, May 12, 2003