The Strange Death of American Liberalism

The Strange Death of American Liberalism

Author: H.W. Brands

Paperback: 200 pages

Publisher: Yale University Press (2001-11-01)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0300098243

ISBN-13: 978-0300098242

About the Author

   Henry William Brands is an American historian and author of 22 books, co-author of 2 and editor of 4, he is also a Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from Stanford University in 1975 with a B.A. in history and from Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon. One his most famous book is The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2000).

Introduction & Analysis

   In this book the author tries to explain the causes of the failure of liberalism in modern America. By “liberalism,” Brands means the belief that government should not just protect life, liberty, and property, but should undertake programs designed to make life better. From the beginning of the book it is clear that the writer advocates liberalism, but the modern conception of liberalism and tries and disdains its challengers. The author is not going to prove the correctness of the liberalism but he wants to explain why he thinks it is dead. Brands is not sure about the date of liberalism death and he is confusing in this regard, once he says that liberalism has died in 1975 and then claims that it has died with the end of cold war. He believes that liberalism was possible because of the Cold War American felt that they needed a powerful central government to protect internationally and this led to trust in government. But breakdown in Vietnam, ending in 1975, changed the American people point of view toward government and made them skeptical of a big government and liberal standings of politicians.

   Brands argues that liberalism is a political agreement that can only succeed in the U.S. during wartime. Only during war Americans give up distrust of the federal government and allow it to take over new responsibilities. Some Baby Boomers think that liberalism is a natural and permanent condition in U.S. politics, it just needs a revival the author believes that it is an illusion that has fooled them; while American wars were short so the big government was short-lived too, but the duration of the Cold War brought about more continuous intrusion of the central government into Americans' lives than ever. Brands says that always the growth in big government has corresponded with each of the major war, dating back to the American revolution, but after the wars people get so cynical toward big government. Conservatives are probably joyful to read this book because the author believes that conservatism is the natural state for Americans. Like most conservatives, Brands attaches liberalism to big government, yet mentions frequently how conservatives have welcomed big government in appropriate time.

   Totally the author believes that liberalism is dead because people have lost their confidence in government and this death happens when the government grows and basic right of people and their freedom is at risk from the government which would intrude in peoples’ lives and restrict their freedom. Liberalism can be revived by restricting the central government, in fact liberalism in the US is a cyclic phenomenon, which fades away with growth in central government and reemerges with decline in central government.

   The book is recommended to those who want to know about the two mainstream ideologies of the US society and politics, their effect on each other and on the US politics and society also conflicting essence of them regarding each other and complementary essence of them regarding making the American society. The book proposes an interesting thesis, decline in liberalism and growth in central government, during major American wars, which can be tested taking previous American wars in account and especially ensuing ones.

Forrest Gump

Watch the Trailer

Forrest Gump

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Produced by Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch and Charles Newirth

Written by Winston Groom

Screenplay by Eric Roth

Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright,Gary Sinise,Mykelti Williamson,Sally Field

Genre: Comdey-Drama

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Running time: 141 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Budget: $55 million

Gross revenue: $677,387,716

Plot

   In 1981, Forrest Gump tells the story of his life to the different listeners at the bus stop, each showing different reactions. Although Forrest has well below average intelligence, his mother is able to register him into a public school. On his first day of school, he meets a girl named Jenny which would be the only friend of Forrest. Although Forrest has some trouble with his spine he can get into the University of Alabama on a football scholarship because of his ability in running fast. He becomes a star running and meets White House and President John F Kennedy. After his college graduation, he enlists in the army. There he makes friends with Bubba, who suggests Forrest a shrimping business when the Vietnam War is over. He also meets Jenny again, when he sees her in Playboy magazine. He then goes to find her and discovers that she is a stripper working at a bar. In 1967, Forrest and Bubba are sent to Vietnam, and after awhile their platoon is attacked. Though Forrest rescues many of the men in his unit, Bubba is killed in action, and Lt. Dan Taylor, the platoon's commanding officer, losses her legs. Forrest is wounded during the battle, and is awarded the Medal of Honor.

   Forrest discovers a strange ability for ping pong while in recovery. He starts playing for the U.S. Army team, gaining popularity and rising to celebrity status. He eventually defeats his Chinese rival. At an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. Forrest reunites with Jenny, who has been living a hippie counterculture lifestyle while Forrest was away and is engaged to another man.

   Upon leaving military service and returning home, Forrest accepts an offer to endorse a company that makes ping pong paddles in exchange for an endorsement fee of $25,000. He uses the money to buy a shrimping boat and fulfill his wartime promise to Bubba and gets lots of money through shrimping business.

   In 1976, Jenny returns to visit Forrest, and they spend some time whith each other but one morning Jenny leaves Forrest. On an unpredictable decision, Forrest decides to run. He decides to run across the country and accomplishes it.

   While finishing his story, Forrest telss that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny who, having seen him run on television, asks him to visit her. Once he finds Jenny, Forrest discovers she has a young son, also named Forrest, and Jenny says Forrest is the boy's father. Jenny tells Forrest she is suffering and dying from an unknown virus which has no cure. Together, the three move back to Greenbow, Alabama where Jenny and Forrest finally marry. Jenny dies soon afterward, leaving their son in Forrest's care. Forrest talks to Jenny's grave and tells her how well their son is doing in school. On his son's first day of school, Forrest sits with him at the school bus stop. Forrest's first bus driver is also his son's first bus driver as the movie ends.

Analysis:

   For me the film is a promoter of American culture and values and I want to look at the film from this point of view. It is the promoter of the American values using both conservative and liberal values, but the conservative values are more dominant and highlighted and liberal values are loosely used to promote just the American culture and at the end liberal values are defeated by conservative values although both ideologies are used to promote the American culture. The film also uses the American icon and figure to promote the American culture.

   Family is and home are very important in film, Forrest mother is a devoted mother who does her best to keep the family and nurture her child although Forrest father is not present and may leave the family but the mother asserts that that he is on vacation so she wants to that they are a family. “there is no place like home” and “family forever” these themes can be seen in the film when Forrest, Jenny and their child return their home, Greenbow, Alabama, as a family. Gump is the man family, he is loyal to his love and does his best to have his own family. Gump is a hard working guy who works and tries hard to achieve happiness he expects nothing without hard-working. From the beginning Gump is running and he even runs across the US, symbolically “chasing the American Dream”. Gump also is religious person, after returning home from China he says that people in China do not go to the church or he goes to the church to pray in order to have a big shrimping.  Forrest also uses liberal gestures, like participating in anti-Vietnam War rally and taking part in a TV show to talk about his experience in China, telling that Chinese people are deprived from freedom and basic human rights. Gump is the symbol of conservative values and Jenny is the symbol of liberal values but at the end Jenny is dead but Gump as the symbol of the conservatives is the source of maintenance and continuity of the American culture.

   Totally the film was made to appeal to conservatives and invalidate liberals but to promote the American culture even by utilizing liberal values. It also is a condemnation of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and its aftermaths. Jennifer Hyland Wang, movie critic, argued that Curran's death to an unnamed virus "...symbolizes the death of liberal America and the death of the protests that defined a decade [1960s]." Even the main structure of the film crew connote the conservative orientation of the film. Steve Tisch, one of the producers of the film is a conservative person who has produced other conservative film after Forrest Gump like Knowing and The Pursuit of Happyness that the later one alongside Forrest Gump are among the best 25 conservative movies by the National Review magazine.

RUN, AMERICA, RUN

American Identity and Volunteerism

   Volunteerism can be regarded as a tool to create American identity and unite the heterogeneous people with different ethnicity, religion, race and gender into unified and uniformed people, but during passage of time this tool has become a part of American identity and culture. In fact volunteerism is an aspect of American identity, subsequently American culture.

   Volunteerism has a long history in the US; actually it goes back to the Founding Fathers and their efforts to build a nation for its people, equally. Their efforts are considered as altruistic acts and a kind of sacrifice. It has continued since then, during the 19th century, the 20th century and the current century but during these centuries it has functioned differently. While most volunteers of the 18th and 19th centuries found their assignments through their church or another private sector, the 20th century is where mainstream volunteer organizations began to increase.

   Volunteerism has promoted by the US government since 1930s and drag on to present time but during time its forms and aims have been different since1930s governmental volunteerism seek to bring relief to the society. But in 1990s governmental volunteerism seeked to build American identity in purest form to revive American tradition in a conservative sense. Although revived by the conservatives, American volunteerism has been continued by the democrats and then again by Bush the son as a neoconservative.

   On the whole American volunteerism has been used to build the nation then its people identify with each other and share a common culture. After fulfillment of this phase American volunteerism tries to, or better to say it is used to promote the American culture around the world. Like JFK's plan, Peace Corps of 1960s which has covered 139 countries around the world. Today American volunteerism has two function, first, to help to reshape the American identity in the passage of time, second, to promote the American culture around the world.

Who Is He??? Who Am I???



Cross by Langston Hughes

My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder were I'm going to die,
Being neither white nor black?

American Identity

Noam Chamsky talks about the American Identity. Watch it.
Download it!

   Identity is self-description and self-understanding. Each person takes an identity as a whole, unintentionally, to be a person and to live in the society appropriately. Identity is something we create and it is not a situation of being it is a process of becoming. Actually each person has an identity which is consists of multiple, shifting, changing, fragmented and fractured identities.

   Generally it is believed that the American identity is according to common ideas, not ethnic, religious or racial values. Americans differ from many other peoples both in how they define themselves and in the kinds of lives they choose to lead. This communal American identity embraces a pluralism that covers racial, religious, and ethnic divisions. As a result of the mingling of many ethnicities, America may be evolving from a multicultural nation to a nation of multicultural people that is, the U.S. is turning from a country with different culture to a country that its people bear different cultures. A Pole marries a Latino while their parents also are from different races but they strongly consider themselves American.

   But all Americans do not practice the American identification; actually they reject the American identity and try to acquire their favorable identity. Here we come across a resistance to the dominate culture which is a key aspect in the process of American identification.

   Afro-Americans are the most important group which have resisted against the dominate culture, challenged the American identity and try to acquire their own culture subsequently identity. The resistance is not something new; it has started since the early times, when the first slaves, mostly Muslim, had been brought to the America, culminated during Civil Right Movement of 1960s, drag on to present time. At the early time they had been forced to convert to their masters’ religion, Islam to Christianity. So religion that is, Islam, is one of the main forces to resist against dominant culture, the culture that tries to unify a heterogeneous multitude of people. The black people have used conversion to Islam as a kind of cultural resistance. Dealing with African American Muslims history, cultural resistance was practiced through Islamic services. During the slavery era, the slaves' knowledge of Arabic and of the religion of Islam was key factors in their identification as African Muslims. The blacks have used different kind of resistances, form of clothing, shaving or having beard, wearing hijab for women Muslims, saying prayer in public , Arabic names, writing in Arabic are different forms of Cultural resistance within the movements. They have shown their resistance in two ways; first, manifested resistance like demonstrations second, concealed resistance like using literature, music and even sport to resist against dominant culture to acquire their expected identity. On the whole the blacks take Islam as a tool to resist and the tool may provide more some important answers to African American economic, political, and cultural questions, leading them to a better position.

They want their country back



   During past few days I’ve seen a repeated phrase on the different websites, “tea party”. I wanted to know how they are and what they want so I decided to read about it and then write a post on it. Killing two birds with one stone!!!

   The Tea Party movement is a political movement in the United States that emerged in 2009 through a series of locally and nationally corresponding protests. The protests were against several federal laws like Obama’s health care reform. Its name echoes the Boston Tea Party of 1773 in 13 British colonies. The word party comes from 1773 incident and 2010 movement is not a political party, does not officially run candidates and its name will not appear on ballots. The movement does not have any national leadership.

   The movement started by local protests in the early 2009 in response to new tax measures. In February 2009 the first national Tea Party protest was held in Chicago.  The objectives of the movement include lowering tax, cutting back the size of government, reducing wasteful spending, reducing the national debt and federal budget deficit and adhering to the United States Constitution. The supporters of the movement are overwhelmingly white and Anglo, very conservative, opposed to illegal immigrants. The Tea Party members believe terrorism is a very serious threat to the nation's future well-being. They say most members of Congress don't deserve re-election and President Obama doesn't deserve re-election.

Protest is one of the key elements of the movement; there have been lots of protests across the U.S. Slogans also heat up the show:

“Just say NOBAMA!”

“Don't Expect Wicked Men to Pass Good Laws”

“You Will Fail! We Will Prevail! God Bless America!”

“God Has Given Us a Christian Nation”

“I, Too, Hope Obama's Ideas Fail!”

   A commentator, explaining about media coverage of the movement, said that Fox News portrayed the protests as a big story, CNN as a modest story, and MSNBC as a great story to make fun of. Most Republicans support the tea party movement, Sarah Palin is considered as one of the leader of the movement

   The Tea Party movement strongly favorites challenge status quo. They want a more stable country that does not offend her citizens’ fundamental rights. In coming days there would be Senate election probably the democrats lose Senate majority. Totally the rise of Tea Party invigorates the U.S. election and heats up the political environment of the U.S.

Remember, Dissent Is Patriotic

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Some more photos:

03 Peace for two nations by two other nations; Failure or Success?

  

 Foreign Policy magazine has published an article titled “The tragicomedy of Obama’s peace effort” on its website.

   It deals with overall policy of the U.S. toward the conflicts between the Arabs and the Israelis and Obama’s effort to divert the conflicts onto peace road. The writer believes that Obama himself is not very optimistic about progress between two sides, especially when he is aware of a sturdy obstacle that hinders all peace efforts, Israelis settlements. Every U.S. administration since 1967 has opposed settlement construction but no U.S. president has ever supported what they had said. In fact there have been no practical solutions by U.S. president concerning settlement construction despite claims about offering the solutions. The Obama administration is not able to be a positive catalyst for this conflict because firstly congress does not support Obama and secondly Netanyahu simply cannot freeze settlements, even if he wants to.

   Iranian president visited Lebanon and received a warm welcome from a part of the Lebanese. On the other hand some look this visit cynically. Ahmadinejad slammed Israel and emphasize Iran’s support for Lebanon and its resistance.

   Iran and the U.S. are trying to bring peace to the region according to their own prospects but none of them would success because a peace according to prospects of each of them causes discontent of the other side. In bringing peace to the region Iran and the U.S. first want to serve their own interests and this kind of peace is not the expected peace by the people of the region, a peace that leads to a stable and safe region for the people who have lived in the region since the early times. So people of the region have to reach an agreement without interferences of other nations that necessarily seek their own interests.

02 Globalization, Iran and the US

Noam Chomsky talks about Globalization, listen

   Globalization means the increasing multi-directional political, social, cultural, and economic connections that are happening across the world. Nowadays awareness of these connections has increased and people try to take advantage of this situation and lead globalization in way that they aspire. Globalization is the result of advances in communication, transportation, and information technologies. So institutions that are more powerful in these fields can be more potent to globalize the world in their favorable ways.

   Some take globalization as Americanization but I disagree, Americanization is one of the constitutive parts of current globalization, it can be replaced by Islamization, Frenchization or any other –izations. But it is obvious that some countries have more powerful effect on globalization but it is not a phenomenon unique to a specific country or region.

   Regarding globalization the US and Iran have affected each other but the US effect on Iran has been greater.In recent years, regarding globalization competition, the Iranian efforts to have an important role in globalization process have been more universal rather than concentrated. The Iranian approach toward globalization has been a non-materialistic and political approach, for example its efforts to export its Islamic Revolution around the world. Iran also tries to globalize itself through politics. As a potential country Iran tires to expand its influence in region and around the world to globalize its objectives. Cultural Persian figures like Jalal al-Din Rumi and Omar Khayyam have been globalized around the world and the US through their art.

   Although there is no tangible relation between Iran and the US, the American signs are pervasive in Iranian lives, from clothes that we wear to soda that we drink.

Chris Barker (2004:77) writes: “the products of global forces are localized, that is, they are made pertinent to ‘local’ concerns.”

   That is the point, what the Americans do to rule over the others and globalize themselves.

Want a soda??? Here you are!!! A Coca-Cola or a Pepsi!!! Carrying a logo in your mother tongue, Persian or any other language.



   Manufacturers now produce ethnically diverse dolls, like the black Barbie. Most young Iranian girls know Barbie and want to be like her when they grow up. For young Iranian boys Superman, Batman and Spiderman, Americanized superhuman, are magical heroes and the paragon of mankind. Older boys and girls follow high fashion brand like Nike and CK. Interestingly we can see girls who wear hijab and fit their chadors with a jean and a pair of Converse shoe. Another example is music; especially American hip-hop music that has created a new and popular music genre which resulted in forging a kind of subculture among young Iranian. The US also utilizes its media and cyberspaces as propelling force to dominate the world and lead the audiences to its favorable ways.



   Chris Barker (2004:77) writes: “all locals are now subject to the influence of distant places.”

The key matter is the degree of that influence that runs the show.

01 The USA, a Worm, Iran

   Foxnews: "Pentagon Silent on Iranian Nuke Virus

Pentagon Spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday the Department of Defense can "neither confirm nor deny" reports that it launched this attack."

   Stuxnet is a worm especially designed for sabotage unlike most worms designed for espionage. Some experts called it the most advanced malware ever. In fact, this worm is the first internet weapon that destroys physically. It targets industrial sectors which use Siemens systems, but Siemens systems in certain places.  It finds those factories that use Siemens systems, checks their places and time if the place was the right place Stuxnet would start its mission at the appropriate time, unless the worm leave the system intact. After sending system information to an unknown place it forces the system to destroy itself. The computer experts say that designing Stuxnet requires lots of work and money that only a nation state can afford its money, technical equipments and talent. It is believed that Germany provided the information and the US designed the worm. Stuxnet has infected various countries from west to east, the US, the UK, Iran, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The spread of worm in Iran is significant; about %60 of infected systems are located in Iran. The Iranian officials confirm that the worm has infected some computers in Iran but not their nuke systems.



   Technically, the designed worm has accomplished its mission, but its success is not clear to us yet, so we have to wait to get a firm answer. Evidence shows that the worm is designed for Iranian nuclear sites because most infections have happened in Iran. But which country takes advantages of this plan? Politically, this issue is a mystery, lots of questions have been raised about it, actually it turns to a psychological warfare between the US and Iran on Iranian nuke program, each side uses it to take advantages of it. It is a political propaganda on Iranian nuke program. Pentagon meaningful silence is somehow strange. Why does Pentagon remain silent on this issue? Why Pentagon does not deny these accusations? Pentagon silence has intensified its involvement in the attack. Whether Pentagon planned this attack or not, Pentagon is pleased with mysteries about the attack. Reactions from visitors who commented on the issue on the Foxnews website are different, some consider it useful and some do not.

“Cece” has left a scornful comment on the Foxnews website:

 “thank the Lord! now can we pls go after n. korea and venezuela?!”

                                                                                  

   His/her comment suggests that these kinds of operations are not the true solution to these disputes. Waging a cyberwar just aggravates the current situation and makes no progress in settling the issue.

Totally I see this issue a propaganda with no final winner. It is a pentagon mystery which each of its angles can be linked to each other and poses a new question.

TO START AMERICAN STUDIES

Hello everybody. I'm Sobhan Hassanvand, I'm studying North American Studies at Tehran University.

Here I'm going to publish, discuss and analysis a post about U.S. issues weekly, hope to be helpful, resourceful and successful.