Letter from Allen F. Chew
Modern life – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
More reasons for pessimism
… and some optimism
Dear Martha,
Your analysis of the decline of our (mythical) middle class (“Divided and Conquered,” September issue) was excellent. However, it omitted a few additional reasons for pessimism:
* The increasing consolidation of the mass media and its deliberate catering to the lowest common denominators.
* The deceptive tactics of sophisticated and pernicious special-interest groups (the tobacco industry’s crocodile tears about teenage smoking, ADM sponsoring a PBS program, etc.)
* The White House (and occasionally even the Republican congress) formulating policy in secret, then employing obfuscation or Orwellian perversion of the language to conceal its real intent (e.g. “The Patriot Act,” as if scrapping the Bill of Rights is patriotic!). This is not an isolated phenomenon; so many partisan “institutes” and “foundations” hide behind misleading titles that it is nearly impossible for the average citizen to fathom their true agendas.
* And bigotry seems to be on the rise. There is reason to suspect that the ultimate objective of the religious right is the establishment of a theocracy in America. (God protect us from all those who claim to speak for Him, be it Osama Bin Laden or John Ashcroft!)
Yet, despite your misgivings and my own, there are glimmers of hope:
* Demographic trends are changing our social fabric. A recent report on the Jim Lehrer News Hour noted that second-generation Latinos (native-born U.S. citizens) outnumber illegal Latino immigrants. And other minorities are increasing, so it’s only a matter of time until we of Anglo-Saxon ancestry become a minority (if we haven’t already). Second-generation immigrants may be more inclined to unionize and protect their rights than our many-generation jaded citizens seem to be. (Their religious diversity, especially among Asian immigrants, may also preclude a theocracy).
* Ralph Nader’s protégées (and heirs) may gain increasing influence. Colorado liberals should vote for such candidates for President. The chances of Colorado sending a Democratic slate to the electoral college in the near future are virtually nil, so helping a Nader win enough votes to qualify for federal matching funds will help the only progressive party on the horizon.
* Unlike most of their financial peers, a few current billionaires are actually helping worthwhile causes, albeit with only a fraction of their excessive wealth (Ted Turner and the U.N.; Bill Gates and Africans).
* And there’s always the chance that future generations may rally to liberal causes in decisive numbers.
* Finally, let’s view things from history’s longer perspective. I subscribe to the double-entendre adage, “The common people will get it in the end.”
A minority can’t screw the vast majority indefinitely. (This applies globally as well as nationally.) Hopefully, change will evolve peacefully; if not, it will surely come violently — as the French and Russian revolutions demonstrated. Either way it may take a few more centuries, but the “Let them eat cake” attitude is a certain formula for disaster.
Allen F. Chew
Monument
