WONíT GET FOOLED AGAIN
As the British & American governments slide & slither around in ever deepening post-Iraq War sleaze, we, the people, look on with increasing dismay. Two modes of perception prevail: the incredulous/ baffled/hurt/disillusioned & the plain cynical. Good citizens where they gather shake their heads & wonder at how so much that was wholesome, decent & honest could have gone so bad. What stood so noble & pure at its inception now lies tarnished & corrupted. How, indeed, are the mighty fallen. Well, next time we shanít give loyalty & trust so readily. In the words of the politicians themselves in the wake of the latest avoidable disaster, there are clear lessons to be learned here. In the words of Pete Townsend, we wonít get fooled again. Unless, of course, you were never fooled in the first place, knowing all politicians to be congenital liars, cheats & tyrants would-be or actual. In which case you will feel a certain grim satisfaction at seeing the pedestal crumble & the elevated figure atop brought low. And, like the tricoteuses at the foot of the guillotine, you will await with sardonic patience the next delivery from the tumbrel.
Both perceptions reflect two linked human phenomena, two fundamental desires masquerading as needs that have dogged society from tribal times: a visceral fear of freedom in a chaotic & terrifying world & a corresponding desire to be led safely though it by a strong leader. The first contains our seemingly inexhaustible capacity for shock & disappointment when the Great & the Good exhibit the very venal frailties that we possess & from which we seek salvation through their enlightened leadership. The second contains the very same sense of loss & desolation but with the veneer of innocence & optimism stripped away. Still the heart breaks but where the one weeps the other sneers.
George W. Bush & Tony Blair represent near perfect paradigms of two of the most plausible modes of Western democratic leadership. Bush is the plain speaking, down-home, square-jawed populist. In his world intellect is a handicap; indeed, itís a blemish. Intellect is a cosmopolitan faculty; it smacks of a dangerous preoccupation with ideas, with scepticism, with the questioning of duly constituted authority. Ultimately it leads to a sort of languid degeneracy such as characterises the decaying cultures of Europe. Bush looks you in the eye & shakes you firmly by the hand & you know that heís going to fight your corner against all comers. For all the wealth that vigorous pursuit of the American Way has brought him, heís still a guy whoíll match you beer for beer in a packed bar when the World Series is showing. Honesty, sincerity, loyalty, consistency, courage, wisdom. He knows what you know & then a tad more. In that chaotic & terrifying world, heíll see you through because he understands that the truth is simple & the way is clear. Trust me, he says. I know what to do.
Blair is his Janus counterpart. Heís the educated, sophisticated, urbane, boyishly handsome Captain of Cricket & Head of Library. In his world intellect is an enabling faculty. Its incisive application makes it possible to chop logic ñ or, more accurately maybe, to slice it finely ñ so that an agenda for social transformation hitherto unimpeachable is transmogrified into a bundle of bland strategies to bring about slight alteration. Intellect permits, ultimately requires, the leader to uncouple policy from the passions that originally fired principles. This breed of leader pursues with fanatical zeal that most ideologically arid of p-words, pragmatism. Whether across the table from blue-veined, bloodshot old school Tory, or bright-eyed, pure-hearted student activist, or sharp-nosed, cued-up interviewer, Blair presents the same persona. The eyes fix the interlocutor; the tenor voice is quiet but insistent, urgent even; the words flow rapidly & fluently, vocabulary apposite, clauses complex but elegant & lucid. Every statement rings with rationality, an overwhelming sense of utter conviction. In that chaotic & terrifying world heíll see you through because he understands that the truth is not always simple & the way is not always clear. But trust me, he says. I know what to do.
And so we do, each & every time. We place into the hands of men & women driven by dark, self-seeking needs, motives & imperatives our most precious commodity, our personal autonomy. And with it goes our capacity to explore what freedom really means & how we might utilise it responsibly within a social context. Our fear of freedom both creates the conditions for & the agents of our own oppression.
I donít pretend to know the answers to the overwhelming dilemma of the fear of freedom & the corresponding need for leaders. Unlike Bush & Blair I don't possess the deranged gift of absolute certainty. But I do understand the question. We all do every time we query dishonesty, cant & betrayal on the part of those into whose hands we place our freedom. Once again, the race is between enlightenment & oblivion.
