The Most Dangerous Administration of the History of the U.S.A.

Larry Hufford[*]

 

January 20, 2009 will bring to an end the most dangerous administration in the history of the United States of America. Historically, there are two countries. One is the secular constitutional republic which is the United States of America.  The other is the messianic, mythical country that is “America”.  This is the country through which God works to spread the “good news” to the world. The secular constitutional republic is not threatening to the rest of the world. America, on the other hand, is threatening since Divine Providence has chosen this nation to remake the world in His image. This can be seen historically in westward expansion, White Man’s Burden, Manifest Destiny, and over the last eight years in the neo-conservative policy of the Bush-Cheney Administration.

My reasoning for stating the Bush-Cheney Administration is the most dangerous in our history is the merging of three forms of fundamentalism. One is a foreign policy rooted in the Leo Strauss neo-conservative fundamentalist theory. The second is an economic fundamentalism rooted in a literal translation of Milton Friedman’s economic philosophy, and the third is Christian evangelical fundamentalism. The synthesis of these three forms of fundamentalism created a globally expansionist and militaristic foreign policy, a push to deregulate the economy while continuing to lower taxes and a messianic end times theology that denied humankind’s role in global warming, justified a preventive war in Iraq along with an open ended global war on terrorism. As a result, the image of the United States is politically, economically and culturally bankrupt. The US currently has an $800 billion debt related to the war in Iraq with experts suggesting the final cost could approach $2 trillion. We now have a $700 billion bail out for corporate America’s unethical, greedy actions in the financial sector. And, finally, the Christian evangelical religious right remains the greatest influence in the Republican Party. 

Globally, Western civilization has known five universalist cultures: ancient Greece, ancient Rome, medieval Christianity and Islam, and the Enlightenment. Three were secular, two religious. Each brought gifts to the world, yet each also brought great suffering. At present, I would argue, we are living through a sixth universal order: global market fundamentalism. It threatens all things local, traditional and particular. At the time many nations are trying to transition from authoritarian to more democratic forms of government, economic and financial globalization means that leaders of these countries have very little influence over the national economy. This is a recipe for people losing hope that political democracy will positively change the reality in which they live.

The recent presidential campaign in the United States demonstrated that race and religious bigotry is alive and well in the country. Benjamin Barber has written that the United States often refers to itself as a model of multiculturalism, yet shows little respect for cultural diversity or religious heterogeneity when they lie outside the American imagination. This will become more evident as increasing numbers of non-Western, non-Christian immigrants enter the United States. What the above illustrates is the fact that the United States of America continues to have internal problems that make it a poor role model for emerging democracies. Without doubt, “America” is not, and never has been, a role model for countries unless they are expansionist and imperialistic.

The above analysis presents a bleak picture of the United States of America. Yet, in the face of the Bush-Cheney fundamentalist regime, I remain hopeful about the country’s future. Throughout the United States and world there is a growing understanding on the grassroots level that there is a need to create relationships and communities rooted in covenants rather than contracts. Jonathan Sacks writes that contracts are limited to specific conditions and circumstances, while covenants are relational, that is, they affirm the common good. Contracts create states, covenants create communities. In covenants relationships that promote the dignity and integrity of the other cannot be based upon economic, political, military or cultural power. The use of power is ruled out by the requirement of human dignity. In other words, if the United States and another country are linked because of US military or economic might then citizens of the United States have secured their freedom at the expense of citizens of the other country.  A covenant is action designed to create trust that will be realized in mutual fidelity. 

Democratic outcomes depend on democratic struggle and the readiness of citizens to wage it. The countervailing force to the messianic mythical “America” is global civic engagement recognized as preventive democracy. Fear reduces citizens to spectators. Fear is disempowering making individuals feel helpless. Global civic engagement can build walls around fear and is democracy in action. Citizens of the United States must assume the responsibility for organizing covenants on the community level and through these communities pressure national leaders to reject “America” while working to strengthen the secular constitutional republic. Globally, citizens of other countries must do the same.  Through the creation of covenants new global relationships can emerge rooted in a respect for diversity, trust, recognition of human dignity and a rejection of relationships rooted in power and fear. Responsibility lies within each of us requiring that we work and organize cooperatively to find and promote a local, national and global common good.