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Asked if his films represented an apocalyptic vision of the future, Ken Jacobs, currently one of the leading and most prolific avant-garde filmmakers in America, looked stunned. He paused, laughed and responded that such a question conjured an image for him: a Republican, standing on scorched earth.
That scathing response painted a vivid and terrifying image in my mind, one that eschews partisanship in favor of a far more damning critique of the current state of our country’s politics.
I saw a lone political figure, on either the left or right, standing firm in the rigidity of their political beliefs and ideological stances. Surrounding them, nothing but the vastness of the chaos and destruction left behind. Planted firmly in the ground, an American flag.
Then, I thought of a close friend, a self-described Libertarian and Republican. I thought about numerous debates where it seems we reach agreement on the ends if not the political means to get there.
I sat down with this friend Atlee and asked him to share his views on Obama nearly one year later, the current state of our two political parties, and the problems facing our country.
On being Republican
Well, I see myself as a sort of old fashioned, small government Republican, which may be something of a mythical beast, but I believe that essentially the Republican concept is one of a democratic republic, with a limited highly checked government to provide a basic bed for people to make money and live according to their own desires.
I think that they still have that in them. They just got sidetracked on some false ideal of an America that is moralistic, clean, and orderly
You speak of part of Reagan’s coalition where we saw the rise of evangelical Christians as a political force?
Yeah, and you can’t blame them for mining an electorate, but they have done it at the cost of betraying their core beliefs.
Are the two necessarily antithetical?
I’ve always found a great conflict between the idea that you shouldn’t let government control your business world but that it can control your moral world...
In a libertarian, or classically conservative mindset, control from government in either side of life is an unwelcome presence.
I think it is very hypocritical to preach about the evils of small government whilst supporting intrusive laws against immigration, abortion, gay marriage etc....But, the idea of supporting a party built on the premise of a larger more “giving” and more “controlling” government is impossible for me.
So issues like gay rights are non-issues for you? Abortion?
Social issues should be decided where they belong, in the society. That’s why we have federal and local courts. If courts in Mississippi want to outlaw abortion, well, so be it. It will either help or hurt them, and then be re-decided at a later date. But, the federal government just shouldn’t be spending their time on this. And, I think Americans have fatigue from hearing about it…
On Obama…
One year into Obama’s presidency, how’s he doing?
As far as Obama is concerned, I think as an international statesman he is doing quite well. But I think on a domestic front he’s had a lot of trouble coming
up with real meaningful policy, and he has spent way too much on that policy.
I was never and am not now a proponent of a socialized medical care system, or for the supposed economy stimulating “New Deal” style infrastructure projects proposed early on in his first year. But, the real shame is that when these bills actually came to a construction phase, Obama really lacked the political force to get them passed as envisioned.
These policies started in kind of center, Keynesian mindset and ended up as a hopelessly compromised congressional mess.
It does seem that his advocacy for a health care public option, for instance, never seemed strong as Bush’s support for his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
We have so-called conservative congressional Democrats seemingly afraid to really commit. What’s the matter with the Democratic Party?
Yeah, I mean the only thing holding them back is lack of conviction to do something that they believe in, that could also get a lot of them voted out.
Like anyone else, they have trouble sticking their necks out against the demands of their lobbying interests to do something that they think is truly important.
On top of that, they just naturally get punished for soaring rhetoric. Obama did a great job convincing the public that these programs were a good thing, but then he basically handed over the work to his party majority in Congress who promptly compromised the hell out of the very premise. I think that this has created a sort of class of political refugees that didn’t realize they were actually signing on for politics as usual.
On the most important issues facing the country
1) Government spending, like anyone else—including the Dems during the Bush years— and the prospect of the country sliding further in to trillions of dollars of debt scares the crap out of me.
2) Medical care, no matter what side of this a person is on. It is so important that it gets real and functional reform. I fear that the massive bills we’ve seen come out of both houses is falling tremendously short of that.
3) Domestic economy, rebuilding American industry and figuring out—hopefully through a good national dialogue—what parts of this country do we still believe in. Or to put it simply the great regulatory debate…
The only reason I place it at number three is that I have a good amount of faith that we are at our core still “a fight for your right,” “American dream” kind of society and that our economy will to some extent fix itself.
For me, regulation and jobs trump spending with health care at number one.
Like I said, I see it as a more important issue. I just have more faith it will turn out okay.
Arguably. Still, I want to see the sensible Glass-Steagal Act that was put in place in the Great Depression to prevent banks from becoming too big to fail reinstated in order to prevent this type of economic disaster from happening once more.
Well see, the reason I’m not in favor of that is that it sets a cap and I don’t really believe in ceilings or floors. I’ve always just been angered by the bailouts. These institutions wouldn’t get this stupidly big if we’d just let them go out of business when they screwed up and just made them keep more cash on hand to limit the leveraging.
But, I think either way you look at it, there is a consensus that the banks got to be too big...
On the Democrats
Why not just join the Democratic Party, a suggestion I’m sure many of your friends on the right might make considering your stances on social issues and refusal to scream ‘socialist’ at Obama?
It comes back to that central question, large benevolent government, or a slim “basic services” government.
I still think the central theme of the Republican Party, buried deep below all this moral show boating, is an ideal that the government has no right to intrude on your personal life.
That is why I think the social issues have lost Republicans many core voters that they had and who now indentifying themselves as independents or libertarians.
I might just have a foolish belief that staying in is the right thing to do. That if it is ever going to get back to what it used to stand for that I have to stick around, vote in primaries, and make my opinion noted…
And no matter how socially liberal I am, I cannot support the core ideal of the Democratic Party. If they lost me to anywhere, it would be the middle..
On the country
Do you have faith that our country can sit down together the way you and I often times manage to do and have an honest conservation about our politics and the issues facing our country without screaming at each other?
Well, I think a lot of people are, just like we’ve found ourselves, having a bit more common ground than usual, out of some sense of general disillusionment.
My fear is that Congress, with their soapbox cohort on cable TV, are incapable of the conversation.
Politics has become too much of a spectator sport. The two teams, or parties, and their very own version of ESPN—MSNBC/FOX/CNN/ETC.— focus too much on the daily battles and not enough on the grand scheme.
Agreed. I hope they start taking such matters more seriously. I just read this morning one in four children in America are on food stamps, one in eight adults.
This is where both parties have failed this year. The Democrats are too charitable—read as pandering— and Republicans are too cold. I really think the Republicans have a chance of a life time to stand up and say, ‘we’re putting the moral issues aside, rolling up our sleeves and getting to work tightening the belt of government, just as the American people have had to tighten theirs.’
It’s a chance for Republicans to take back their image of pragmatism and do the responsible thing.
The party and/or politician who taps into that mood wins the next decade in American politics.
Agreed, I just don’t know where it will come from. Sometimes it makes you wish we could just start from scratch.
James is a MA student in screen studies and English. He received his B.A. in film studies and political science from the University of Oklahoma.
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