Bush World: Here and Now
Dr. Gerry Lower, Keystone, South Dakota
Bush Watch, www.bushwatch.com

There is an old aphorism which states that all good philosophy begins with the Here and Now. That is true insofar as good philosophy starts with recognition of actual problems in the Here and Now. Good philosophy then proceeds to explain the What, How and Why of those problems by examining their natural history and evolution with an eye toward comprehending causation. Solutions, preferably preventive, involve intervention with specific processes involved in either causation or œ course in the overall causal fabric.

Translation: If you have rats in the house, you best be learning how they are getting in so that you can implement an effective preventive intervention (which provides a much cleaner solution than buying rat poison as an after-the-horrible-fact therapy.

Although good philosophy does start with the Here and Now, this does not imply at all that the Here and Now is a good place to be. Sometimes it is not so bad and sometimes it is not so good, as a function of prevailing political realities. In the physical sense, the Here and Now is the only place possible to be. In the philosophical sense, the Here and Now is where to begin but it is the worst place to be, because solutions to problems require thinking outside of this tiny box in which time is not particularly relevant. All western religious world views are built upon the ancient Hebrew Here and Now, where time is not a serious consideration. Indeed, the western world did not really get into the concept of time until Galileo figured out a way to measure small amounts of it in order to comprehend ballistics.

Most Americans, of course, are intimately familiar with the Here and Now. We have been, since World War II, raised to live mostly in that world, as if there were no yesterday and maybe no tomorrow, and certainly no source of nourishment apart from money. In this highly exclusionary world, we are lost from our own roots and we have, therefore, no vision. We are proud American pragmatists, so savvy and self-assured by our wealth and dominion that we do not need to ask Why questions anymore. Life in the Here and Now prevents its inhabitants from learning anything, for millennia on end, since every morning they get up, they are back in the Here and Now, no necessary relationships to yesterday, therefore no plan for tomorrow.

But there is, of course, always a Why beneath every situation in this world and if we fail to examine and adduce that Why, we simply end up having someone else's Why imposed upon us, e.g., the Why beneath Bush's pre-meditated, pre-emptive war on Iraq, a Why that is properly impossible for honest, thoughtful and caring people to abide. Getting a realistic handle on Why is a function of how much time we are willing to embrace in our thought, whether or not we are embracing adequate time to encompass causation.

THE HERE AND NOW VIEW: From the narrow perspectives of the Here and Now, our current situation in America is seen as just a continuation of post World War II capitalism, Republicans versus Democrats. In this view, nothing has really changed in America and nothing ever will. The political pendulum will eventually swing back Demward and we will return to some sort of capitalistic "normalcy." In the meantime, we will ride out Bush's dalliance with neo-imperialism for better or worse.

Neither of these potential outcomes derived from Here and Now views is likely to be an option for America, given the despotic nature of current "leadership." Yet, here is where most Americans typically remain with their heads, not seeing at all the historical and evolutionary enormity of our current American problems. In effect, most Americans keep themselves removed from any and all larger levels of awareness that threaten the utility of denial and ignorance and the religious ground upon which they justify themselves, time frames that threaten the Here and Now views that sustain the "American Way."

THE HISTORICAL VIEW: From larger historical perspectives embracing the past two centuries of American democracy, our current situation is seen as the culmination of the battle between American (Jeffersonian) values speaking on behalf of democracy and the people and British (Hamiltonian) values speaking on behalf of profits and the corporate aristocracy. Hamiltonian values have now totally eclipsed Jeffersonian values and American Democracy is in a state of full crisis, having come full circle to reside upon the despotic ground from which it extracted itself 200 years ago. For Democracy to prevail, as it will, right wing political philosophy will have to discredit itself in American eyes. In launching its preemptive war on Iraq, the right wing has already accomplished this in everyone's eyes but their own.

THE EVOLUTIONARY VIEW: From larger evolutionary perspectives embracing the past two millennia of western cultural evolution, our current situation is seen as the culmination of the battle between Science and nascent Christianity (empiricism) and Religion (vengeance-based transcendentalism). Because Democracy is the political philosophy of Science, it is reassuring to recall that Science has never lost a battle to religion in explaining how the world works. For Science to prevail as a pan-cultural human knowledge base, as it will, supernatural religion will have to discredit itself in the eyes of the world. In driving the bulk of all political violence, the three supernatural branches of western religion, i.e., Judaism, Islamism and "compassionate" conservatism ("American" neo-JudeoRomanism) have already accomplished this in everyone's eyes but their own.

Insofar as good philosophy begins with the Here and Now, we can also ask where bad philosophy begins. With the Bush administration as a proud exemplar, one can state immediately that bad philosophy begins with the failure to recognize actual problems in the Here and Now (especially those problems resulting from one's own policies) and with the fabrication of non-existent problems in the Here and Now (especially those problems which coerce the people's support). As a result, actual problems go ignored (e.g., terrorism) and manufactured problems (e.g., war on Iraq) waste our national time, effort and resources, not to mention our good name.

Knowledge of causation in Bush world is restricted to "timeless" (see what I mean) supernatural religious understandings of good and evil. The cause of moral decay in America is seen as the result of the (necessary) American departure from traditional religious values (e.g., absolutism, despotism). America, we are told, needs to return to religious despotism in order to restore American morality in the form of enforced legal/penal code. This "logic" says that we must eliminate Jefferson's Christian wall ("Render unto Caesar ...") between church and state , we must destroy religious freedom in order to impose neo-JudeoRomanism on the people in the name of a "controlled" American society. It would never occur to these fools that the moral decay of America is more related to capitalism's ludicrous notions of fairness and decency and its devastating impact on working people and their families.

Having no causal grasp of actual problems (e.g., greed-driven capitalism's creation of the largest gap between haves and have nots in human history), bad philosophy then proceeds to apply failed religious attitudes and approaches to solve fabricated problems (e.g., self-righteous lies and fabrications in legitimizing preemptive war on Iraq).

In other words, bad philosophy begins with failed old ideas employed to solve Here and Now problems that are only percieved to exist or are fabricated into existence, all the while that actual problems go ignored. Now, that is truly bad philosophy, essentially a greed-driven and power-driven psychosis characteristic of those driven by fundamentalist western religion.

The problem resides in how we Americans are looking at the problem, the nature of which is a function of how much time we embrace in our thought. The further we get from the Here and Now, the deeper and broader is our understanding of the current American situation.

The Bush administration is literally locked into the ancient Hebrew Here and Now where the history of religion and Science and Democracy will not get in their way. Having lived in that tiny world for decades as a result of capitalism's imposition of relative mindlessness, it has been easy to coerce most Americans into Here and Now support.

The further we remove our thought from the Here and Now, the more significance must be assigned to our current situation. The further we remove our thought from the Here and Now, the uglier the Bush administration becomes, as it plays out its self-assigned religious role to eliminate evil in the world, ultimately eliminating vengeance-based religion, crony capitalism and itself. --06.18.03