Of all the various depredations of the Bush regime, none has been so thorough as its plundering of hope. Iraq will recover sooner. What was supposed to have been the crux of our foreign policy—a shock-and-awe tutorial on the utter futility of any opposition to the whims of American power—has achieved its greatest and perhaps its only lasting success in the American soul. You will want to cite the exceptions, the lunch-hour protests against the war, the dinner-party ejaculations of dissent, though you might also want to ask what substantive difference they bear to grousing about the weather or even to raging against the dying of the light—that is, to any ritualized complaint against forces universally acknowledged as unalterable. Bush is no longer the name of a president so much as the abbreviation of a proverb, something between Murphy’s Law and tomorrow’s fatal inducement to drink and be merry today.
If someone were to suggest, for example, that we begin a general strike…how readily and with what well-practiced assurance would you find yourself producing the words “It won’t do any good”? Plausible and even courageous in the mouth of a patient who knows he’s going to die, the sentiment fits equally well in the heart of a citizen-ry that believes it is already dead.
This is from the 2008 essay by Garret Keizer in Harper’s magazine, “Specific Suggestion: General Strike”. When I heard the Occupy Oakland encampment is planning a general strike for November 2nd, I knew I’d want to track this down. He’s writing about Dubya but his arguments in favor of a strike are just as compelling today…and his predictions about what the next presidency would bring are prescient.
If you’re on the fence about striking, you should read it. Or if you want to read one of the best essays I’ve ever read. I’ll be posting excerpts throughout the week.
