Vol. 5 No. 3 July 2006
Uncommon Denominator
The
Newsletter of the Commonweal Institute
http://www.commonwealinstitute.org/
"It has been observed, that they
who most loudly
clamour
for liberty, do not most liberally grant it."
– Samuel Johnson, from the Life
of
CONTENTS
Talking Points:
Ghosts of
Wit and Wisdom:
Two choice quips
Quoted!
George Bush on global geography
Check It Out:
Environmental websites
Eye on the Right:
American authoritarianism
Featured
Article: "Why Conservatives Can’t Govern"
Happenings:
Monthly round-up
Endorsements:
David Brock
Get Involved:
Spread the word; become a contributor
Once upon a time, in a small
The fight took place at Covey’s home, a relatively modest brick manor called
"
Clearly there’s a story here, one involving race and power and history, but
just what that story amounts to is not entirely clear.
Not many people have taken note of the case, given the surfeit of other matters
to worry about nowadays, and those few who have taken note tend to fall into
either of two camps. A handful of lefty bloggers have suggested that there’s
something sinister about the historical coincidence, and that it’s "not
surprising" that Rumsfeld now owns the house
where so many slaves were beaten and broken. On the right, meanwhile, a few
commentators have suggested, predictably, that the New York Times
somehow endangered national security by including a photograph of
Some context, as always, is helpful. First, St. Michaels, whose local
economy long depended upon crabbing and oystering in
addition to farming, has undergone a remarkable transformation. In 1833, as
Douglass recalled in My Bondage and My Freedom, "[t]here were a few
comfortable dwellings in it, but the place, as a whole, wore a dull, slovenly,
enterprise-forsaken aspect." Moreover, a "drinking habit" had
set in among the population, such that "it was admitted, by the few sober,
thinking people who remained there, that St. Michael’s had become a very unsaintly, as well as an unsightly place." In the
decades following the Civil War, it began to appeal to well-heeled folk from
nearby cities who wanted a place to get away to. More recently, although its
population still barely clears a thousand inhabitants, it has become quite
fashionable indeed, with a number of high muckety-mucks
having bought in. In addition to Rumsfeld, these
include Vice President Dick Cheney and White House press secretary Tony Snow,
among others. It’s uncertain whether the town’s drinking habit has abated any.
We also need a good sense of who Edward Covey and
Frederick Douglass really were. Covey, as Douglass describes him, was a man
unusually fit for his job as a tamer of slaves. Cruel, hypocritically
religious, hyper-vigilant, and unyielding, "[h]e knew just what a man or
boy could do, and he held both to strict account" and "had the
faculty of making us feel that he was always present." We have no other
writings, unfortunately, that might contradict such a description, but we also
have no good reason not to believe Douglass’s account. And one thing is
certain: Covey played a vital and malignant role in the power structure of a slave
society. As for Douglass himself, it is important to have a clear understanding
of just how central, and remarkable, a figure he was in American history. Born
a slave, he went on to become one of the antislavery movement’s most effective
orators; an independent writer, editor, and publisher; an influential
autobiographer who powerfully shaped African American literature; a tireless
campaigner for civil rights after the Civil War; Recorder of Deeds for the
District of Columbia; U.S. Marshal; and U.S. ambassador to Haiti, among other
positions of public service.
So what does the purchase and refurbishing of the house by the Rumsfelds tell us? Why should we care? Why does it matter?
On a crude, practical level, perhaps it doesn’t matter. There’s certainly no
shortage of other things to be concerned about right now, and the question of
which politician owns what building can seem trivial next to such problems as
global warming or religious war in the
On a deeper level, however, the fate of
Here’s the rub. What the current state of
Secretary Rumsfeld himself might be responsive to
such an argument. On April 29, 2005, during an award ceremony for Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld had this to say about history: "History is
not always generous to the men and women who help to shape it. Great
abolitionists like John Quincy Adams and Frederick Douglass would not live to
see full equality for African Americans that they had envisioned and fought to
bring about." (Read the full transcript of the event, if you can stand it,
on the Department of Defense website at http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050429-secdef2622.html).
Indeed, history has not always been generous to its shapers! And one
of the main reasons for that is not just that the historical course of events
transcends the contributions of any single individual, but that we who are
responsible for preserving and understanding history often fail to give its
major figures their just due. Rumsfeld strained to
make this point about Wolfowitz ("History will
see Paul as one of the consequential thinkers and public servants of his
generation"), but perhaps he should have looked closer to home, so to
speak.
For would not the most fitting outcome for Mount Misery be as a museum
wherein a key moment from the country’s past can find its rightful place in the
public memory? The old Covey house, and the fight between slave and
slave-breaker that took place there, are together emblematic of two of the fundamental
themes of American history – on one hand, the horrors of bigotry, racial
oppression, and legally sanctioned violence, and on the other hand, the
nobility of the struggle against unjust authority. Our democracy has had to
fight many such battles, and Douglass’s defeat of Covey symbolizes perhaps the
most important dimension of the struggle, that of the fight against
"Still no letup in the
"President Bush says he is personally working on a solution for global
warming. He says thanks to Republicans, soon every
American will receive a voucher for a free popsicle." — Jay Leno
"
The Commonweal Institute is seeking a few volunteers to help map the
social networks among progressive organizations. This is a good opportunity
to strengthen the progressive movement, learn about social networks and network
analysis, and do a short-term volunteer project in your own home during the
next month or two. As a volunteer, you will be asked to contact individuals via
e-mail and telephone interviews and to assist them in completing a short
questionnaire. This volunteer work will require that you be comfortable doing
phone interviews, using e-mail and Excel (no mathematics involved), have
unlimited or generous telephone minutes available for long-distance calls, and
be available to make calls during business hours (M-F, 9-5) to various parts of
the country. A total of 100 questionnaires will be completed; the more
volunteers we have and the more time they can put in, the faster we can get
this work done. If you are interested in volunteering for the social network
project, please contact Kate Forrest at 650-854-9796 or kforrest@commonwealinstitute.org.
As part of our ongoing effort to help people understand the specifics of
environmental change in the modern world, particularly global warming, the Uncommon
Denominator would like to recommend two websites that help bring the
subject to life.
The first is NASA’s "Scientific Visualization Studio," at http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/search/mostrecent.html,
which provides a wealth of information about conditions on the planet’s surface
and in its atmosphere, including sea temperature, storms, ozone levels, precipitation,
deforestation, fires, and arctic ice levels, among others. The mission of the
studio is "to facilitate scientific inquiry and outreach within NASA
programs through visualization. To that end, the SVS works closely with
scientists in the creation of visualization products, systems, and processes in
order to promote a greater understanding of Earth." The result is a
fascinating repository of images and ongoing scientific imaging projects that
is both educational and entertaining, both inspiring and sobering.
The second recommended website is the "Ecological Footprint Quiz,"
at http://myfootprint.org, which allows
you to calculate, roughly, how much "nature" your lifestyle requires,
and to translate that into how many planets would be required to sustain
humanity if everybody used the same amount of natural resources. In 2005, the
organization that designed the quiz, Redefining Progress, discovered that
humanity’s ecological footprint is about 57 acres per person, while Earth’s
biological capacity is just 41 acres per person – a 40% ecological
"overshoot" that means we should all, as individuals, start living
within our means.
Two very interesting sites. Check ‘em out.
Recent years have made dramatically apparent what many people have suspected
for a long time – that American conservatism is highly authoritarian, that it
has become more so, and that, most troublingly, it displays an orientation
toward "the authoritarian personality" who commands excessive
obedience or loyalty by followers. There is also extensive research that backs
up this claims. In his new book, "Conservative
Without Conscience," former Nixon counsel
John Dean reports on 50 years of academic research which has found that
conservatives are much more likely to follow authoritarian leaders, and that
about 25% of Americans are hardcore conservatives who will follow an
authoritarian leader no matter what. These findings, Dean argues, provide
crucial context for understanding the sharp rightward trend in modern American
politics, the rhetorical strategies of elected conservatives, and the potential
consequences for our society.
In a remarkable interview with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann,
Dean says that "[t]here’s no question that, particularly the followers,
they’re very aggressive in their effort to pursue and help their authority
figure out or authority beliefs out. They will do what ever needs to be done in
many regards. They will blindly follow. They stay loyal too long and this is
the frightening part of it."
Both the video and a transcript of the interview
are available at:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_50_year_study_says_conservatives_0711.html
The following is an excerpt from Alan Wolfe’s "Why Conservatives
Can’t Govern," which appears in the July/August 2006 issue of Washington
Monthly.
"Contemporary conservatism is first and foremost about shrinking the
size and reach of the federal government. This mission, let us be clear, is an
ideological one. It does not emerge out of an attempt to solve real-world
problems, such as managing increasing deficits or finding revenue to pay for
entitlements built into the structure of federal legislation. It stems, rather,
from the libertarian conviction, repeated endlessly by George W. Bush, that the
money government collects in order to carry out its business properly belongs
to the people themselves. One thought, and one thought only, guided Bush and
his Republican allies since they assumed power in the wake of Bush vs. Gore:
taxes must be cut, and the more they are cut – especially in ways benefiting the
rich – the better.
"But like all politicians, conservatives, once in office, find
themselves under constant pressure from constituents to use government to
improve their lives. This puts conservatives in the awkward position of
managing government agencies whose missions – indeed, whose very existence –
they believe to be illegitimate. Contemporary conservatism is a walking
contradiction. Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it,
conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for
political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very
thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but
more incompetent government.
"‘Ideas,’ a distinguished conservative named Richard Weaver once wrote,
‘have consequences.’ Americans have learned something about the consequences of
conservative ideas during the Bush years that they never had to confront in the
more amiable Reagan period. As a way of governing, conservatism is another name
for disaster. And the disasters will continue, year after year, as long as
conservatives, whose political tactics are frequently as brilliant as their
policy-making is inept, find ways to perpetuate their power."
Read the whole article at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0607.wolfe.html.
Democracy Fest – Commonwel Institute
Executive Director Laurie Spivak and Co-Founder
Katherine Forrest spoke at the the third annual
Democracy Fest, held July 14-16 in
Media Exposure – CI Fellow Dave Johnson has been invited to serve as
a regular contributor to the Huffington
Post, an online progressive periodical. One of his recent posts, "The Swiftboaters Are Back in the Water," analyzes the
political tactic of "swiftboating" that the
Republicans used so successfully against John Kerry and have subsequently used
against other Democratic candidates, and can be read at: www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/the-swiftboaters-are-back_b_25223.html.
Another of his essays, "Survivor
New Associates – The Commonweal Institute is proud to welcome Dahvi Wilson and Jeni Krencicki as associates. Dahvi
Wilson is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Management
at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where she has been
researching the development of the modern progressive movement and seeking to
develop new solutions for encouraging strategic coordination within the
progressive community. She also serves on the planning committee of the Next
Generation Leadership Retreat with the Center for Whole Communities, the planning
committee of Inspiring America, and the planning team of a Yale speaker series
titled, "Shades of Green: Recognizing Diverse Environmental Leaders."
She is beginning work with Redefining Progress to organize a gathering of
progressive think tank leaders. Jeni Krencicki is currently pursuing a Master's degree in
Environmental Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
While at Yale, she has been busy creating and co-teaching the university’s
first course addressing the environmental impacts of war and militarization, as
well as working closely with classmate Dahvi Wilson
on the "Progressive Synergy Project," an effort to design an
innovative organizing model for increased collaboration within the Progressive
movement. Her political experience includes working as an in-house consultant
to Environment2004, coordinating the national environmental outreach for the
Gore 2000 campaign, serving as a Bessette-Kennedy
Fellow in Public Policy with the California Democratic Party, and working as a
Conservation Organizer with the Sierra Club.
Recognition for Leonard Salle – The California State Assembly
adjourned in memory of the late Leonard Salle, CI’s President and Co-Founder,
on May 18. The Assemblypersons who proposed this honor were Ira Ruskin (of
southern
"For all of us who are tired of being on the receiving end of the
Republican Noise Machine’s ongoing assault, the Commonweal Institute has
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Matters for
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© 2006 The Commonweal Institute
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