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Sent from: swb1@cornell.edu (Scott W Brim) [ Excerpts from a message from Phil Agre <pagre@weber.ucsd.edu> ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > Date: Wed, 21 Feb 96 12:09 PST > Sent-from: joec@cts.com (Joe Costello) The Growing Reactionary Response to the Electronic Future Having formerly spent a decade in American electoral politics, as a self-described progressive Democrat, watching Pat Buchanan brings on mixed feelings of revulsion and understanding. Buchanan has aptly been compared to the American Populists at the turn of the last century. The Populists were a reaction to America's transformation from an agrarian society to an industrial society. The change caused massive dislocation, hardship, and an unprecedented concentration of wealth and power. Once again the U.S. faces a massive societal shift as we enter the post-industrial era. Buchanan has tapped into the exposed nerve of American politics. The slow but steady decline of the American middle-class as the American Empire fractures, and electronic technology brings the industrial era to an end. Buchanan is more honest than most recent American politicians, with his assessment of the causes of an increasingly anxious segment of the American populous. Unfortunately, like the classic demagogue, he plays to people's fears and distress, implementing the politics of scapegoating and malevolence. Buchanan's rallying cry of American nationalism is part of a resurgent nationalist tide rising across the globe. We are increasingly a global society. However, the political power structures across the globe remain national institutions. What Buchanan shows is that nationalism is not going to just disappear. In fact, in the near future, it is going to be a strong force that will have to be recognized and confronted. It will be used, and is begin used, by xenophobes across the planet as means to keep and gain power. It will take a great deal of education to rid the world of the ignorance of a bankrupt 19th Century philosophy. A global village needs a new ethic of humanity. An understanding that our long history of separate development is quickly coming to an end, and that our differences of culture, creed, and race pale in comparison to the commonality of the human experience. Buchanan addresses the decline of American industrial employment and the growing power of mega -corporations. In the last two decades, the American economy has seen a drastic reduction of manufacturing jobs. The productivity gains of automation have overwhelmingly benefited a small group of people. Even in the 1920's, Henry Ford understood he needed someone to buy his cars. Thus, he made sure he paid his employees enough to afford the products they produced. This lesson seems lost on Fortune 500 today. The Progressive movement at the turn of the century grew out of the Populist movement. It was Republican Theodore Roosevelt who formed the Progressive party. Progressives confronted the unbridled power of the burgeoning modern industrial corporation. It is no surprise that after the collapse and death of the modern Democratic party, the last heirs of Progressive philosophy, a movement would grow to question the power of the new leviathan corporations It has been an article of faith amongst the cyber community that this new technology would lead to decentralization. There has been a large voice against the centralization of power in the government, but only a notable few have questioned the increasing centralization of power in the corporate towers of the Fortune 500. Recently, the Internet was a buzz with indignation for the signing of the Telecommunications Bill. Gathered in the Library of Congress, which was started with a donation by Thomas Jefferson of his library, were the CEOs of every major Telecommunications firm. Tongues out, eyes bulging with visions of hard drives filled with cyber-cash, they applauded as their marionette signed one of the most egregious attacks on the First Amendment in history. Oh the outcry from the cyber community against the wicked Federal government, but the silence against the role of the modern media barons was more deafening. Pat Buchanan represents a growing fear and anger amongst an increasingly large segment of American society. It is composed of people who do not look to the future with hope or wonder. They feel increasingly disempowered and confused. The old rules for getting by in life no longer seem to work. The growing anger and frustration is ripe for demagoguery, and it will not go away by wishing it away. Historically, great societal transformations like the present have been accompanied by tremendous disorder and violence. Those who wish for a democratic future, and see the promises of tomorrow, must begin to educate and organize. We must look not only at the new society being birthed, but must pay increasing attention to the death of the old. Joe Costello Foundation Communications joec@cts.com http://www.cts.com/browse/joec/index.html 619-464-7666 <<End excerpts from Phil Agre>>