As an academic, I love to
play with ideas. Furthermore, as a
sociologist, I love conjuring with new ways of understanding how societies
operate. Putting these together, I have begun
a new theoretical project, i.e., trying to understand how societies change.
Consequently, several weeks
ago during a conversation with Daniel Papp, the president of Kennesaw State
University, I suggested that revolutions never work; that they never bring about
big changes. Dr. Papp immediately
corrected me. No, he essentially said,
they never bring about big positive
changes.
At first I was taken
slightly aback, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was
absolutely right. The French Revolution,
for example, did bring huge temporary changes, but these were drenched in blood
and shot through with injustices.
Once upon a time, before he
became a full-time administrator, Dr. Papp was an expert on the Soviet
Union. As such, one of his singular
achievements was predicting the regime’s downfall long before it occurred. The same sort of foresight should have been
possible for the rest of us regarding the debacles visited upon the United
States by Barack Obama.
Come to think of it, more
than a few of us predicted “hope and change” would come to no good. We Cassandra’s wondered, for instance, what
types of changes Obama had in mind. He
didn’t say—and most voters didn’t ask.
Change—any change— they assumed would be for the good.
So enthused were bystanders
with the soon-to-be president’s rhetoric that he was awarded a Nobel Peace
Prize for what he was going to do. Surely someone opposed to George W. Bush’s
military adventurism must reduce international tensions merely by bringing
American troops home.
So how has that worked out? With Syria aflame, Iraq lurching toward
anarchy, Iran poised to get the atomic bomb, Egypt enduring further repression,
the embers of Benghazi barely cooled, the Russian president disrespecting our
own with impunity, Korea tearing its dear leader’s opponents to pieces with
dogs, and China testing our political resolve at nearly every turn, have things
really improved?
Barack Obama may not be a
Moslem, but he has embraced the advice of radical Islamists that the United
States retreat from providing international leadership. Yet who now believes this was for the better?
How about at home? Remember that a nearly trillion-dollar
stimulus was going to create millions of jobs by paying for “shovel ready”
projects. Well, those projects weren’t
ready; nevertheless the president’s political allies were more than prepared to
scoop up the “honest graft” he dispensed.
Then, to be sure, there has
been ObamaCare. It promised a total
overhaul of the American medical system so that the uninsured would be covered. Instead many millions lost their insurance
and doctors, while millions of others will be jammed into a Medicaid system
that doesn’t have the resources to serve them.
Yes, this is change, but is
it an improvement? Obama and his
associates are betting that a surge in rhetoric will convince us it is. If they tell us often enough, and with
sufficient razzle-dazzle, we will no longer be deceived by our lying eyes. The young, especially, given their idealism
and lack of experience, will be persuaded the best is yet to come.
What Obama and his crowd
have never learned, and probably never will, is that large changes are fraught
with surprises. There are always unexpected consequences! Many of which can be very nasty!
Nonetheless, Obama and his
disciples believe he is brilliant. They
are convinced that his unrivaled insights and undoubted rhetorical skills can
get him (and us) out of any trouble that arises.
So batten down the
hatches. There is a blizzard of words
hanging just over the horizon. It is
upon this storm that the Bureaucratic (aka Democratic) Party is pinning its hopes. As for the rest of us, the best we can anticipate
is that our president will not cause too much additional damage during the next
three years.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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