I was listening to the Bill Press show this morning on the way home from work, and the guest host was interviewing Naomi Wolf. Wolf has a new book coming out I look forward to getting, called The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. In it, she details, through a pretty extensive historical overview, the steps open societies take on the road to becoming dictatorial (she does a synopsis in this piece in the UK's Guardian newspaper). She doesn't mention one important piece, which I do believe we are witnessing here in the good old USA, the creation of a "Cult of Personality".
The phrase entered our lexicon after Nikita Kruschev denounced Stalin in the late-1950's. Part of the indictment was that Stalin had dispensed with concern for furthering socialism, raising himself above the pursuit of scientific socialism. The phrase has become a touchstone for analysis, and was even used in a great song by Living Colour, who opened its meaning to include not only Stalin and Mussolini, but Mohandas Ghandi and JFK. The video and audio also include clips of MLK and Malcolm X. Very disturbing precisely because they have a point.
With a die-hard core of supporters, roughly 27-34% of those polled, the Bush Presidency is, at least, consistent in its lack of appeal. For all that, however, those die-hard supporters, not just in the mainstream press, but in the blogosphere as well, refuse to admit that he or his Administration have ever, even once, done anything wrong. While the rest of us find him at turns frustrating, infuriating, and a source of amusement (like most small children), for some, he simply can do no wrong.
The most important myth-creator of them all is William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard. Kristol is a former aide to Dan Quayle (he apparently didn't teach Quayle how to spell), and is the son of original neo-cons Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving Kristol (an example of his drooling sycophancy can be read here). One thing that is important to understand about the rise of the neo-cons is that the original group, including Norman Podhoretz, Kristol, and Michael Novak, were all originally leftists. Kristol and Podhoretz were actually communist fellow-travelers for a time. At a point in American history when communism was fashionable among a small group of intellectual leftists, there were splits due to the various contortions forced upon Party members because of, first, the Trotskyites, then the Nazi-Soviet pact followed by the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Nazis. The intellectual dishonesty forced upon thinking individuals became too much to bear (along with personal animosities spawned by abstruse theoretical debates between various Party factions), and many people drifted away. Yet, certain habits die hard, among them a disdain for democracy, a love of intrigue at the expense of openness, and a war-mongering that is tireless in its pursuit of enemies.
Kristol the Younger is the inheritor of a tradition steeped in toeing an ideological line without reference to anything external. The development of a Cult of Personality centered on our current President makes sense in light of the neo-conservative rootedness in Stalin's thug-like ruling of the Comintern. For those for whom ideology and power are more important than people and democracy, it makes sense to "Now Praise Famous Men" at the expense of democratic norms. As Bush's numbers continue to inhabit the cellar, Republicans may increasingly feel frustrated they have tied their wagon to this particular horse. The problem, however, is that they have little choice. The results are the slow withering not just of American republican institutions and our democratic civic culture, but of the Republican Party.
While this is a dangerous trend (as insidious as it is disastrous for our democratic way of life), it can be countered not just by naming it, but through the simple process of derision. Moreso than analytical arguments, just making fun of how insipid, ridiculous, ignorant, befuddled, and out-of-touch President Bush is can help break the spell those weavers of tall tales like Kristol attempt to foist upon us. This does not mean we dispense with analytical criticisms. We should just supplement them with a good old-fashioned satirical expose of what a comical fellow Bush is. Not only does the Emperor have no clothes; he has no personality, either.
