The Secret of American Politics

 

The Secret of American Politics

Peter Schultz

 

            Here’s the secret of American politics that can’t be expressed without undermining the legitimacy of our governing elites and even the legitimacy of our allegedly exceptional way of life: The American political and social orders have functioned and are functioning as well as they do only by relying on force, deception, deceit, and cunning. To the contrary, it must be assumed and propagated that the American way of life is naturally stable, just, free, and prosperous,  and that these characteristics do not depend on force, deception, deceit, or cunning. As noted, the secret  - that in fact the American way of life depends on force, deception, deceit, and cunning – must be kept secret at all costs because once that secret is out, then the “American dream” will be recognized for what it really is, the American nightmare.

 

            So, some of the most important events in American history are to be seen as aberrations, e.g., crazy, lone gunmen murdering powerful public figures who were rebelling against, challenging the established order, the reigning elite, the oligarchy. Other events, like the Vietnam War, become “quagmires” that the nation was sucked into, not wars of choice undertaken for the sake of creating, preserving, fortifying the stability “the homeland,” the naturally peaceful, stable, prosperous, free, and just “homeland.”