Shame on California, Shame on Us

I remember when Prop. 8 passed I was in the Murray Ave. Grill with a bunch of Pittsburgh folks. No one seemed to pay much attention to the events in California because we were all freaking out that Obama was taking office. There was some hope, something better was coming. On November 4, 2008 paired with the good news, I had a sickening realization: we have learned very little despite the rhetoric of progress, our innocence, as Blake understood all too well, will be our end. Many friends and colleagues believe very deeply in cultural politics, and I think that they have there place, but I cannot help but see them as part of the problem. There is no question that politics has been de-politicized by republicans and democrats. Two parties inhabit out cultural imaginations limiting the political field making politics all too similar to religion. It seems as if the ease of identifying 'politically'--knowing your party, three or four catchphrases like small government or equality, and most importantly what you're against-- leaves out issues of policy, people, legislation, and purpose.

For our generation it is far too easy to mindlessly inhabit a position in the field of cultural politics or to excuse oneself completely by claiming to be a 'radical'. Politics are not easy and that is no accident--that is political. People say that the government doesn't work: that is total bullshit. The government does work but like any other institution it operates in concrete ways in budgets, policy decisions, and through active agents. Althusser and Foucault were just plain wrong about what we do about ISA's (I will stop there, if you want to talk to me about it I will buy you coffee or a beer). For the last 25 years there has been a largely right wing movement to insure the obscurity of the concrete movements of government by playing with cultural signification. During this time period the left, largely inhabiting the universities, played into this de-politicization of the political. Ironically this was achieved by turning to what we thought was politics. By theorizing justice, understanding subjects, deconstructing ideologies, and turning away from literature we thought we were getting somewhere. Meanwhile Clinton fucked the American worker, education lost more and more funding, Republicans and cooperate lobbyists insured markets were de-regulated, we continued to talk about the family, about values, etc. The 'trickle-down' effect of the lefts cultural turn only bolstered the right-wing's main message: government doesn't work.

But it does: yesterday California courts upheld the decision to ban same-sex marriage. I fear that this will just be gobbled up in a simple cultural manner where those of us who consider ourselves socially progressive get angry at conservatives, Christians, etc. This is a legitimate threat we should all fear. Hatred and ignorance will always exist in people but if they get a good education, live long enough, and free enough they will figure it out. These freedoms need protection. When we make hatred and ignorance policy and law we take a deep dive backwards into barbarism, we insure another century of blindness. In a free society laws are for protecting people not excluding them. We shouldn't be cynical seeing this as evidence of the government not working, instead we should be outraged at the way the government is being used.

I resent and deny the current political formations that put the left on the defensive--we have values, communities, and families too and we don't need to prove that. What we need to talk about is the concrete policies of the the centrists and right wingers. We need to make the values inherent in their policies and choices intelligible to everyone--there are things that are plain wrong to everyone. We need to talk about the continued exploitation of workers and the lower classes, we need to talk about funding cuts to education and the public sector, we need to expose the systematic ignorance that has been institutionalize, and the down right evil that has been carried out in the recent past, we need to organize beyond casual and comfortable cultural lines and start thinking and understanding our own government.

Please write to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Barack Obama and let them know how disappointed you are.