on the brouhaha over the President of the United States addressing America’s public school children.
one of the few benefits of being a Cuban refugee is that for myself and, much more so, for my parents, totalitarianism isn’t a threat, it’s a reality. we’ve spent our lives coming to terms with dictatorship, doublespeak and the elimination of a public sphere (i.e., a society where there is no room for debate: you’re either with the party or you’re a traitor.)
i have no doubt that much of the right wing in the United States, as I’ve come to know it, shares key political values with the Castro regime. i am also confident that this minority would welcome any opportunity handed to it by external factors (geopolitics, economic turmoil, social instability) to usher in a novel and distinctly American totalitarian society, undoubtedly draped in rhetoric that contradicts its very goals. (for those who know Cuban politics, recall the joke about Castro the watermelon. also, to be clear: the right wing is often represented in and by the Republican Party but the two are not one and the same.)
in a free society, totalitarian movements create and rely upon a fantastical enemy in order to advocate for illiberal policies. nothing short circuits the gradual, conservative pace of a liberal democracy like the looming threat of an all-powerful and ruthless tyranny – a tyranny that calls for super-legal actions and unconstitutional measures.
during the last nine months, if not nine years, American politics have been increasingly influenced by just this sort of duplicitous rhetoric, the goal of which is to defend totalitarian values using the threat of totalitarianism as pretext. the right wing accuses its enemies of harboring intentions it cherishes and of exploiting tactics it would reserve for itself.
for example: the right wing is currently accusing the White House of using a Presidential address to school children as an occasion to advance the goals of socialism. never mind that the text of the address is Reaganism 101 – the importance of personal responsibility.
Because of the state’s size and statewide standards, Texas’s choice of school books is often adopted by state’s and school districts around the country. And the state is about to adopt a policy only to adopt textbooks which teach students to “identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority.”
in fact, the right wing has explicitly and effectively targeted public schools for decades through school board elections, legislation and lawsuits over curricula. when unable to take over public schools, they’ve pushed for home schooling and school vouchers to create state licensed or state funded alternatives that advance their political ideology.
the complaints over this President’s address are thus an expression of genuine fear: the fear of effective competition. this President has risen to the highest rank in American society not by being born into the right family, but by his wits and eloquence. the last thing an authoritarian movement can countenance is a charismatic president who embodies a liberal agenda of universal rights.
without so much as a single word, this President exposes the lie of prejudice: that a man can be judged by rumor and reputation rather than by his own words and deeds. and when this President does speak, the jig is up: