Guest Writer, Digby Wren: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, the republican experiment in light of recent events
For the second time since the American Civil War the Capitol Building that houses Congress in Washington DC was overrun by partisans (Refer foot note). Militant supporters of the nations 45th president, Donald Trump, entered the building with little opposition from security personnel and, for the first time in US history, senators cowered in the senate chamber before being rushed to secure quarters. The presidents statements at a Washington DC political rally earlier in the day was filled with the language of political subversion, opposition party abuse and the false narrative of a ‘stolen’ election. US presidents have long resorted to such language to justify foreign trade coercion, political subversion and military interventions. However, in the 244 year history of the Republic, no previous president has instigated or incited insurrection or sedition domestically.
For those witnessing the events in Washington, concern hinges on the balance between democratic politics and the struggle between interests and survival. For the victims of American foreign policy enforced through violence, impoverishment and destitution, the sword of justice has descended upon the ‘Great Satan’. For the political elites in nations far and wide who have benefitted from American largesse and protection, fear of reprisal from political opponents and loss of status and power concern them most. For publics and elites in relatively stable and independent nations, regardless of their political systems, destabilisation of the multilateral global order and their position within that system is most worrying.
American decline has been much discussed in political, corporate and academic circles since at least the Anti-American war in Vietnam. The decline, has been most obvious in the US share of global wealth, whether by trade or manufacture and, the value of the US dollar since the 1970’s. In his 1961 farewell address, then president Eisenhower, warned the nation of the conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry and its total influence - economic, political, even spiritual - being felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. American power, said Eisenhower, must balance between the private and the public economy, between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future or the nation would eventually endure imbalance and frustration.
In the years following the assassination of Eisenhower’s successor, John F. Kennedy, US trade policy was subordinated to foreign policy objectives. The mirage of semi-global empire was kept alive through numerous military interventions and an overwhelming desire by the American body politic to subjugate the only two powers, both former allies, that defied US authority, Russia and China. The Trump administration’s designation of China as a strategic adversary resulted in a concerted and complex web of actions that attempted to injure China politically, economically and technologically. Moreover, it was accompanied by extraordinary levels of antagonism against allies and foes, including the European Union (EU), Germany, Japan, [South] Korea, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and others.
At which point, question many observers of global politics and economics, would the Americans realise that the deep contradictions in their society could not be redressed through foreign policy, but rather through domestic reform and restructuring? The consistent promotion, by the nation’s political elites and mass media, of the United States as a God- favoured unique, superior, and therefore ‘exceptional’ state within the international system had, until the Trump administration, been pervasive. Trump Republicans were the first representatives of domestic constituencies to disparage and reduce the notion of ‘exceptionalism’, arguing the country had been in constant decline since before the Obama administration. Endless wars and unfair trade arrangements were the cause. Yet, US trade policy under Trump was nothing, if not an escalation of belligerence, ideological and exceptionalist, in both framing and execution.
Thus, challenges to notions of American exceptionalism within the international system became increasingly more pronounced both in terms of the multilateral trading system and international law. In fact, the perceived antagonism for international trade norms, manifested by the US governments exercise of coercive trade and foreign policies, reached its historically achievable zenith during the tenure of US president Trump. The reasoning was simple; external pressures both economic and ideological were to blame. Domestically, big government and taxes on the rich hindered the economy. Oblivious to Eisenhower’s admonitions, the Trump Republicans dressed themselves in divisive evangelical and patriotic duty and insidious manufacture of consent through social media narratives that dominated mass media and entertainment. The fiscal-military subordination of the political system was buried under trillions of dollars of stimulus and stock market surges.
That is, until the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the naked self-interest of the liberal political elites that rule America and some of its allies. For perhaps the first time since the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian has the prevailing hegemon suffered most from the ravages of pandemic disease. How can observers have predicted the ravages suffered by Italy, Spain, Sweden, Iran, Brazil, India, Russia, Britain, France and the US. Is it external economic pressures or internal incompetence, global supply chains or geostrategic machinations, ideological arrogance or governmental complacency? Why have the Asian nations suffered least? One overarching conclusion can be drawn from the events of the past year; social cohesion, organisational meritocracy and structural resilience are the hallmarks of successful pandemic containment. The United States lacks all three. Despite the rhetoric of US political elites, including president-elect Biden, the continuing subordination of domestic structural reforms to ideologically inspired hegemonic pretensions, will ensure that the internal struggle for power in the United States will accelerate relative economic decline, exacerbate wealth inequality, maintain the fiscal-military composition of its government and erode global stability.
Footnote: The March 1, 1954 United States Capitol shooting was an attack by four Puerto Rican nationalists; they shot 30 rounds from semi-automatic pistols from the Ladies’ Gallery (a balcony for visitors) of the House of Representatives chamber to highlight their desire for Puerto Rican independence from US rule.
Guest Writer: Digby Wren, Deakin University, Australia.
Visiting Scholar, International Relations, Sichuan Normal University, China
Written on 7th January, 2021 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
Contact details: Email: wdigby@deakin.edu.au