Alan Grayson: The Idea of Idealism–What’s Going On?

Alan Grayson is a former congressman from Florida, a frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny! and one of Howie's good friends. I asked him to comment on the coming election and also the times we're now in. This is his response. –TN

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Francisco de Goya, Men Reading (Wikipedia Commons)

By Alan Grayson

Glancing at history, the idea of idealism has changed dramatically here and there, now and then. Look at Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden.” Look at antebellum slave-owners vs. abolitionists. Look at “Mein Kampf.”

It’s happening again. There is a worldwide struggle right now about what it means to be an idealist. Which ideals are ideal, and which are demonic?

From the time of the Great Depression until recently, there was a clear view throughout the “Western World” about ideals, the things to strive for. The things that we all understand are important, but no one can accomplish alone. Here is a 12-pack:

 Personal safety.

 Fair compensation of labor, as opposed to misery and poverty.

 Personal freedom for personal decisions, like whether to have a child.

 Clean air, clean water, clean food, and an enjoyable environment.

 High standards of public education.

 Healthcare for all.

 Affordable basic needs like food and housing and transportation.

 Clean, corruption-free government.

 Progressive taxation.

 Affirmative action to redress historical grievances.

 Equal justice.

 Personal privacy.

As I said, there has been a consensus about these ideals for most of my life. But not anymore. The Enlightenment has been replaced by the Endarkenment.

Take affirmative action. It’s gone. It’s literally illegal now, and a major corporation just had to pay a fine of over $10 million for engaging in it. College admissions offices are getting subpoenaed to detect it and punish it. Because the idea of righting wrongs is no longer accepted as a good thing; those on top demand that we think of it as a bad thing. And they punish anyone who disagrees.

Here are the ideals that are being offered as substitutes:

 Xenophobia, like Trump saying that aliens are going to eat your dog.

 Chauvinism, like what we see every time a woman asks Trump a question.

 Homophobia/transphobia, like the odd obsession about women’s sports.

 Violence against opposition to the current regime, and the legitimization of violence in the name of “justice.”

 Scapegoating the media.

 An odd fixation on renaming things, straight out of “1984.”

 An absolute insistence on conformity, like Hegseth’s “no beardos” policy.

 Racism and sexism masquerading as “correction” of affirmative action.

 “Beat China,” a reinvention of the Yellow Peril.

 Open mockery of empathy and consideration as “woke.”

It’s not just here. Go look at the platforms of the SDP and the AfD in Germany, for instance.

If we’ve reached the point where there is an open debate about whether empathy is a good thing or a bad thing, we all are in serious trouble.

Which we are.

I don’t know how it’s going to end. All that I can say is which side I’m on.

This essay is dedicated to my friend Howie Klein.