Events in Egypt represent a major turning point in Middle Eastern history: the world’s most populous Arab state is in the midst of a grassroots uprising against a three decades-old autocracy. It is particularly fascinating because the Mubarak regime has been a stalwart ally of the United States in its dealing with Israel and the “war on terror”. In addition, the U.S. has long had a tortured relationship with Middle Eastern autocrats—in Iran and Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait and Yemen. This is clearly the beginning of a new chapter in Middle Eastern and Arab history, and it holds the promise of greater freedom, prosperity, and the protection of human rights.
But the inflection point I want to discuss this week is the one occurring in America.
According to new Census data, almost all the growth in the U.S. population is occurring among minority groups. The “browning” of America is accelerating and the proportion of “whites” continues to decline. This simple fact explains most of the political upheaval in the Republican Party over the past two years, including the elevation of rightwing Tea Party extremists to national prominence.
What has occurred since 2008 has been a perfect storm for the regressive forces in America: an economic recession, the election of the first black President, and the mainstreaming of gay rights. The dying days of empires often brought out rage and violence, and these are the characteristics of today’s Republican Party. It represents the last vestiges of an old order that is quickly losing power and status.
Look at virtually any “conservative” political gathering, Tea Party convention or Republican convention, and the most striking fact is how unrepresentative the Republican Party has become. Of course there are individual minority Republicans, and plenty of Republican women, but the modern GOP does not represent a cross-section of America society; increasingly, it is made up of white, fundamentalist Christians. They are caught up in a delusional paranoia brought on by the realization that today’s America, and the America of the future, barely resembles their America.
The GOP has appealed to white racism and the marginalization of minorities for decades; even so, the extent to which the Party has adopted white grievance and eliminationist rhetoric is shocking. Rightwing extremists can win in the South and even occasionally in “blue” states like Wisconsin and Illinois; with almost 10% unemployment, the GOP could have run Donald Duck in many Congressional districts in November and still picked up seats. But there is no way that extreme nativism, and the complete lack of an affirmative agenda, can translate into a winning national strategy. As the economy continues it too-slow but steady rebound, the vacuity of the GOP will only become more apparent.
We will look back 10 or 20 years from now and view this period in American history as a major inflection point: a time when the rise of a more multiracial, multiethnic, and culturally more diverse America finally eclipsed the old, socially conservative white order. The hyperbolic rhetoric of the Tea Party, of demagogues like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and the sheer insanity that has infected the Republican Party will be seen in its proper historical context as the final throes of a stilted and reactionary class, being eclipsed by a new America.
Jason Scorse