HARSH INTERPRETATION?

Children of Paradise (John Powers, JULY 11 - 17, 2003, LA Weekly)

When Harper's sent Kurt Vonnegut to cover the 1972 Republican Convention, our bounciest misanthrope came back with his wiry hair standing on end. "The two real political parties in America are the Winners and Losers," he growled. "The single religion of the Winners is a harsh interpretation of Darwinism, which argues that it is the
will of the universe that only the fittest should survive."

Well, things have changed slightly the last 30 years: Thanks to the Christian Right, none of our leaders would ever dare mention Darwin, except to say he shouldn't be taught in schools. Beyond that, the Winners' agenda is now far harsher than it ever was under Richard Nixon. The Bush administration has pushed through dividend tax cuts for the rich, while attempting to exclude millions of ordinary Americans (including U.S. troops) from other forms of tax relief. Even as it gives $80,000 write-offs to businesses that buy Humvees (gee, I wonder who in the company will be driving those puppies?), it's proposing to change the Fair Labor Standards Act in a way that will cost several million hourly workers their overtime. Why, you can just re-define their work as administrative and the extra hours are free!

Although it's fun to think so, such Darwinian social policies didn't spring fully formed from Bush's skull. They embody our reigning cultural ethos. Where America was once a country that took pride in backing the underdog, it now has no time for Losers. Citizens have learned to step over the homeless on streets, politicians ignore the dispossessed in favor of middle-class swing voters (have you ever heard Bush even mention "the poor"?), and pop culture has gentrified the idea of the outsider. Forget Norma Rae. Hollywood's current notion of a populist heroine is Legally Blonde's Elle Woods, a rich girl who (assisted by co-star Sally Field!) must rise above the stigma of her hair color and Chihuahua.

So, if you do believe in Darwinism why would it make sense for a society to devote itself to cultivating its Losers? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 10, 2003 9:25 PM