By Ali Massoud

Thomas Frank, founder of the Baffler.com one of the first decent original content webzines back in the day and currently the much ballyhooed author of the social critique What’s the Matter with Kansas?, has discovered and iterated an insight about American political culture that I have wondered about myself.

“Conservatives” Franks says, “generally regard class as an unacceptable topic when the subject is economics—trade, deregulation, shifting the tax burden, expressing worshipful awe for the microchip, etc. But define politics as culture, and class instantly becomes for them the very blood and bone of public discourse. Indeed, from George Wallace to George W. Bush, a class-based backlash against the perceived arrogance of liberalism has been one of their most powerful weapons. Workerist in its rhetoric but royalist in its economic effects, this backlash is in no way embarrassed by its contradictions. It understands itself as an uprising of the little people even when its leaders, in control of all three branches of government, cut taxes on stock dividends and turn the screws on the bankrupt. It mobilizes angry voters by the millions, despite the patent unwinnability of many of its crusades.”

Let me distill Frank’s words even further: Class-consciousness based analysis of American culture and politics is verboten say the Right-wingers. And especially so if it involves economic and social justice issues. However, all that gets turned on its head when it comes to hot button issues such as immigration, gun control, capital punishment, and gay marriage. Which not so surprisingly are the principal motivators of their electoral base. Then you see, say the social conservatives, it is snotty elites from New York, Washington, and Hollywood who set the national agenda, and moreover they do so in a way that is responsible for America’s social, economic, and moral decline.

So, here is my idea of how to break apart that particular logjam. How about using this simple sound bite to break through the blocked-up thought processes of the ordinary person: Always we should ask, “who benefits?” On the other hand, you can use the phrase in the original Latin (“Qui bono?”), if you wish to appear more scholarly.

All of us should try to Simon Jesterize this translation of the famous Latin accusation. We should use this phrase to analyze every and all aspects of politics and culture. The obviousness of its truth and the simplicity of its words brings the statist-mercantilist charade that passes for politics in America today into clearer focus even for the apolitical, anti-political, massively tuned-out, and skeptical among us. It gets people to start thinking beyond the bullshit cliches that pass for analytic thought in American politics and culture. That alone would make it a good thing to do.

Practical matters aside I have often wondered why the social conservatives' bluff isn’t called on this one? The gathering coalition of people that concern themselves with individual liberty are smart enough to detect this fallacy and articulate enough to express what is wrong with it in simple terms. The fact that we have not done so is a mystery to me.

To summate:

Right-wingers, social and religious conservatives and the statist-mercantilist classes are having their argument both ways. This fact of life has stymied any genuine progress toward a freer and more just society to date and until effectively dealt with precludes any prospects for change in the future.

The best way to break through this logically false paradigm is the use of simple tools of consciousness raising such as “jestering” via writings, articles, handbills, or even graffiti where appropriate.

"Chemical Ali" Massoud is a father, political theorist, apostate Muslim, small business owner, college graduate, crack rifle marksman, a compulsiveblogger, cat lover, shrewd investor, US Army veteran, and currently single. He lives in Michigan. To see what he means by "Anarchy," and other ideas he has click here