John Brown's Body

Yet, if God wills that [the War] continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

--Abraham Lincoln, back when people still cared about things

I was reading a post over at Naked Capitalism (great blog, btw, if you want a detailed account of exactly how our rentier elites are continually screwing everyone out of a productive future [and who doesn't]) called "Progressively Losing" by Richard Kline. In it Kline discusses "progressivism" and how, in essence, it's too soft to effectively enact the kind of social change we need in these oh so uncertain times. His remedy is to call for a "militant" leftism that sticks to a concise, straightforward platform... and won't cave (or something) to the pressures of being nice that is the refuge of most boring Americans. Great point, although his article is rather long. Just for comparison, the dudes over at CorrenteWire found a 12 word platform that embodies the spirit of "radicalism" one would hope Kline could get around to describing in less than a thousand lines:

Medicare For All.
End the Wars.
Soak the Rich.
Jobs for Everyone

That's about as good as you're going to get in America these days. I disagree with the last line. We don't need "jobs" anymore. I would estimate that ~3% of the total labor performed in this country on a daily basis is in any way necessary. Figure out a way to divvy that up, and consider the rest "Paid Time Off." My platform, borrowed from a song by Gene Burnett is only three words (addressed to Wall St and Washington):

Jump you fuckers

Then again, I was always a retaliatory yokel underneath my veneer of intellectualism (more on this in a second).
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In addition to calling for "militancy," Kline also discusses the varieties of Anglo-American experience, referring to a work called Albion's Seed by David Fischer, which charts four groups of (mostly) British immigrants (the Puritans, the Planters, the Quakers, and the Borderlanders/Appalachians [my people]) and how the "lifeways" of these groups have affected various parts of American political culture over the years. In the work, Fischer re-introduces a few dormant stereotypes (that were probably true): New Englanders were really puritanical dicks, Planters were really aristocratic dolts, Quakers were...pretty OK, and Borderlanders/Appalachians were a bunch of drunken, anti-authoritarian hillbillies who hated the English and were prone to vengeance-fueled blood-feuds (those have died down recently. We don't live close enough together anymore. Plus, apparently it's illegal).

From this perspective, Kline claims that there is no real "native" Anglo-American culture of radicalism, which is funny because one of the first modern Anarchists was born in Massachusets (Josiah Warren), and there have been quite a few others (Spooner, Thoreau, SP Andrews [no relation that I'm aware of--but it'd be pretty awesome], Tucker...all WASPs, all radicals). Also, he overlooks the merchant seamen who were kicking around (the radicalism of whom is described by J. Lemisch in Jack Tar vs John Bull [what a great title]). And, as one of the article's commenters noted, he doesn't bring up John Brown (who may have been partially related to Mayflower voyagers [how more Anglo-American do you want?])...you know, the guy who was so rightfully disgusted by slavery that he led a guerilla campaign against pro-slaveholding reactionaries in Kansas and when he grew tired of dispatching the implacable Justice of the Risen Christ to a number of would-be cavaliers, he tried to start a slave revolt in the strategically important Harper's Ferry. When that failed, he had a series of beastly exchanges with his captors and was hanged without fear. You know: one of the coolest Americans ever.

Kline, realizing the error of his ways for not having included Brown in a list of Anglo-American radicals replied to the commenter:

Oh, man. John Brown: that guy was so 1337. I guess there is some homegrown radicalism after all.

Just kidding. This is America:

John Brown was a terrorist, and probably insane

I couldn't believe it. John "I acknowledge no Master in human form" Brown: American Terrorist. From a "militant leftist." Jesus Christ. Doesn't anyone know what a hero looks like anymore? Here, let me spell it out for you: owning people is not OK; slavery is bad; people who fight slavery are good. I know it might be difficult for people beholden to today's sniveling, Beigeist definitions of "terrorism" and "righteousness" to imagine that a white dude could love black people enough to kill other white people in pursuit of their just freedom (that's so crazy that he cares that much), but if such thoughts do enter your head, they should be immediately followed by profound sensations of harrowing inadequacy and self-loathing (I know they won't, but it'd be nice).

And there you have it, folks: a "militant" saying John Brown was wrong because he actually meant what he said and did what he thought was right. Not surprising. This is the same country where ~50% of the population thinks that abortion is "murder" and claims that Roe v Wade is "legalized genocide" without doing too much about it other than getting a handful of people together to stand around with gaudy signs (glad to know where you guys stand...I'll be paddling to Venezuela when real crimes against humanity start kicking off). Even today's elites are a far cry from the violent, terrifying authorities of old: the fascists, the slavers, the aristocrats. We live in a time of echoes--the ghost of liberalism vs the ghosts of slaveholding and theocracy. Even the "militants" aren't considering hurting anyone. It's all fake. We all know it.

+MC