Repeating History?

As a political scientist I am fascinated and dismayed by the way that history continues to repeat itself. Just as biologic evolution is slow, so too, is political evolution.

I was re-reading passages from a phenomenal book called A Short History of Byzantium. It is the story of the Byzantine empire with its center in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). If you ever thought that movies today were too unrealistic because they are so violent, this book proves that reality can be far more horrible than fiction. The graphic detail of the atrocities that people commit against each other in the name of power and religion is truly appalling.

A quick glimpse at the news on any given day shows how little we have progressed over the last 1000 years. A look at Iraq is a good case study for this. I read yesterday about the terrible torture that is being committed EVERY DAY in Iraq. People kidnapped, finger nails pulled out, skin scrapped off and eventually shot in the head. But why?

The terrible truth is that our primal nature quickly descends into our most basic familiarity thrown against our fear of that which is different. In Iraq it is Sunni against Shiite, or the powerful (USA) against the insurgents, or local residents against foreign Al Quidea fighters, even man against women. How far is our great nation divided from these most basic tendencies?

Before you answer that, you must look at what a unique thing is our country's founding was. A basic rattling of the dynastic politics of the time. Something that truly inspired the world and transformed the World.

We, as Americans, do something that is truly unique. We have lived in a diverse culture for 100s of years without killing each other (For the most part... make no mistake, we have had our bloody moments).

Strip away a few of our social structures or put us in stress, and suddenly, we fall back into the most basic divisions once again. 9/11 has made us fearful of all Muslims, we are willing to allow 1984 type intrusions into our personal lives. We give legitimacy to the poorest of leadership ability (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and "Brownie"). And we continue to fear Vietnam-type failure in Iraq so that we can't bring ourselves to force the right thing... an exit from Iraq.

These fears also bubble into the bastions of the so-called Progressive world. Need examples:
Fear of the "black" man means that Democratic little old white women vote in droves for Clinton. Supported by fear mongering 3AM ads and not so veils "He is not a Muslim as far as I know".

And what about that 90%+ support for Obama among African Americans. Take race away and would he still be the choice of 90%?

So here we are in the year 2008 and we still act in ways that confirm our primal nature... our most basic familiarity thrown again against our fear of that which is different.

But we do have a chance. A chance to prove that we are smarter, more evolved than our fear suggests. Can we break the chains of repeating history? Can we finally take a step forward for the sake of rational hope? Do we have the strength to stand again our basic fears and attempt to move beyond them?

Obama embodies what our future can be. Move beyond fear and start acting in ways that are right. Get out of a stupid war and do not start another one. Focus our energy on lifting our nation out of a foreboding terrible recession. Save our environment. Give our children the spirit of potential and love rather than fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar.

Take the time to think about it. Do you want our politics to TRULY evolve? Will we take this oh so rare opportunity to do great things or will we suffer the same divisive reality that we are all too familiar with. This is our chance to again transform the World, do not squander it!