The Banality of Arnold’s Message

Posted on October 2, 2003 in Gray Davis Recall

Hannah Arendt raised a great storm when, after she observed the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, she concluded that evil was wreaked not by geniuses but by rather bland, ordinary men. Eichmann rose from shoe seller to architect of the Final Solution. He wasn’t particularly extraordinary, just eager to rise in the world. He latched on to Hitler.

Kevin Costner played on a similar theme in that film which the Right loves to hate, The Postman. The leader of the fascist paramilitary started as a vacuum cleaner salesman and rose, instructed by self help books, to become the general/bandit king of an death-squad-oriented army.

Arnold, like Eichmann, came out of nowhere to become a well-known face. Only in America is he considered a serious candidate. He has one strength: intimidation. This does not make for a strong leader or for respect from outsiders. The rest of the world looks at California askance and asks “Can we really be serious?”

When I look at the upswell of support for Arnold, I see two kinds of people attaching to him: the knowing and the unknowing. The knowing are in on whatever plan he’s hatched for when he becomes governor. The secret that they harbor is that they think most of the rest of the Arnold supporters are stupid and they treat them accordingly, serving them no substance, no opportunities to question or think. The unknowing go along, eager to please the Big Biceps and believe against all evidence to the contrary that he’s qualified for the office and compassionate towards women and minorities.

It’s the people who accept at face value, without questions, vague statements such as “I will be a good governor,” “I like kids,” and “I will be good for the environment” who pose a great threat to democracy at this time. They ignore the mounds of evidence pointing to the despicable, opportunistic character of the man in question, projecting his faults on those he opposes. We have a situation where some believe that a foreign-born movie star will understand the needs of the California working people better than a man who was born here and rose up from the working classes to become Lieutenant Governor. We believe Cruz Bustamonte to be the thrall of special interests, Arnold to be independent of his old GOP insider handlers and devoid of hubris.

I find myself screaming and shouting like Jeremiah in an evil hour. These Republicans promise that they will end politics once and for all.

This alone stuns me because I know history. I know what “ending politics” means. He who ends politics ends democracy and ends freedom. Fear him. He means what he says. He will do your thinking for you. You will pay in more than taxes.

The trouble is that only the thoughtful and the compassionate will notice.

Do not allow yourself to be banal when you vote on Tuesday.