The Football Game

 

Rah!

My team,

My party,

     right or wrong,

Rah!

 

          When I was a boy, my father would sometimes take us to the Big Stanford-Cal football Game. We'd drive to the Stanford stadium, park under an oak tree so the vinyl seats of our Buick convertible wouldn't overheat and scald our legs when we returned, and walk to the stadium entrance where we'd buy tickets for a dollar each and climb up the stairs to a central location where we'd watch the game. We were enthusiastic Stanford rooters; my father had graduated from Stanford and knew all the Stanford songs, which he taught us. We'd sing loudly and in discord as we found our seats:

 

              "The dirty golden bear,

              He's losing all his hair,

              His teeth are out and he's got the gout,

              And he doesn't know what it's all about.

              His eyes are made of glass,

              He's losing all his class,

              So down with California,

              The golden bear has won his last!"

Oh, it was great fun; when we won, we'd cheer and cheer, and when we lost, we'd leave the stadium solemn and dejected. We felt a wonderful sensation of unity with the thousands of other Stanford supporters when we went on these family outings. I remember one Big Game that was going terribly for Stanford. With just minutes left before the end of the fourth quarter, the Bears were ahead of the Indians 20 to 7; there was no hope. My father, disappointed and a little disgruntled, decided to leave early to avoid the lines of cars that would be streaming out of the open fields that surrounded the stadium where unlimited numbers of cars were parked. We walked silently back to the car, got in and started off. We turned on the car radio and heard an incredible roar. In the last three or four minutes, the Indians had scored two more touchdowns, made both extra points and ended up winning 21 to 20! What excitement! But we'd missed it! We nevertheless drove home laughing and elated because Stanford had won.

          My father lived by a simple philosophy. He believed that man was basically selfish. We get our kicks by satisfying our personal desires. BUT, he was careful to point out to us kids that the greatest happiness comes from giving to others, making them happy. This he believed was the ultimate satisfaction of life: to give, even though it was for personal gain. Thus, in his view, altruism resulted from selfish motives. He recognized the baser side of human nature and felt it should be correctly channeled for the benefit of others. For him, "others" meant his family and the members of the community with whom he interacted.

          My father once told me that we (meaning White people of European descent) had taken the right action in effecting the slaughter of the Indians (Native Americans). When our family toured Canada and some of the Western Canadian Indian reservations (where unemployment, promiscuous sex, and alcoholism were rampant), he told me that the Canadians (meaning those of European descent) would be better off if they had taken the course followed by the early Americans with respect to the Indians. And when the issue of Black Americans arose, he claimed that a second serious error we made was to bring Negro slaves (people of darker complexion) over from Africa. He simply did not see world citizens, peoples of countries outside of the United States, as equals. Subconsciously, Americans were superior to all others, but to be so, they had to be white and of European descent.

My father, born in 1902, was not a bad man, or an inconsiderate one. Quite the contrary. But his attitudes and philosophy reflected the accepted views of his time. And it is unfair to judge a person on the basis of a value system that developed 100 years later. It may be another matter, however, in evaluating people today who consciously or even subconsciously maintain the same views.

          My father's simple philosophy may have been the basis for his political leanings. He was a staunch Republican. He ALWAYS voted Republican; well, ALMOST always. When Barry Goldwater was the Republican Presidential candidate, he told me bitterly that for the first time, he'd vote for a Democrat (and he did). He was a moderate Republican who didn't believe in the right wing policies of Goldwater. Nominating Goldwater represented a Party breach of faith and responsibility. The Party had let him down.

          Since then, the Republican Party has gradually shifted towards increasingly reactionary, right wing policies, so that Republican candidates far more conservative than Goldwater are now the norm rather than the exception. Many Americans do not even realize the degree to which their Party has changed. Why? Because the shift away from moderate policies has occurred gradually over a period of decades. Most Americans don't have the capacity to extrapolate into the past or future more than a few years to make comparisons. They don't know what's hit 'em.

America is currently ruled by the Bush dictatorship. A policy of disregarding international law, ignoring the United Nations, lying to Congress and the American people, and invading sovereign foreign countries are now acceptable behavior for U.S. government officials. These actions, I am sure, would have been totally unacceptable to my father. Condoning corporate corruption and giving tremendous tax breaks to the rich while neglecting the needs of the American people, and spending over 50% of the U.S. budget on the military in a time of peace (except for the wars that Bush himself created) are now accepted by many Americans. My father would not have approved. Further, allowing and authorizing abusive interrogation, torture and murder of prisoners, though appalling, has not caused the American people to rise up and demand impeachment. Would my father have felt these illegal actions were justified because of 9/11? I doubt it.

The Bush administration has created a federal debt of 6 trillion dollars. This is equivalent to about $20,000 per U.S. citizen including every man, woman, child and senior, or about $100,000 per family. Many economic experts claim that this action was financially irresponsible. It put the U.S. and the world in grave economic jeopardy. Yet even this is not seen by many Americans as a crime.

My parents were frugal people. During my boyhood, we were not allowed to buy expensive cereals; we never ate butter because margarine was cheaper, and only a few types of Campbell's canned soups (particularly tomato and chicken noodle) could be found in our cooler because they cost less. They did not believe in borrowing. As far as I know they borrowed only once, and that was to build their house. They borrowed $6,000 and paid it back as soon as they could. No, I don't think my father would have approved of a $6,000,000,000,000 federal debt.

The Bush administration has a bad habit of contradicting scientific knowledge whenever it gets in the way of their greedy purposes. They don't mind sacrificing our environment for corporate gain. They consider it a religious virtue to deprive American women of reproductive freedom and disregard the need for international birth control; all this is tolerated by a major segment of the American population. Such issues were beyond the philosophy of my father. I have no idea how he would have reacted. But depriving American citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed rights? I have heard only faint outcries from a few Americans regarding this issue. My father definitely believed that personal freedom, as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, should not be encroached upon by any governmental agency.

In view of the actions of the Bush administration, I have difficulty believing that anyone can continue to support the Republican Party. They represent the intellectual backwash of America, and by current standards, have to be judged immoral. Yet many Americans do support them. Why? Until recently, I've had three primary explanations: greed, ignorance, and irrationality. However, having observed certain members of my own extended family and other Republicans, I'm now convinced there's a fourth reason: the Republican Party is their party. It was their father's Party and their grandfather's Party, and now it's their Party. Moreover, it will be their children's Party, or all Hell will freeze over! Thank God for that!

          Right or wrong, many Republicans support their Party; they argue in its favor because it's theirs; they vote along party lines; it requires no thought; it feels good, and for some, it flatters the ego. There will always be those who hide behind their fantasies, disregard current reality, live in the past, and maintain their traditions. They don't need to think; they don't need to evaluate; they don't need to compare. So it is, and so it may always be. After all, it's their team! Rah!