By Mary Helen Spooner
In her acclaimed e-book Soldiers in a slim Land, Mary Helen Spooner took us contained in the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. wearing Chile's tale as much as the current, she now deals this bright account of the way Chile rebuilt its democracy after 17 years of army rule—with the previous dictator gazing, and ready, from the sidelines. Spooner discusses the foremost gamers, occasions, and associations in Chile's contemporary political historical past, delving into such themes because the environmental state of affairs, the economic climate, and the election of Michelle Bachelet. all through, she examines Pinochet's carrying on with effect on public existence as she tells how he grudgingly ceded energy, effectively fought investigations into his human rights checklist and funds, saved command of the military for 8 years after leaving the presidency, was once detained on human rights fees, and died with out being convicted of any of the various severe crimes of which he was once accused. Chile has now turn into one in all South America's maximum fiscal and political successes, yet as we discover in The General's gradual Retreat, it continues to be a rustic pressured with a painful past.
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The President’s eyes became fixed; his voice took on the agitated, rapid tone of someone neither accustomed to nor welcoming interruption; his easy affability was replaced by an almost messianic certainty. As I watched my mostly Republican Senate colleagues hang on his every word, I was reminded 46 T h e AU DAC I T Y o f H O P E of the dangerous isolation that power can bring, and appreciated the Founders’ wisdom in designing a system to keep power in check. ” I looked up, shaken out of my memory, and saw one of the older black men who made up most of the White House waitstaff standing next to me.
There is the absolutism of the free market, an ideology of no taxes, no regulation, no safety net— indeed, no government beyond what’s required to protect private property and provide for the national defense. There’s the religious absolutism of the Christian right, a movement that gained traction on the undeniably difficult issue of abortion, but which soon flowered into something much broader; a movement that insists not only that Christianity is America’s 38 T h e AU DAC I T Y o f H O P E dominant faith, but that a particular, fundamentalist brand of that faith should drive public policy, overriding any alternative source of understanding, whether the writings of liberal theologians, the findings of the National Academy of Sciences, or the words of Thomas Jefferson.
It is such doctrinaire thinking and stark partisanship that have turned Americans off of politics. This is not a problem for the right; a polarized electorate—or one that easily dismisses both parties because of the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate—works perfectly well for those who seek to chip away at the very idea of government. After all, a cynical electorate is a self-centered electorate. But for those of us who believe that government has a role to play in promoting opportunity and prosperity for all Americans, a polarized electorate isn’t good enough.