PAUL HOLLANDER
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The American involvement in the Vietnam War had another,
less obvious but more enduring result .
If
the American conduct in
that war signified evil , the defeat of the United States demonstrated
that this evil power was no longer invincible - a development which
has contributed to a greater readiness to engage in nationwide self–
criticism and an increased receptivity to accept critiques from abroad.
The defeat has also weakened trust in American institutions and
contributed to a decline of collective self-esteem especially among
elite groups . Failure always has a delegitimating effect whereas suc–
cess, even in the pursuit of the most debased goals, tends to silence
doubt and criticism.
Watergate in turn revealed and highlighted corruption in do–
mestic politics and deprived the presidency of the aura of respect and
legitimacy it used to enjoy. Watergate and Vietnam together have
remained powerful points of reference for an enduring national self–
denigration not easily dispelled even by a cheerful and optimistic
president like Reagan.
In
fact , Reagan's rise to power may be considered another of
the factors promoting the renewal of social criticism in the United
States in recent years. With Reagan in the White House social critics
could point with renewed confidence to the menacing ascendance of
forces obstructing beneficial social change, to a resurgence of all
trends in American life they deplored. While none of the ambivalently
wishful predictions of an emerging police state or American-style
fascism popular among radicals of the 1960s materialized, there was
at least a conservative Republican president in the White House . He
stood for everything the critics abhorred: vocal support for capitalism,
unashamed American patriotism, a willingness to reassert American
influence abroad, an untroubled identification with "Middle Ameri–
can" cultural values and an unapologetic anticommunist persuasion.
His election stimulated and reinvigorated the political energies of the
adversary culture .
The recruitment of many former radical activists into academic
teaching positions has been yet another development conducive to
the persistence of the radical critiques of American society and the
consolidation of the subcultures of social criticism. Estrangement thus
institutionalized has become easier to bear than Marx had dreamed
of in his philosophy.
To be alienated today in America means many things not asso–
ciated with the state of mind or social situation the concept used to
signify .
It
is compatible with holding opinions both popular and
