Theater as propaganda: Stoller at the baffler on Hamilton as dangerous myth
"Miranda’s play is one of the most brilliant propaganda pieces in theatrical history. And its construction and success tell us a lot about our current political moment. Before it was even written, the play was nurtured at the highest levels of the political establishment."
" a status symbol within the Democratic establishment, offering them the chastened consolation that they might still claim solidarity with the nascent American democracy of the eighteenth century that’s stubbornly eluded them in the present-day political scene."
"you would think that he had fought to enlarge the democratic rights of all Americans. But Alexander Hamilton simply didn’t believe in democracy, which he labeled an American “disease.” He fought—with military force—any model of organizing the American political economy that might promote egalitarian politics. He was an authoritarian, and proud of it."
"His central role in founding both the financial infrastructure of Wall Street and a nascent military establishment (which supplanted the colonial system of locally controlled democratic militias) was rooted in his self-appointed crusade to undermine the ability of ordinary Americans to govern themselves."
"Indeed, the shifting popular image of Hamilton is itself a gauge of the relative strength of democratic institutions"
" By 1947, a post-war congressional report titled “Fascism in Action” listed Hamilton as one intellectual inspiration for the Nazi regime. Hamilton’s name practically became an epithet among Democrats of the New Deal era"
"Hamilton the play is not the real story of Alexander Hamilton; rather, as historian Nancy Isenberg has noted, it’s a revealing parable about the politics of the finance-friendly Obama era. "
" the Federalist Party was structured as an alliance between bondholders and military elites, who would use a strong central government as a mechanism to extract money "
"Hamilton was simply determined to shore up the enduring basis of a financial and industrial empire"
"Hamilton and his mentor Morris wanted to insulate decision-making from democratic influence. Morris told Congress that redistributing wealth upward was essential so that the wealthy could acquire “those Funds which are necessary to the full Exercise of their Skill and Industry,” and thereby promote progress"
"Hamilton wanted a large permanent debt; he wanted it financed so his backers could extract a steady income from the people by way of federal taxes. "
"In the 1780s and 1790s, Hamilton won this battle, and the effects were catastrophic ... an economic contraction similar in size to that of the Great Depression, with a foreclosure crisis as severe."
"Hamilton used indefinite detention, mass arrests, and round-ups; seized property (including food stores for the winter); and had soldiers administer loyalty oaths. "
" liberals unhappy with the outcome of the 2016 election tried to convince members of the Electoral College to overturn Trump’s victory, and titled their project “Hamilton electors.” "
"the more extreme wing of the Federalist Party, which simply tried to have the election overturned, risking civil war to do so."
"His life sheds light on some deep-rooted anti-democratic forces that have always existed in America, and in particular, on Wall Street. "
"One of Hamilton’s biggest fans is Tim Geithner, the man who presided over the financial crisis and the gargantuan bank bailouts during the Obama presidency."
"As economist Simon Johnson pointed out ... what the bailouts truly represented was the seizure of political power by a small group of American financiers."
"The Obama era looks like an echo of the Federalist power grabs of the 1780s and 1790s, both in its enrichment and glorification of financial elites and its open disdain for anything resembling true economic democracy. The Obama political elite, in other words, celebrates Hamilton not in spite of Hamilton’s anti-democratic tendencies, but because of them."
"the play Hamilton is a feat of political alchemy—as is the stunningly successful marketing campaign surrounding it. But our generation’s version of Hamilton adulation isn’t all that different from the version that took hold in the 1920s"
"Hamilton is a great musical. The songs are catchy. The lyrics are beautiful. But the agenda is hidden, because in America, no political leader, not even Donald Trump, can credibly come right out and pronounce democracy a bad thing and agitate for rule by big finance. And the reason for that is that Alexander Hamilton, despite his success in structuring Wall Street, lost the battle against American democracy. "
I'm not sure that Hamilton lost. The usa is very far from a democracy, more accurately described as a plutocracy, just as Hamilton would have wished. But read the whole thing:
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/hamilton-hustle-stollersidd