Trumpers' "Swamp" Is Not The NYT's "Swamp"

 The New York Times, as part of their long series about Donald Trump's finances have done an excellent analysis of the ways in which he has used the presidency to enrich himself and his friends in Trump's Swamp published Saturday October 10, 2020.  This use of the term "swamp" in connection to politics and Washington, D. C. has been around for some time. In this view the swamp is the hoards of lobbyists from industries looking to gain some favor for their company or industry, looking to increase the profits of business. 

However, I have come to the conclusion over the past four years that Trump supporters (I started to say people on the right, but I'm not at all sure that's the same thing anymore), have an entirely different definition of the word "corruption" and an extremely different idea of what constitutes "the swamp"  than what I or the New York Times or probably most Americans would hold. 

The idea of a "swamp" that needs to be drained and the concept of a "deep state" seem to be intertwined by Trump supporters.  Trump supporters see the problem being the vast army of highly educated, specially trained, knowledgeable, experienced, mostly politically neutral, bureaucratic professionals that fill the ranks of public service.  This entrenched bureaucracy made up of experts has long been a bulwark against radical change (of any kind in any direction). Principles of formal rationality, a mass of laws and regulations, provide inertia against radical change. 

Trump supporters see this inertia against change problematic and want it gone. They see something wrong about people having a life long professional career in a government agency, whether they are scientists, data analysts, economists, law enforcement, social workers, postal workers, or anything else. This great pool of talent that actually staffs and makes government work is the "swamp" to Trump supporters. This is what they see as "corrupt," not the manipulation of government decision-making to increase private profit of individuals, businesses or corporations. As long as those individuals, businesses or corporations get some of their money from other non-governmental sources, this seems to be okay with Trump supporters. The manipulation of government decisions for private gain is viewed positively by Trump supporters, this is how they think government is suppose to work.  It is the scientists and engineers, the park rangers, accountants, social workers, lawyers and many other public servants that they consider to be inappropriately sucking at the federal teat. 

This idea that the principles of formal rationality, a mass of laws and regulations, provide inertia against radical change, has been long enshrined in critical Marxist theory analysis of the state (James O'Connor for example in The Corporation and the State: Essays in the Theory of Capitalism and Imperialism, 1973), with the additional observation that over the past 150 years this bureaucracy has been built, rule by rule, procedure by procedure to protect the long term accumulation of capital by the ownership class and the long term legitimation of the entire state structure (through programs that help mitigate the worst excesses of capitalism), even when it frustrates the short term whims of right or left. 

Thus the  idea of a "deep state" (although not that term) that is a bulwark against radical change in government is not new, and integral to a Marxist or critical theory approach to the State. Moreover, it has been viewed as problematic because it makes difficult rapid, radical change that would expand rights, increase diversity, reduce inequality, or other issues dear to those on the left. The only thing that is really new now is that this recognition of the deep state and view of it as problematic has been taken up by those on the radical right who wish to drastically reduce rights, decrease diversity, increase inequality, etc. 

Getting Work Done These Days

 The pump in our dishwasher died weeks before we realized what happened, what alerted me finally was noticing white hard water stains on the kickboards of our cabinets, where small, but daily overflows had been soaking in. Once we realized it on February 4th, we turned off the water and power to it and began hand washing. 

We had the plumbers come to diagnose whether we had leaky pipes or leaky dishwasher, and they verified our suspicion that the pump had failed.  I did some research on-line, decided on some highly recommended models and we went that weekend (February 12th) to Lowe’s to buy a new one. 

We did not realize the extent to which the pandemic had changed the way Lowe’s operated. We’ve bought appliances there before (most recently a new stove in 2021), where within a day or two a Lowe’s truck and Lowe’s employees would show up to install the purchased item, for little or no additional cost. Now Lowe’s contracts with a 3rd party installation company (which turns out to not be an installation company but a company that then hires 4th party local businesses/workers to do the actual installation). 

It was a week before we heard from the installation company, and then another two weeks before they could come and make the measurements (why they had to do this and could not trust us on the measurements I don’t know).  The (4th party) installer (a nice feller) told us for the installation contract (and payment), which Lowe's never did.  So I called them and discovered that because of an illness/accident the young man who sold us the dishwasher was out on leave, and no one really knew what was going on with our order.  It took 24 hours to find someone who could get access to all the documents and write up our installation contract, which added another $150 on to the original cost of the appliance (only 15% of the original cost but still unexpected). 

We had to wait again for the installment company to contact us with an appointment to actually install.  The first appointment we were given was March 15 (at this point we had been without a dishwasher since February 4). The day they were suppose to show up we got a call to reschedule, because the local (4th party) installer had one truck and it was broken, so they rescheduled for today March 21. 

First thing this morning the young man who was suppose to do the install called us from Lowe’s to tell us that the store had somehow misplaced/sold/lost/never gotten (??) our dishwasher and he had nothing to bring to install. He said the appliance department at Lowe’s would reorder the dishwasher and let him know when it came in and then we would get another appointment to install. 

This afternoon, someone from Lowe's installation department called us.  Now this is one of the things that really annoys me in all this. Lowe's has a department called "Installations" but they don't actually DO installations any more. They just contract with 3rd parties to do them. I realize that this has to do with protecting their workers from COVID or other things, and that it does provide jobs for small local businesses. But, often those small local businesses are overwhelmed with more than they can handle, and they don't get all the money paid by people, because Lowe's takes their cut first. And workers in small businesses don't have the same benefits or rights or opportunities that Lowe's workers do. 

The Lowe's installation department worker was very apologetic and promised to provide us with information within two business days about what happened to our dishwasher and when they would get one for us. But, in all likelihood, given how busy the  (4th party) installer is, things will be pushed at least two more weeks! Which means that we might end up with them wanting to install the same week that my husband has surgery. 

There was no ill intent or willful stalling involved here. Some of the problems arose because a key worker got ill, or a key piece of equipment (truck) broke down. These are things that happen. What is problematic is that current business practices involve skimping on redundancy in labor and equipment, there are few if any backstops. Ground between the demand by stockholders/owners for more profit and the demands of consumers for cheaper goods and services, the costs of doing business are pared to the quick. So it is not surprising that it takes one persons illness or one truck breaking down, to cause the hold structure to come to a stand still.  This is an illustration of the essential contradictions of capitalism.