Much To Do About Nothing: Watergate

  

Much To Do About Nothing: Watergate

Peter Schultz

 

                  President Ford said after Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency that “Our national nightmare was over.” But what if there was no “national nightmare?” That is, what if the Watergate scandal was nothing more than normal politics being played out normally? Nixon was forced to resign, of course. But despite that allegedly melodramatic conclusion to Ford’s “national nightmare,” that scandal was simply the result of ordinary, normal, oligarchic politics.

 

                  There had been no threat to American “democracy;” at least no threat greater than other alleged “threats,” such as various assassinations and various wars in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Viewing politics melodramatically, i.e., as “national nightmares” or tragic wars, blinds us to the political, to the banality of its violence and conspiracy, investing it with meaning it does not actually have. As a “national nightmare” Watergate acquired such importance, thereby implying that political events are transformative. And, so, conventionally it is assumed essential for people to embrace or affirm the political because, allegedly, politics determines our fates. We humans are, as is commonly asserted, “political animals.”

 

                  What if though Watergate was not a transformative battle over democracy between the “good guys” and the “bad guys?” What if it was a continuation of battles waged between individuals or factions, each seeking to acquire, maintain, or fortify their power and, thereby, their status? That is, what if Watergate was a continuation of normal politics that was eventually endowed with meaning it did not have, while normal political attributes like duplicity, conspiracy, and incompetence disappeared? Nothing new here, no “national nightmare,” just normal politics conducted by normal means leading to normal results. And keep in mind that duplicity, conspiracy, and incompetence regarding the Vietnam war forced LBJ from the presidency in 1968. So, Watergate was, in a real sense, much to do about nothing. At least, it was nothing extraordinary.