history – Progressive Without Apology

Which Crisis

I am being told (it’s all over the news) that there is an “affordability crisis” in America, and that I should be happy because the presence of this “affordability crisis” is good for Democrats as we move closer and closer to the mid-term elections. But I am not impressed. I don’t want to minimize the economic pain that many people are feeling because of the current economic climate. Farmers, small business owners, certainly the working poor have all been let down by the people in government that are supposed to be working for them and not raising money for the next election cycle.

Much of that economic pain can be attributed to Trump. The way Trump thinks–his inability to think through the long term consequences of his decisions, his belief that he can bully his way out of any problem, his unwillingness to see both the benefits and the necessity of cooperation–is a recipe for financial disaster. But we must step back and remember; Trump’s disastrous handling of the economy is a symptom of a broader disease, and as much as the economic pain may be real, it belies deeper and more fundamental crises.

For example, while Americans are distracted trying to make ends meet, the situation in Ukraine is devolving literally by the day. A simple cease fire agreement to not hit energy installations could not hold for more than three days. Trump and Zelensky have a rapidly deteriorating relationship as Zelensky finally loses patience with Trump’s propensity to venerate dictators. With ships getting blown up in the territorial waters of EU, and, more importantly, NATO member states, the chances the war could spread are growing day by day. Americans support Ukraine. But they are struggling to make ends meet. This isn’t a moment when they want their government wasting money. It does us absolutely no good to send aid to a country and only support it half way. If we are going to support Ukraine, we should do so whole-heartedly, in a way that will bring an end to the war. Otherwise we are throwing good money after bad in a half-hearted response which fails to resolve the crisis.

And that’s not the only crisis in the news that urgently needs to be addressed. Once again, we are reminded that we have a crisis in gun violence, as a 16-year-old somehow got his hands on a gun and started shooting at an elementary school. Americans say they want sensible gun control, and, yet, nothing happens. The crisis persists; people forget about it; we go back to focusing on other things. But the crisis is no less real and no less acute for our disregarding it. Gun violence in all its forms will ultimately take lives. Families and communities will be devastated. The consequences will run far deeper than the “affordability crisis,” yet chances are this crisis won’t be top of mind this election cycle.

When we finally hear about a motive for the school shooter chances are it will be in large part untreated mental illness. This was a crisis when I was a kid in the 1980’s. It had led to a crisis in homelessness. I’m 50 now and the crisis in mental illness has persisted unabated all of my adult life and more. If anything, things are worse today, with hospitals and residential facilities closing and the severely mentally ill getting treatment in prisons. We know the system is broken, and we know what to do to fix it, but the crisis continues.

And don’t forget the ongoing crisis that’s behind the “affordability crisis”–the war in Iran. This crisis has existed since the beginning of the Islamic Republic. For almost 50 years, people have attempted to solve the problem of the Iranian regime. We got close with the Iran nuclear deal, then Trump made the disastrous mistake of pulling out. It is easy enough to say we want an end to the war. But do we really want to do what it takes to put an end to the crisis? Do we want a superficial quick fix to our economic problems or a lasting solution that means we won’t have to be back dealing with the same crisis again and again?

And if we really want to make the inability of people to make the dollar stretch our sole focus, why don’t we try to actually do something about working poverty and helping family farms and small businesses. Take this opportunity to address the inherent inequalities in our economic structures, find out why family farms are failing and what government can do to help; and find some way, some how, to make sure that if you work a 40 hr week, you can afford to make the rent.

I could go on. I could list a hundred different crises that are just as important as the “affordability crisis.” I am not saying the economic problems facing the country aren’t important–they are. But the current difficulties are in large part symptomatic. Treating the disease will be hard. Granted, much of the economic pain we are feeling is the result of weak leadership from a man who does not belong in power. But previous administrations going back generations have contributed to the problem as well. Taking this opportunity to solve the underlying problems and really address the root of the crisis will take leadership and political courage. It will take the wisdom to know which crisis is truly the most important.

We Shouldn’t Be Surprised

When it comes to immigration it is important not to get too forgetful. America likes to think of itself as a nation of immigrants, and in many ways it is, but it also has a long history of exclusion and hostility toward those among us not born on US soil. The problem is that America has not left behind its history of nativism. It never will. Even as America is a nation of immigrants, it is equally a nation with a history of xenophobia. And there is no way to escape that history. At this moment we must embrace that difficult history and learn from it. Otherwise we risk not only repeating history, but making a new and very sad chapter in the American story. It doesn’t have to be this way, but we can only change the course of events by acknowledging to ourselves where America has been. Only then can we truly take control of our future.

All of the problems with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol all boil down to one thing–something we have seen before in our history–zelotry. This is the worst thing that can possibly get into a government agency. No good ever has come or ever will come of it. Every time America has had that toxic mix of nativism and zealotry the outcome has been bad for its democracy. The problem isn’t policy. Policy can be dealt with. But when ICE agents go about the business of enforcing policy with such almost religious fervor that it causes them to fire into a car five times simply because someone is trying to interfere with them making an arrest–then we are in trouble.

If history teaches us one thing it is that we are in for the long haul. The hope that a new administration will take over and simply put a stop to all of this may prove illusory. Zealotry has a self-prepetuating momentum. Once it begins it moves on its own. Having said that, history does also show us some hope. Chances are the zealotry will wear itself out. People will tire of the extreme and come back to the middle. And hopefully America will once again remember that it is a nation of immigrants as it has after other periods of xenophobia. That isn’t to say that we should sit on our hands and do nothing. But in many ways we may end up riding out the storm.

We have, however, a lot to say about how long that storm will last. The thing about xenophobia is that it is impractical, especially in the current age. ICE can act with almost cultic zeal in detaining people and demonizing those of us who wish they would calm down and think it through a moment, but they can’t change the laws of supply and demand. We need immigrants; and the harshest, most nativist policies aren’t going to change that. The economic realities are such that there will be more immigration–legal or otherwise. We need immigrants to care for an aging population and offset our low birthrate. And that’s just to start with. The question will be not if but how we integrate immigrants into our economy and society. Because as long as their labor is needed, and it will be, immigrants will come.

And this is what the current administration doesn’t understand. Trump and his cronies think that disregarding people’s rights and an overall climate of cruelty will solve the problem of illegal immigration when what is needed is attention to the big picture economic forces that draw people here in the first place. America’s immigration problem will be solved when, by understanding and respecting the laws of supply and demand, the market forces people are responding to are made to change. Zealotry will prove to be futile.

The Death of Civic Virtue

Monumental amounts of time have been spent by pundits and pollsters across the political spectrum in an attempt to understand what Democrats did wrong this election cycle. They have found reason after reason, each one assuming it was somehow a failure to reach out to the right demographic. However, It would be wrong to think of the phenomenon of Trump as simply the failure of one political party to reach one particular demographic. Instead, what we are seeing is the death of civic virtue in America.

The founding fathers made it clear that if America was to keep its democracy, it would have to find a way to ensure that its citizens believed in the common good. In order for a democracy to function it is necessary for enough of the electorate to be engaged and be willing to look beyond their personal financial interests to focus on the health of the community as a whole. This isn’t to oversimplify the problem by saying there is something wrong with the electorate, it is to say that one must approach the problem of Trump as something more than just one political party winning or losing an election.

If you look closely and listen hard, one theme emerges. Trump was voted into the White House by citizens who were disengaged, rarely voted and consumed very little news. Much of the news they were consuming came from“journalists” who traffic in conspiracy theories. These disaffected voters largely voted for Trump because they believed that his policies would benefit them personally, or because they found his toxic masculinity charismatic. For the most part, they were conned.

Over the years, there has been a slow wearing away of a truly engaged electorate, citizens who truly care about the wellbeing of others, who are voting the way they are for the right reasons. Democracies don’t work when all people ask is, “What’s in it for me?” Democracies need good journalism, critical thinking about the issues, and adept response from citizens when critical norms are violated. Democracy cannot thrive, or even survive, if too many voters vote on the basis of their attraction to toxic masculinity, or because they are working poor and have no time or energy to devote to really understanding the issues. The guardrails of a democracy ultimately do not reside within the judicial branch, or any other branch of government for that matter. The only real guardrails in a democracy are an informed and engaged electorate.

The MAGA movement has a vision for America–a scary, dark vision that must not be allowed to come to fruition. But the greatest problem America faces is a breakdown in the fundamentals of citizenship. The inability and unwillingness of the American people to cultivate civic virtue has eroded American democracy and left it open to attack from within. The only way out now is to galvanize a generation to be what the founding fathers knew citizens in a democracy need to be.