We Need a Hero

And we do want--and need--a hero.  The worlds of pop, Hollywood and sports cultures have endured lots of bad boys and girls, but it's not hard to conclude that we want a hero--of any race, of any gender, and of any background.   

We want--and need--someone human, someone who doesn't strive for sainthood or adoration, but someone who serves with selflessness and sincerity. 

Martin Luther King was a brave man who likely foresaw his own assassination, but saw a higher purpose than himself.  Abraham Lincoln was similarly a man who detested slavery but adhered to higher visions despite being enormously unpopular during his presidential tenure, while Ulysses Grant made sure that the goals of human rights and keeping the nation together (the Republican vision for the South, and for the nation) were preserved. 

After the end of Reconstruction Era, the South was left to the racist Southern Democratic leadership that led to the rise of Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow.  During the 1960's and 1970's, a sea change occurred, whereby the Southern Democrats were replaced with many former Republicans, and many Republicans became Democrats. 

It is easy to oversimplify the narrative of "the old-school racists became Republican" (and many adhere to this belief), but with the rise of the welfare state and the debacles of Chicago and Detroit (where the plight of African Americans is all-too-ignored), a more nuanced and accurate conclusion could be "there is more than one type of racism, with flagrant racism and subtle racism being all-too-prevalent and dangerous for all parties involved". 

There are also competing visions of what is best for African-Americans, and for all Americans.  Contrary to the popular hype, issues of power pale to that those of philosophy in terms of what drives Democrats and Republicans to pursue policy and paradigms in doing what is perceived as best for the nation. 

Like it or not, the nation falls or rises together--one segment might succeed while another declines, but the latter's misery will always prevent the former from truly rising.  Furthermore, we are a nation that doesn't easily or happily turn its backs on entrenched poverty, be it white Appalachia or the black or brown urban cores. 

Furthermore, the rise of Asian wealth and political power, and the eclipsing of brown/black conflict and rivalry over the previous dominant black/white political and economic disputes continues unabated.  The "black vs. white" issue of racism might get the most play, but it's ridiculous to conclude that it's still that simple in the 21st century.  

Ditto for the Democratic and Republican intraparty strife.  Democrats appear to be infinitely more united than Republicans, but while the Tea Party/Establishment Republican warfare gets so much play it's glaringly evident that too many Democrats feel alienated by a party leadership that is destroying (or at least ignoring) the middle class. 

Money has always spoken louder than it ought, but both Citizens United and the unabated power of public sector unions has made both the Tea Party and Occupy movements rebel against a Wall Street that appears too much in control of both this and the last presidential administrations. 

Ditto for Common Core, with both liberals and conservatives increasingly united against a one-size-fits-all approach to education that appears too much like Big Brother and Big Money.   

Furthermore, while die-hard pro-labor advocates might wince at fighting over-reaching unions in the education and utility sectors, and while die-hard pro-business advocates might wince at fighting chambers of commerce who favor cheap labor over the establishment of a stable middle class, the willingness to find common ground as Americans remains more elusive than ever amidst a manufactured red/blue divide that is our nation's greatest threat. 

Unfortunately, not one but two American Presidents have achieved power with both too great a willingness to spend political capital and too little a sincere desire to serve the ordinary citizen.  Yes, they have their slavish apologists willingness to take a political bullet for them, but the numbers don't lie: 

● The trend of the U-3 (a politically-convenient measure of unemployment) staying relatively low while the U-6 (a more comprehensive measure of unemployment, underemployment, and unhappy employment) is still miserably high and getting higher. 

● Black unemployment and underemployment is particularly high, and with more money being spent on illegal immigrant children (yes, folks, they did break the law, which is an inconvenient truth to so many of us) than on black youths being killed and ignored in Chicago and other urban venues, it's become awfully difficult to conclude which portion of the political spectrum is more non-caring and dangerous to African-American youths and their future. 

●Public opinion of both Republican leaders and our President is as historically low as ever in our history. 

So where will our next leader, or hero, come from?  Will it be from the intellectually-honest left, or from the intellectually-honest right, or does it take a pragmatist from the center to get the job done? 

And will we, as a nation who yearns for a leader who adheres to both the intellectual AND moral high ground, be willing to work together and follow that long-sought hero?

(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee.  He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] .   He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us.  The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.