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ACCORDING TO LIZ - After the Civil War American democracy was committed, from Lincoln’s Republicans to FDR’s Democrats, to ensuring that the power of government was based on “we the people for the people.”
During the past 70 years, this has slowly morphed to “we the one-tenth-of-one percent” for… “we the one-tenth-of-one percent.”
For decades voter dissatisfaction has continued to rise, occasionally dipping when charismatic leaders made promises only to have hopes dashed as the interests of the vast majority are again betrayed to curry favor with the barons of Wall Street.
From Nixon and Reagan to Clinton and Biden incremental changes eviscerated the power and prosperity of ordinary people. Good American jobs chased cheap labor outside our borders; government colluded with industry to destabilize other countries for the economic advantage of multinational corporations that drove the rise in international and terrorism.
This has to change.
It can change.
The core of the Democratic Party in the last century was in local organizing through unions and churches and anywhere else people met, to listen to their concerns and represent their interests.
Then as now, solutions reside not in Washington but at home with the grassroots values that resonate with everyday people, not with Wall Street and the plutocracy.
However, today’s Democratic machine relies heavily on corporate donors and legislation to please the funding machine. Even if policies appear to be targeted towards the people, they are almost always tailored to ensure capitalist profits are maximally protected.
Just look at Obamacare; watered down to safeguard the insurance industry.
Look at the foreign wars promoted by Clinton and Obama and Biden over measured diplomacy for the purpose of growing the American armaments industry and that military-industrial complex, initially identified as an existential threat by Republican President Eisenhower.
Look at the blinkered focus on micro-aggressions, instead of on Americans’ suffering due to decades of diverging economic realities coupled with poor decisions on housing and immigration.
The consolidation of the Republicans behind Trump was due to his recognizing the dissatisfaction of a huge sector of American society and his showmanship in harnessing the power of those who felt increasingly disenfranchised. Those who legitimately felt that government no longer worked for them.
We-the-people have now elected as president a capricious and malevolent Archie Bunker. Now what to do?
The response to our fears should not be despair, or denial of the threat. It should be to chunk down the worst that could happen and constructively address them, one tiny, do-able piece at a time.
It could be as simple as telling our story to friends and neighbors.
Telling a story and engaging the listener is a whole lot less scary and a whole lot more effective than stridently trying to dictate your personal opinions to a resistant audience.
And do keep it simple; Democrats have suffered from couching truths in overly-complicated terms for decades. The simple resonates. Even if it is – witness Donald Trump – full of hall-truths and lies.
Take that page from his playbook and start reopening doors.
Especially if you can maintain a positive tone, hope for the present, revealing opportunities, allowing doorways to crack open. Don’t dictate solutions or those doors will quickly slam shut, more impenetrably than ever before. Because they are scared, too.
Share stories to breathe in what is possible and let it flow back out into the world welcoming others’ participation. Find the courage to drop your own barriers, soften the armor of your own self-image.
Ah… here I am being the preachy one. Please take these as options that can be selected, amended and added to as you choose.
Talk about what people care about – the cost of groceries on Main Street not existential threats to democracy. Yes, those may be important to you, but they can feel overwhelming to others in this uncertain world. Stay in the present, be concrete and caring.
Emphasize all the good people around us do, whether black or white, immigrant or from a family that has lived here for generations, rich, poor, mainstream or fringe, educated or not.
Focus on the personal and avoid generalizations – remember those cut both ways.
The “We the people” preamble to the Constitution continues: “… in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”
A We-the-people government should reflect those they serve. The majority should not be millionaires and billionaires, corporate titans and silver-spoon babies. Those elected should be salespeople and factory workers, come from family farms and blue-collar jobs.
They should be single parents and seniors and those on welfare, have a master’s degree or a GED, those feeling screwed and struggling to get by and those who are climbing the ladder to success. Also, people who have tripped up along the way but pulled themselves back up again. Alone, or with friends and family, not legions of lawyers.
In fact, really representative of American society. After all it is the House of Representatives.
They should be you and me, proportionate to our numbers in society, not seats commanded through wealth or power.
And those in them should not think that they are better than the rest of us.
Our representatives should focus on substantive issues – justice, domestic tranquility, and general welfare – not on rebranding their own images.
Even if we may disagree on some subjects, Americans should join together under one big tent, fighting for liberty, justice, and the economic interests of everyday people. Key leadership positions should reflect the diverse regions of the country, not just urban or coastal perspectives.
We should elect officials who listen well and hear us, who don’t think their mandate is to tell others what to do. They need to be not just of the people but for the people.
They must have the courage to fight for us here at home, not send our children and tax dollars overseas to fight wars that ought to be resolved by diplomacy.
To stand up to the real villains, including corporations that raise prices and suppress wages, and get away with murder – really, murder, as people evicted die on the streets, as spiraling prices drives crime and shootings, and as insurers deny coverage, all in the name of profit.
Relax into being in this for the long haul; understand that there are no quick fixes.
Change can’t be forced; it must be welcomed.
Life is not a race to be won, a solo sport to beat one’s opponent but a process of engaging with others and sharing and leaning on each other’s shoulders. Stopping to smell the flowers, finding joy as we move together to save our children’s futures.
(Liz Amsden resides in Vermont and is a regular contributor to CityWatch on issues that she is passionate about. She can be reached at [email protected].)
