Monday, October 27, 2008
The road narrows
A whole year ago when I visited John Edwards' website & found a clearly organized, comprehensive campaign platform. He had positions on poverty, health care, education, the environment, energy. Most of them I agreed with, some didn't go far enough for me. But Edwards had done his work since the 2004 campaign. Fortunately as it turned out, Edwards candidacy didn't catch on. Unfortunately, his thoughtful, progressive platform didn't catch on, either.
The road has narrowed since then. Who talks of poverty now in this campaign? Where's education, the environment, energy? What about two unfinished wars? It's all taxes & vague change & religious demagoguery & slogans aimed at reassuring white middle class entitlement. Those entitlements are at least four: 1. Not to be poor. 2. Not to have to deal with the poor. 3. Not to be disturbed by wars the government happens to be waging. 4. To have everything the middle class wants from government without being told the full price. Bridges just shouldn't fall down. Wars should just pay for themselves. Wall Street should save itself but guvmint should pass laws against recessions although guvmint is the problem except when it isn't, & taxes are socialism when they do what they're supposed to do: redistribute wealth. If it is socialism, we in Jersey ought to ask why the feds treat wealthy Alaska as poor only because we have more rich people, when we also have more poor people, more children, more highways, more schools, more crime.
In some ways, poor & working poor people are more aware than middle class people. Poor & working poor people generally understand what government can & cannot provide for them in practical & visible aid. Poor & working poor people understand the cost of a subsistance lifestyle, & its limitations. Working poor understand that their earned subsistance lifestyles are not culturally dignified by the middle class; being poor with dignity is almost impossible in America now (compared to my parents' generation). That's one big reason young people from working poor families fill the military. The poor do not always understand the price of government services, but they do experience the inefficiencies & wastes in providing those services, & know that some of those servioes are less than second rate because they are wasteful.
Perhaps one positive from the current economic crisis is that it will be easier for the middle class to imagine becoming part of America's working poor, & thus better understand low wages, lack of adequate health care, driving lousy old cars, paying over 50% of net income for rent, scrimping on food. Live that way for awhile & see how your dignity holds up.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The road has narrowed since then. Who talks of poverty now in this campaign? Where's education, the environment, energy? What about two unfinished wars? It's all taxes & vague change & religious demagoguery & slogans aimed at reassuring white middle class entitlement. Those entitlements are at least four: 1. Not to be poor. 2. Not to have to deal with the poor. 3. Not to be disturbed by wars the government happens to be waging. 4. To have everything the middle class wants from government without being told the full price. Bridges just shouldn't fall down. Wars should just pay for themselves. Wall Street should save itself but guvmint should pass laws against recessions although guvmint is the problem except when it isn't, & taxes are socialism when they do what they're supposed to do: redistribute wealth. If it is socialism, we in Jersey ought to ask why the feds treat wealthy Alaska as poor only because we have more rich people, when we also have more poor people, more children, more highways, more schools, more crime.
In some ways, poor & working poor people are more aware than middle class people. Poor & working poor people generally understand what government can & cannot provide for them in practical & visible aid. Poor & working poor people understand the cost of a subsistance lifestyle, & its limitations. Working poor understand that their earned subsistance lifestyles are not culturally dignified by the middle class; being poor with dignity is almost impossible in America now (compared to my parents' generation). That's one big reason young people from working poor families fill the military. The poor do not always understand the price of government services, but they do experience the inefficiencies & wastes in providing those services, & know that some of those servioes are less than second rate because they are wasteful.
Perhaps one positive from the current economic crisis is that it will be easier for the middle class to imagine becoming part of America's working poor, & thus better understand low wages, lack of adequate health care, driving lousy old cars, paying over 50% of net income for rent, scrimping on food. Live that way for awhile & see how your dignity holds up.
Labels: THE election
