Where Is Our Common Cause
Last night I watched two contrasting views of America. These views have often been presented as good and evil (by me as well), but I don’t think that characterization is necessary. For the first time in a while, I listened to those views outside of the turmoil of the Mueller Investigation. It is more than just President Trump, it is more than just Congressman Kennedy. It is two differing views of our country.
Get past the “Make America White Again” rhetoric of the left. There is a real view of those that back the President, a view that sees America and Americans First as an imperative for action. This ideology makes the first priority of the government to improve American lives, and is, as Congressman Kennedy presents it, a “zero sum” game. If we improve lives for Americans, we can’t improve lives for others, we don’t have the resources.
There has always been this debate about economics: whether giving wealth to businesses and the rich makes America better. Those that favor this look at the times of tremendous growth, particularly the “Gilded Age” after the American Civil War. America built infrastructure: from railroads to cities to factories to canals. America invented “everything” from farm equipment to telephones, to manufacturing processes. America became a world power, first in trade requiring markets, then to overseas possessions to transport goods, and finally to military strength to protect those markets and possessions. And we did this with unfettered capitalism, and nearly unlimited labor.
When President Trump calls for less regulation (the “Trump surrogate” quote: we cut from 100,000 regulations to 62,000 in the first year) he sees this as freeing the economic giant waiting, just as it was freed 140 years ago. When he cuts taxes to corporations and the wealthy, that feeds the giant, stirring it to new feats of growth and power.
The problem: the tax cuts means the government can do less for Americans when it comes to health care, education and other social services. Fewer regulations also means fewer protections. And all of this means a greater disparity of wealth among Americans.
And all of this is for Americans, not for the world. America First means we should shrug off the responsibility of the world, and focus on our own issues. As Presidential Advisor Stephen Miller said in that crazy press conference go-round with CNN’s Jim Acosta: the Statue of Liberty stands as a shining example to the world – not an invitation to participate.
Congressman Kennedy, in the Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union speech, pointed out that America First has meant abandoning the world. Whether it’s the environment, immigration, or trade: America First has meant leave the world out. He offers a more difficult view of the world – a world in which America is a leader, is involved, and is willing to compromise to be a part of a whole world solution.
America needs to share. It needs to share its wealth, its prestige, and its dedication to freedom and human rights. Kennedy’s view sees America as more than just a “Winner over Losers.” America needs to make the world Win. Not only is this the “right” or “moral” thing to do, but it is also the way to make the world safer for all.
It starts with America at home – taking care of its own. The uncontrolled capitalism of the Gilded Age was built on cheap immigrant labor. Regulations were written to protect the workers from exploitation: coal miners from unvented mines that exploded, ten year olds from back breaking labor, factory workers from dangerous unprotected machinery. The “winners” of capitalism then meant the “losers” of labor. That is the “zero sum game.”
Kennedy spoke of a country, and a world, where we don’t have to choose winners and losers. As he put it: “I choose both.” It is harder because there are so many more to be concerned about. But a world where everyone has a stake, a chance to advance, and where there is less contrast between the “haves and the have nots;”means a world vested in succeeding, rather than destroying. That is a world with fewer terrorists, less violence, and more competition to improve.
The words on the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your huddled masses, yearning to be free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me. I lift my light beside the Golden Door.
Kennedy’s view is the Statue is not just a symbol of American example, it is an invitation to come in and participate. It also a commitment of America to spread it’s light to the world.
Two views: are we a “city on a hill,” a shining example, or are we an active participant, trying to lead the whole world to a better place. If you can get past Trump, Russia, Mueller and all the rest of the madness we live with day to day: this engagement of ideas is what our current political struggle truly is about.
https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/toolbox/session1/heaven-hell
It’s so damn simple. Sermon on the Mount stuff ..