It's a dangerous world, and our democracy has enemies at home too. Don't give up, step up
Pay no attention to what MAGA says- the facts show the Biden Administration is making things better for Americans and keeping a dangerous world from spinning out of control.
I have children in their twenties. 9/11 is among their earliest memories. They never knew an airport without TSA lines. They never knew an America that wasn’t at war. They practiced shooter drills in schools. The first President they really knew was a Black man. Same sex marriage became legal just as they were old enough to understand it. The first time any of them voted in a Presidential election, Donald Trump was on the ballot. They were sent home from their colleges because of a pandemic. They saw women stripped of their reproductive freedom. They heard Nazis and Klansmen referred to as “very good people” by a U.S. President. They saw homeless encampments grow and spread. They saw the Supreme Court close its doors to radical gerrymandering cases and open its heart to the proliferation of guns and the power of money. They grew up in a period of accelerating change and now, as adults in a divided nation, wonder whether we have the capacity to meet challenges like climate change or the courage to live up to ideals like equality.
In this moment of deep uncertainty, a great test is upon us.
Nuclear armed nations now hope to avoid being drawn into existential disaster while smaller powers fighting their own battles threaten to change the balance upon which global peace and prosperity precariously sit. History is flashing warning signs in big red letters. A similar moment in 1914 allowed the assassination of an obscure and minor archduke to drag the economically and socially integrated nations of Europe into a half century of slaughter. Far earlier in our history, the threat of losing a naval battle on an obscure island at the edge of the known map - a placed called Corcyra - plunged the dominant powers of Athens and Sparta into a generation of war that destroyed the classical Greek civilization. The poet T.S. Elliot was wrong - it ends with a bang, not a whimper.
We can yet avoid disaster. Smart diplomacy, courageous leadership, and strong alliances will help us. There are promising paths forward in the Middle East. There are ways to keep Russian aggression in Ukraine from spreading. There are ways to lower the temperature in the South China Sea. President Biden and his teams at both State and Defense are experienced, thoughtful, and careful.
This should be an all-hands moment. But instead of focusing all our efforts on the path ahead, we are forced into a distracting battle with domestic enemies here at home.
Domestic enemies
In the Great Depression, three forces rose in opposition to a democracy that put ordinary Americans first. One was a reactionary Republican Party that sought to save the bankers and investors, and seemed to have forgotten everyone else. Another was the populist push best exemplified by demagogues like Louisiana’s Huey Long, who tapped into the widespread fear and anger and promised redemption for the people, but, in reality, offered nothing but a personality cult. And in the background, with an audience far larger than anything FOX ever had, Father Coughlin’s radio show reached about a quarter of all Americans and preached a Christian nationalist message that blamed the nation’s woes on Jews and others in the margins. FDR found a path between these forces and offered the nation a way forward.
Today’s Republican party combines the bias towards the bankers and the billionaires with empty populist demagoguery and Christian nationalist hate. It took a hundred years, but the enemies of our democracy have now all coalesced into the modern Republican party. They took control of the people’s house by running in unconstitutional and illegal districts. And now they have unanimously elected a House Speaker who sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans for the crime of not supporting Donald Trump.
There is no longer a question: the GOP is dead, and in its place the MAGA party is an empowered and dangerous enemy. They have no plans to make the country more prosperous for everyone in it. They deny the reality of climate change, they think we have too few weapons on our streets and in our homes, and they want to legislate control of female reproduction. And they promise to ignore elections they don’t win.
Let us meet them, and the other great challenges we face, forthrightly. By all means, call the new GOP what it is - an enemy of American democracy. But know that railing against them only goes so far.
American have been patient and patriotic through all the upheavals I talked about earlier. They have been patient and patriotic as economic realities turned against them and as powerful and hidden interests corrupted our democracy.
Moving forward
Anyone who wants to lead America — indeed anyone who wants to lead in America — owes it to the people to describe the path forward with clarity and energy. Anything less, in the words of FDR, betrays America’s hopes and misunderstands American patience.
And here’s where the media can help for a change. Instead of focusing on the horse race, report on the ideas. Tell everyone about the changes Democrats are making in Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois that are improving our lives. Tell them about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is making progress on climate change but had not one Republican supporter. Tell them about the Infrastructure Bill, the CHIPS Act, and Science Act that are rebuilding America and American industry. Tell them what support for organized labor and enforcement of anti-trust laws mean for the prosperity of individual families.
Instead of reporting that some MAGA politician says that America is going down the drain, report on the continued strong GDP growth - 4.9 percent annualized growth this past quarter. Report on the successful end to the writers’ strike, and now, the likely successful end to the UAW strike. Let Americans see evidence that we can build an economy that works for everyone.
Then, let’s build broad coalitions to get the spectators off the field and go to work rebuilding our country for everyone in it. We know how to do this. And here’s some very good news: We are doing it. The world is safer because we came together and beat Donald Trump in 2020. Democracy is stronger because we came together and fought off the promised Red Wave in 2022. Recent elections in Wisconsin and Ohio are promising. Early indications in Virginia look good.
I’ve made sure my now adult children know these facts, and instead of giving up they have stepped up. Millions of others, young and old, have too. Will you?