A Radical Idea
I have a really radical idea. Let’s fight this year’s
electoral campaign on issues that matter to most working Americans, and let’s not
focus on issues that cause working Americans fight among ourselves instead of
focusing on our common enemy: the oligarchy. Let’s campaign on issues like
affordable healthcare, affordable childcare and affordable housing, and let’s
offer real proposals to alleviate those problems.
Let’s not argue over theoretical issues like the definition of capitalism or the definition of socialism. Let's not spend our time on questions like whether black people deserve reparations,
whether transgender women should compete in women’s sports events or whether
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. All of these are valid moral questions
that deserve answers, but this year, we are fighting for the life of our
democracy and for a country in which ordinary, working people can afford to
live. If we are to have any chance of winning this fight, we must bring working
people together to vote in their own interest. We cannot spend time fighting among ourselves.
We Can Rise Together
But what about racism and sexism? Shouldn’t we also fight
against them? Yes, we should, but we should do so in a way that does not
present these fights as zero-sum contests within the working class. We should
focus on showing that a gain for black people does not have to be a loss for
white people, and a gain for women does not have to be a loss for men.
For example, if we had affordable childcare, families
would gain, not just women. In a society with two-income families,
affordable childcare would give all working families bigger disposable incomes. Affordable
childcare would allow families to buy homes or to save more for retirement. The men in those families would be better off and not just the women.
Affordable childcare would also help to close the wealth gapbetween black households and white households. The reason is that on average,
black families are disproportionately represented among families with no
savings. So, any program that helped working Americans to save money would help
to narrow the wealth gap between black families and white families. Similarly, affordable childcare would especially benefit women because they are disproportionately represented
among single-parent families. So, affordable childcare would help to narrow the
wealth gap between men and women.
We can make the same kind of an argument about affordable healthcare. A program like Medicare for All would benefit all working Americans. We would all be better off if healthcare were affordable, but affordability would especially benefit members of the groups like women and minorities that are most burdened by our present caricature of a system. They would be the ones who benefit the most even though all of us would benefit to some degree. Affordable healthcare would make it possible for people who live today from paycheck to paycheck to save money and would thus help to close the wealth gaps between black people and white people and between women and men.
At the same time, white men would also be better off. They would not have to deal with crushing medical bills or suffer bankruptcy from unexpected medical emergencies. Their salaries could rise if companies did not have to spend so much money on health insurance for their employees.
These examples show that improving the lot of women and of black people does not require us to take anything away from white men. In fact, policies that make women and black people better off may help white men at the same time. We can rise together, and that is what we should emphasize in our campaign.
Let's Do It!
We could put together a campaign to appeal to all
working Americans. Such a campaign would give us a real chance to take back our
country. So, let's get busy. Let's focus on ideas that bring working Americans together so that we can take our country back!
