Walking before jumping

My coworkers tend to be pretty busy during the day, so the amount of news they consume is pretty small.  So I was surprised to hear a superior admonish, “So now Obama wants to spend money to create jobs?  Spend money to create jobs!  What’s that going to accomplish?  Get us screwed over by the Chinese quicker?  How are you going to spend money and makes jobs?”

This person is a smart man: he went to a good four-year college and is from a very liberal part of the country, so I was pretty surprised to hear this Republican talking point.  I mention it because his comment demonstrates just how entrenched the Republican ideology – government is incompetent, the free market solves all problems, and deficit spending is hocus pocus – has become and how far Progressives must go to deeply impact the country.

There is a mistaken belief that America will move leftwards in leaps and bounds – income tax here, Civil Rights Act there, and healthcare reform in that corner.  While people often interpret political change  like a one-time exogenous shock, I think such a reading gravely discounts the additive power of countless activist meetings, think tank symposiums, pundit opinions, process reforms, media coverage, neighborhood canvassing, etc.  Instead of big events driving little things, I suspect it is the little things which precipitate lasting change.  (Anyone with knowledge of network theory, systems dynamics, or stochastic events, feel free to show me evidence supporting or discrediting my understanding.)  In other words, there would not have been Ronald Reagan if it weren’t for Barry Goldwater.

We haven’t seen a substantive shift in American politics since the Reagan Revolution, and I am growing less and less hopeful that we are in the middle of another shift.  Over the coming months, I hope to gain a better understanding of the Progressive infrastructure and how that compares to the Republican grassroots before Reagan.  I know, for example, that modern neoliberal thought goes all the way back to Leo Strauss at the University of Chicago in the 1950s.  Who was, is, or will be Progressives’ Leo Strauss?  People like my colleague, the people who need to be convinced before we have structural change in America,  have a long way to go before they will support robust universal healthcare, true high speed rail, increased financial regulation, a break up of big banks, and higher taxes.

Related Articles

• Wherefore Art Thou, Tax Reform? (themoderatevoice.com)
• Is it morning in America, or has hope given way to malaise? (cnn.com)