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Could Liberals Finally Be Finding Their Economic Voice?

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 8:54am.

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By Steven C. Day

Who'd have thunk it?

Liberals are madder than a nest of hornets hit with a stick -- and, for the most part, it isn't about abortion, gay rights, evolution, stem cell research or any other social issue: no, for once, progressive outrage seems to be largely about a good ol' fashioned bread-and-butter issue of profound importance to middle class America -- health care.

Now, I care deeply about abortion rights, gay rights, Separation of Church and State and most of the other hot button social issues. But the truth is that nothing has done more to diminish the influence of progressive politics in America than the tendency of liberals, in recent years, to emphasis social issues over economic fairness.

We've lived through one of the most explosive increases in economic inequality in American history, yet few Democratic politicians are even willing to mention it — such is the fear of being accused of "class warfare." But, if we're fair, this is one time we can't just blame the politicians. Rank and file liberals have often seemed bored by economic issues. I long ago noticed, for example, that nothing is more likely to cause a blog post to fall flat than dedicating it to economic issues of importance to working Americans.

Write about war, abortion, gay rights, abstinence only "sex education" -- all important issues, mind you -- and people will get fired up and you'll get a good response. Write about economics and working Americans, on the other hand, and you may find yourself wondering if the Internet is closed for repairs, such will be the silence. You may even find yourself repeating the fictional words of John Adams from the play/movie 1776:

Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?

What has been particularly sad about this downgrading of economic populism from the days of yore (remember the New Deal and all that?) within liberal priorities, of course, is how much the country has needed our voices on these very issues. Just last week, for instance, we learned that wage inequality has reached a new historic high, exceeding even levels reached in the Great Depression. Yet, with a news media that remains consistently conservative on economic issues and politicians from both parties who are dependent on corporate interests for campaign funds, the story rarely get told, let alone acted upon.

Being a liberal, let's recall, is supposed to be, in large measure, about fighting for fairness for the little guy. Yet, in recent times, our passion has too often been saved for other causes, as worthy as they may have been.

Yet, contrary to this trend, here are liberals today exploding with righteous rage over the impending betrayal of Middle America on the issue of health care -- as middle class friendly a bread-and-butter issue as you'll ever see. We're talking incessantly about uninsured Americans, corporate abuse and even wonkish concepts of "public option" and "single payer" plans. I can even see some slight hope that liberals may actually be prepared to carry this fight forward -- to demand that our voices be heard within the Democratic Party.

One might almost think that we actually are the political descendants of Franklin Roosevelt.

Hell, who knows, maybe we'll even get to like it. If I recall correctly, it worked out pretty well for both the nation and the Democratic Party the last time around.

LAST CHANCE DEMOCRACY CAFE

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Class Warfare

Submitted by mntleo2 on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 11:30am.
Molly Ivans said it best, God rest her soul: "It is not the poor who started this class warfare, it was the rich ..." As a long time activist for low income people, I cannot agree with you more Steven. But being poor in this country means becoming the target for every ill in the world, including our economic downturn, which most intelligent people know is the fault of the greedy rich, *not* the poor. For instance I have noted that illegal drug usages is just as prevalent in upper income neighborhoods as the lower income neighborhoods. But where are the police constantly cruising and who gets arrested far more? Poor people in poor neighborhoods. The rich skate by just fine thank-you ~ even when their sons are dealing drugs on their front lawn and their daughters are out prostituting themselves as high class prostitutes, "just for fun ..." I had a former (reformed) drug dealer tell me recently that most of his customers were the rich, the professionals the ones who could afford illegal drugs. He said, "The poor cannot afford to use drugs unless they started out rich and fell down the ladder, sheesh anyone should see that ..." What he says is true. As an activist who meets and works with these people every day, I know few people who are poor who are drug addicts or drunks, they could never afford it, all right. And the war on the poor with food: in poor neighborhoods where obesity is the number one health issue and is a form of malnutrition, there is no fresh food and if it is there, it is actually more expensive than in the same stores in wealthier neighborhoods, and it is poor quality. The war on housing: In poor neighborhoods slum lords charge higher prices for the same housing than in higher income neighborhoods and allow their run down properties to rake in the dough while they do little or nothing to upkeep the buildings they own. Rats, roaches and garbage are everywhere and they blame the poor for it when in reality if the landlord kept up their buildings, paid the garbage bills more than the minimum, and supported neighborhood groups, they wouldn't BE slums anymore. The war on health care. In Chicago I heard recently a black man has the same life expectancy as a man in Bangladesh. I suspect it is the same or worse all around the U.S. Women with children are expected to fork over more and more money for their children's health care when they are not covered themselves. I keep asking officials, "If you don't take care of the adults, who is going to take care of the kids when their parents get sick?" Then I hear the sound of crickets ... The silent answer to that one is "Take the kids whose parents are too sick or have died, put them in the expensive and abusive foster care system, and well, there! It's all better!" It goes on, but the point I am making here is the "class war" is not one the poor are waging. It is the rich living off the poor and then blaming them for all our society ills when in fact they cause these ills with their greed and sense of entitlement for themselves, and damn the rest of America ... My 2 cents Cat in Seattle >^..^<
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I guess nobody does care

Submitted by jxh261 on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 9:32am.
Maybe because most of the blogosphere is controlled by well to do liberals that don't have economic problems.
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