Think back to 1999. That year, we saw the Senate open impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. Unemployment was 4.2%. And in Seattle, a motley collection of unions, consumer protection groups, labor rights advocates, environmentalists gathered in protest of the WTO. The World Trade Organization, remember, advocated for free trade and globalization. Protesters worried about unemployment, unsafe imports, pollution, and other traditionally liberal fears clashed with cops in riot gear. The police, so beloved by authoritarians, busily defended corporate interests. Corporations that, for their part, gutted the American heartland and sent the jobs overseas. Liberals tried to tell us. Middle America rolled their eyes. Did we listen? Not a chance. Free Trade would make goods cheaper at Wal*Mart. Those protesters were dirty hippies that needed a shower.
Think back to 1999. That year, we saw the Senate open impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. Unemployment was 4.2%. And in Seattle, a motley collection of unions, consumer protection groups, labor rights advocates and environmentalists gathered in protest of the WTO. The World Trade Organization, remember, advocated for free trade and globalization. Protesters worried about unemployment, unsafe imports, pollution, and other traditionally liberal fears clashed with cops in riot gear. The police, so beloved by authoritarians, busily defended corporate interests. Corporations that, for their part, gutted the American heartland and sent the jobs overseas. Liberals tried to tell us. Middle America rolled their eyes. Did we listen? Not a chance. Free Trade would make goods cheaper at Wal*Mart. Those protesters were dirty hippies that needed a shower.
Fast forward to 2011. Occupy protests sprang up in cities around the country and around the world. Their many grievances should still sound familiar to 2017 ears. They pointed out that short-term thinking in the financial world was a disaster, that a college education no longer guaranteed good employment (or any job at all), and above all, that the economic gains accrued largely to the very wealthy, leaving behind the poor and working classes. For their troubles, Occupy protesters suffered mockery from the media and yet more violence at the hands of police. Liberals tried to tell us. Did we listen? Some did. Others blamed them for taking “women’s studies” instead of getting solid STEM degrees. The dirty hippies, as usual, needed showers. They needed to get jobs, said Middle America. They needed to shut up, go home, and get out of our public spaces.
The Truth About the Economy, by MoveOn
Other liberal thinkers (no, it’s not an oxymoron) spoke up. In this 2011 video, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich talked about the rise of the very wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle classes. Such a gap leads to a growing disparity in economic outcomes as well as an explosion of the deficit. Like Reich, liberals tried to tell us all these things. Did Middle America listen? No, economists are eggheads. Ivory-tower elitists who lack good, common sense. Besides, as Americans, we’re all temporarily embarrassed millionaires, right? Asking the wealthy 1% to pay a higher tax rate to fund schools and bridges means that when we make our first million, the tax man’ll come knocking on our door!
So now, what do we have? Obama’s borderline liberal policies such as the bail out of the auto industry and fiscal stimulus supported a weak yet measurable recovery, at least in parts of Blue State America. In Red State America, where opposition to liberal policies was strongest, we have “American Carnage,” to quote Trump’s inauguration speech. We have closed factories. Addiction. Hopelessness. The jobs went overseas, cheered on by Middle America until they realized their jobs left, too. Trickle-down economics didn’t work. It only convinced the middle class to demonize the poor, resenting the idea that their hard-earned dollars funded others’ laziness. The liberals tried to tell us. Middle America told them to shut up about that “tax the rich” nonsense, but they also begrudge covering the bill.
Instead, Middle America gave us Trump. His populist campaign message told us nothing new. Liberals tried to tell us everything that voters loved about Trump’s economic promises. In this gold-embossed Pandora’s Box they opened, though, we also found xenophobia. Science denial. Promises of torture. Repeal of health care. More plans to cut taxes for the wealthy and increase them for the middle class and poor. Gag orders. Alternative facts. Executive orders that were unpatriotic when Obama made them, but all-American now. Building a wall instead of taking care of veterans. Even a private email server for the top brass. All that and more, and that’s just the first week! But like Pandora’s Box, there is still one more gift hiding in the bottom.
That gift is Hope. It lives in the hearts of pink-hatted marchers. In the conscience of scientists. In our National Parks. And just like protesters at the WTO in 1999 and at Occupy in 2011, Hope still faces a militarized police defense of the status quo. Liberals tried to tell us, and they are still shouting messages we must heed. They correctly said that globalism was a threat to our jobs. They correctly said that inequality would lead to disaster. And now, they warn us about the dangers of rampant populism. Will we listen this time?
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