Commentary: Hosting an intense radio show Wednesday, with guests from “Retake our Democracy” and the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, left me reflecting on socialism, civility, tactics, and my advancing age.
Socialism is a sweet concept espoused mostly by Christians until it became a curse word during the 20th Century, when the ideology got intertwined with Russia's nationalist ambitions; and Soviet Communism's “godlessness” was a deal-breaker for many here.
Socialism means equality and democracy; turning public assets, resources, and energies to the public good, making things at least livable for all. Should everything belong to a few rich folks?
But are humans too selfish for socialism? Will the comrades running the police and the army always end up more equal than the others? (The Soviet example is cautionary. Kerala (an Indian state) and some European social democracies are more encouraging.)
Ideology is largely nonsense. No nation has long existed without elements of both capitalism and socialism. Governing is like cooking, continuously perfecting the ingredients, stirring, tasting, and adding more . . . chile! Unfortunately greedy folks usually seek and obtain more than their share, under any system.
There's no earthly reason to fear democratic socialism. It's not witchcraft, or devil-worship. It's a pile of ideals we could use more of and values we say we support. We could use state-run universal health care, something other civilized nations have. And more democracy. Whether socialism could serve as a system of government here, successfully or for a long time, is a question we're unlikely to face during my lifetime.
We argued over civility. DSA folks had shouted “Shame!” at Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen until she left a Mexican restaurant. I expressed mixed feelings about whether that was right, or tactically effective. (My DSA friends say membership numbers jumped when the video went viral.) As Retake co-founder Roxanne Barber said, the impolite incident was minor beside the crimes and blunders being committed in our name, by our federal government. It's also true that Trump has ratcheted up discourtesy and ethnic prejudice.
Is civility lost forever? Can a democracy survive without it? Yeah, Congressmen caned each other just before the Civil War. But, uhh, that was just before what, again?
Or am I just old? Conventional citizens thought we were impolite when we protested the Viet Nam War. We probably were. We started out real polite, as we'd been during the Civil Rights Movement; but it didn't stay that way.
Current events often seem like repeats of old movies. Every insurgency has to figure out how to be loud and disruptive enough to wake folks up without estranging more than you inspire. Is a third-party candidacy a matter of conscience or a waste of votes? In 1968 I cast my first vote for President for a black convicted felon -- and asked everyone who got into my cab “which of the Three Little Pigs are you voting for?” But in 2000 I saw enough difference between Gore and Bush to wish Nader would end his candidacy, though my daughter worked for him. Changed circumstances – or my aging? In 2016, progressives grieving for Bernie instead of campaigning for Hillary probably helped elect Orange-Hair.
In 2018, should we shout for abolishing ICE because in a perfect world it's right – or shut up about that because we might help Republicans manipulate frightened voters?
I know only that we need to effect positive change.
[For younger readers, let me add a word on 1968. The civil rights movement had made real progress, and the War in Viet Nam was controversial. President Lyndon Johnson had decided not to run for re-election because the war was making him too unpopular, as evidenced by the fact that anti-war challenger Senator Gene McCarthy got a respectable share of the vote against a sitting president in the New Hampshire primary. Robert Kennedy got into the race when Johnson left it, and might have become the nominee, but for an assassin's bullet. Richard Nixon was the Republican nominee. The Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey -- originally a dynamic young liberal but a man who'd become Johnson's vice-president, gaining power but making compromises -- such as supporting the war -- that made him unpalatable to many of us. Meanwhile segregationist George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, ran as a third-party candidate. I voted for Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver. Nixon won a close popular vote, 43.42% to 42.72%, with Wallace taking 13.53%, and a not-so-close electoral college vote, 55.95% to 35.5% to 8.55%. Near as I could tell, the Wikipedia account doesn't even mention Cleaver. It does note that "Other" won 243,259 votes. And one of its sources reports that Cleaver's votes were 36,571 of that. ]
[Again, what's to fear in Democratic Socialism? Will our government ever become Democratic Socialist? No. Should it? I don't know, though I think I'd prefer it to the current situation. Do we need to move a whole lot closer to Democratic Socialist ideals as soon as feasible, to survive and prosper as the kind of country we could be, and the kind our founders would approve of? Yeah. Clearly. If you want to figure out what you might think about it, read some of the material on the DSA website, https://www.dsausa.org/.]
[On the same radio show, we talked with the co-founders of a group in Santa Fe, Retake our Democracy. Formed in 2016, by disappointed supporters of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination that went to Hillary Clinton, it's a thoughtful group with useful ideas about how to survive in a time of Trumpism. I recommend a look at their website, too: https://retakeourdemocracy.org/ . Good people.]