It is common to hear that our upcoming national election is a change election. Sometimes the success of the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are explained by saying that they are change candidates running against the status quo. The appeal is that both are not “more of the same.”
The problem with that characterization is the meaninglessness of the word “change.” It is a cloudy vagueness with multiple possible interpretations.
On the Democratic side, we have the debate between the incrementalist change represented by Hillary Clinton and the big change represented by Sanders. We have a pretty good idea what incrementalist change is about, but what would big change mean now for the United States?
You rarely see a fleshed-out vision of that, so I offer my own. In presenting this vision, I have not reviewed the platform of any candidate, including Sanders, nor have I consulted with any campaign. I would add that both progressives and conservatives can be legitimately criticized for the staleness of their ideas. Neither major party has kept up with the magnitude of the changes we actually do need. Also, I offer this vision with a keen awareness of the obstacles in the path of its realization.
First and foremost, big change in 2016 requires an assault on income inequality. That is central. We need to be increasing the power and income of ordinary working people. Things have been way skewed in America toward the accumulation of extreme wealth for the 1 percent. Now it should be everybody else’s turn.
People in more equal societies live longer, healthier and happier lives. Although not widely recognized, equality benefits everyone.
It is not just raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. We need a moratorium on all layoffs and wage cuts. We should be reducing the interest rates on all credit cards and mortgage debt. Predatory lending needs to be more closely scrutinized and prohibited.
We need a massive rebuilding of our infrastructure, especially mass transit. Such a publicly subsidized program could offer good job opportunities to millions of people who are on the margins. This would be a modern day, new New Deal.
We have a genuine career crisis in America. Good-paying, stable jobs with benefits and pensions have become an endangered species. Instead of long-term career jobs rewarded by greater income commensurate with lengthy service, more jobs have become temporary, contingent or part time. We need better quality jobs that offer a future – not just a chance to be exploited.
Our brand of capitalism has failed to address so many crises. Young people, if they are fortunate enough to go to college, are paying ridiculous sums to emerge into an economy with not enough opportunity. Public college should be free or much less expensive than it is now. The cost of college is a scandal. Young people should not be coming out of college buried in debt.
Those not going to college also need career paths that offer vocational opportunity at a livable wage. Jobs such as caring for children, older people and the sick deserve greater pay based on the principle that they are a public good.
We need to totally rethink the role of senior citizens, who will be becoming a larger part of our population. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience there. Seniors need to be treated as a valuable resource. Instead of putting people out to pasture early, we need to integrate seniors and use them more as mentors. Too many seniors are shunted aside when they could be contributing and could be a part of community life. Seniors deserve so much better than lives of loneliness, isolation and financial privation.
We should consider a 30-hour work week for 40 hours’ pay. People could have six-hour shifts and be paid for eight hours, and they would come to work with more energy and focus. It has been roughly 80 years since we moved to the 40-hour week. It is time for a shorter work week, which would allow more people employment while allowing workers time for other pursuits outside work.
I also like the idea of five-week mandatory paid vacation for all Americans. People in America are working too much for too little. Everybody needs a break.
We should have free, publicly provided quality child care as well as paid family and medical leave. France has successfully created such a national child care system so that families pay far less out of pocket than we do.
We should move in the direction of publicly financed, affordable multiple-dwelling rental housing. Along with a universal right to health care, we should create a right to housing. There are far too many evictions and foreclosures. We need a major program to finance high-quality, affordable housing. Homelessness is not acceptable in the 21st century.
I know many will say we cannot afford all of these ideas. My answer would be a stronger, progressive tax code. Progressive taxation is an absolutely honorable and time-tested principle. The current tax system grossly favors the rich, and they can easily afford to pay much more. Creative tax lawyers should not be able to give the rich a free ride by stashing money in tax shelters, Swiss banks and the Cayman Islands.
Nor should the rich be able to buy elections. Citizens United and its ilk must be overturned. It is utterly undemocratic for billionaires to purchase election results like they are just another commodity for sale.
For a country of such extraordinary wealth and natural resources, the United States has devolved into a country with shocking levels of poverty. These places of poverty are what the journalist Chris Hedges has called “sacrifice zones.”
I grew up in the Philadelphia area so I will cite the familiar example of Camden, N.J., because it is typical of how a city dramatically declines. The features of such places are environmental degradation, job flight followed by joblessness, poor schools, too much violence and drugs, bad housing and lower life expectancy. These places are largely ignored and written off by the powers that be.
Big change would mean we do not ignore such places. Progressives must stand for abolition of poverty. Places like Camden and Flint, Mich., might be the worst examples, but hopelessly poor neighborhoods exist in many parts of this country, and they are not limited to any racial group. Such poor neighborhoods should become a thing of the past.
In the United States, we need to regain a sense of the collective mission and purpose of our country. The country needs to be for the people – not for a handful of billionaires. We need to be asking: What do the masses of people in the United States need?
It is not more wars and militarism. Over the last generation, we have been led astray on imperialist adventures. We should be done with stupid wars. Between Vietnam and Iraq, we have more than had our fill. While there are real threats out there, we must be much more circumspect about what constitutes a genuine threat to our national security. Our military-industrial complex is too large, and its appetites will promote much more needless loss of life.
We do need to recognize climate change, and we must stop ignoring the overwhelming consensus of scientists who warn us about it. The climate change deniers are an absurdity and have had too much sway. Moving beyond fossil fuels and toward environmentally sustainable energy is a no-brainer. The environmental challenges cut far deeper than is being acknowledged. We need to fight the ongoing mass extinction of biodiversity, and we need to protect wilderness and prevent habitat destruction. Human life is integrally intertwined with our fellow species. We are failing to recognize that exterminating other species threatens humanity.
I would be remiss if I did not mention our original sins – racism against Native Americans and African-Americans. It is not like that has been adequately addressed. Denial still reigns. It is past time to own up and figure out an agenda that is intellectually honest and just. At the very least we need to stop allowing suppression of the vote. Such a low percentage of people vote in America. We should be doing everything to increase the popular vote. I agree with Sen. Sanders’s idea that we have a Democracy Day national holiday so that everyone has the time and opportunity to vote. We also may want to allow weekend voting.
I also feel compelled to mention defense of women’s reproductive rights. The anti-choice movement has chipped away for years now at the rights established by Roe v. Wade. The extremism of that movement has created an environment in which fanatics feel justified targeting and murdering doctors. Progressives must defend choice. It is sad that in an article about progressive vision, I am advocating an undeniably defensive action, but there is a clear and present danger to women across the country, and these rights must be protected.
We also need to stop blaming undocumented immigrants. They did not bring the economy to its knees or move jobs to China. They are being scapegoated. Ideas such as building a wall or banning Muslims from entry in the United States do not constitute change; such ideas are know-nothing reaction.
I know plenty of people will read these ideas and they will attack them as socialist. In this, they will be wrong. Socialism is about control over the means of production by working-class people. The big changes I have outlined are only about fairness and fit more in the social democratic tradition.
The range of ideas allowed for serious discussion by Republicans and Democrats is far too narrow. I offer these ideas as a basis for further discussion and debate. Capitalism is consigning masses of working people, including in New Hampshire, to a permanent underclass.
Maybe it is time to think big.
(Jonathan P. Baird of Wilmot works at the Social Security Administration. His column reflects his own views and not those of his employer.)