February 2016 - Revolutionary Misfit

I am observing this presidential election, the 14th that has taken place in the span of my lifetime, with rapt amazement.

I’ve never seen anything like it. On the right you’ve got a guy who says he wants to “make America great again.” Of course, the implication of that slogan is that America is no longer great. I would tend to disagree with that premise. Perhaps you would as well?

On the left you’ve got a guy in Bernie Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist”, who wants to make America great for everyone, not just a handful of billionaires and large corporations, as he likes to often repeat.

Truth is that America’s still a great place for many people, not just the billionaires and large corporations. Although, it’s perhaps a degree or two greater for those guys.

If you are one who has it great in America, well then, thank America for that. Your chances of achieving the same results elsewhere are somewhat less.

Yes, the American system in many ways paves the way for greatness…that has been it’s hallmark for a couple centuries…you know, the land of opportunity.

The problem is that for a growing number of people, perhaps folks that you don’t come into contact in any meaningful way during your day-to-day existence, America has become something different. For them, it no longer seems to be that land of opportunity.

That’s simply a fact. The question is, why?

What happened?

On the one side, the argument goes that we need to create an environment that allows folks to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. And the best way to do that is to make things easier for so-called “job creators.” Thing is, that idea has become code talk for “tax cuts for the rich” and massive deregulation for large businesses. If we do that, the argument goes, things will just automatically get better for everyone…a rising tide lifts all ships.

That’s an interesting view of capitalism that almost suggests a rigging of the system. And that’s exactly what we’ve gotten from it. I like to call it “capitalism run amok.”

I read a line from a comment on Facebook yesterday that made me pause and think. The line read that the campaign of Bernie Sanders is all about “saving capitalism from itself.”

I find that to be a very profound thought.

You see, Sanders doesn’t want to do away with capitalism. Quite the contrary, he wants to make it work for everyone, because right now it’s just not.

Here’s the thing, facts show that the economy does best when there’s a thriving middle class, since they are the ones doing the large majority of the buying that bolsters the balance sheets of businesses of all shapes and sizes.

But the middle class is not thriving. In fact, it is shrinking. If that continues unabated America could end up looking like one of the many countries throughout the globe in which there are two classes…the haves and the have-nots. That poses grave problems for both of those disparate groups. The have-nots suffer because they simply have not and barely can scrape up enough to just survive. The haves suffer because they no longer have anyone who can afford to buy the stuff they’re selling.

So, along comes Bernie with his populist ideals about how to make the middle class thrive again. That can only happen by stemming the massive tide of wealth that’s flowing to the top. All that wealth is not trickling down…not even by a slow drip. It’s being hoarded and passed on to future generations of haves.

And that, my friends, is an unsustainable situation.

Bernie’s policy ideas are often criticized, even, surprisingly, by middle class folk, as being about giving away “free stuff.” The idea being that no one deserves a free lunch. But that misses the point. Bernie doesn’t want to give away free stuff. After all, his programs are very much paid for…primarily by the ones who are sucking up the entire income and wealth of our nation…and then demanding less taxes and more deregulation in return!

No, Bernie simply wants to give the middle class, and those who are striving to move up to it, a better chance at the American dream. A better chance by not having to worry about whether they can afford to go to a doctor when sick. A better chance by not having to get an economic start in life at a young age burdened by tremendous student loan debt. A better chance by allowing a woman to have a baby and stay home with her child and not having to worry about going back to work asap to pay the bills. A better chance by taking action that will hopefully curtail at least some of the devastating effects that virtually all scientists agree are going to by wrought upon us by climate change.

The problem with America these days is not about immigration. Immigration is what made America great to begin with. It’s not about making our military larger. Heck, we already spend more on the military than the next seven nations of the world combined!

The problem is that the American dream has become a dwindling hope for far too many Americans.

Nevertheless, the hope for a better future is still alive. That’s what is right about America. Americans never stop hoping. And Americans are not afraid to fight hard to make that hope a reality.

The campaign of Bernie Sanders is inspiring hope and that is what’s drawing multitudes, especially young people, to his side. This man could become our next president. He could actually have a chance to make Americans great again by saving capitalism from itself.

The fact that he’s gotten this far shows me in many ways what is truly right about America.

Yesterday the nation received sad news. Antonin Scalia, the conservative justice of the Supreme Court, who served our country for some 30 years in that capacity, died in his sleep.

Many things could be said about Justice Scalia. As a law student, who at that time leaned towards a very conservative worldview, I relished in the opinions, especially the dissenting ones, of this colorful justice.

Justice Scalia always stayed grounded in the idea that the constitution should be interpreted according to the plain meaning of the text, just as the founders intended those words to mean at the time they were written. That expansive interpretations that give rise to extra-constitutional rights, such as that of abortion, or gay marriage, were outside of the purview of the court and should be left up to the democratic process.

That’s a compelling argument to make and those who tried to argue against it with Justice Scalia were usually not very successful. That’s because he was grounded and many times his detractors were not.

My worldview has since shifted dramatically from those law school days. I no longer believe that the text of the constitution was intended by the founders to be “suspended in time” and that the only interpretation that can be legitimately given to the words contained therein are the very same ones that the founders themselves would have given to those words.

Yes words do mean things, but often what they mean today is far different from what they meant yesterday. For instance, the word gun, or arm, back in the day of the founders meant, exclusively, the musket, since that was the only available firearm at that point in history. Now, of course, it means a whole lot more…doesn’t it?

Would it be correct to interpret the constitution in such a way as to say that the founders meant for the word firearm to encompass all the weapons available on the market today, or only the musket?

Do you catch my drift?

You see, interpreting the constitution in the way Justice Scalia always proposed can lead to severe societal problems. Under his interpretation the constitution would never protect a women’s right to choose, or a homosexual’s right to marry. In addition to such restrictive results, there is also the problem of an expansive interpretation of the word “speech” to allow corporations to exercise it by injecting huge sums of money into political campaigns and thereby undermine the very democracy that Scalia so cherished.

I do admire, however, Justice Scalia’s “groundedness.” It’s good to be grounded. I just believe it’s better to be grounded in a way that has the best potential for positive impact on people and planet. And Justice Scalia’s version of being grounded often did not produce that result. He would say, well, that’s not his fault. He was appointed to uphold “the meaning” that the constitution actually has, not the one he might prefer it to have.

I too like to think of myself as being grounded. Grounded in the idea that what’s most important is not some rigid adherence to text, but a rigid adherence to an idea, or, even better, ideal. And that ideal is that were are all in this together and each of us has a responsibility to manage our impacts for the betterment of people and of planet. This ideal for impact mindfulness can cut across many aspects of one’s existence, including, of course, one’s political views.

We currently have a fellow running for President who tends to hold fast to a similar ideal. His name is Bernie Sanders. I am sure that, like myself, he would hold Justice Scalia’s intellect in great regard, while at the same time vehemently disagreeing with him.

How could it be that the constitution, the foundational document that defines our basic rights as citizens, should be interpreted in such a way as to deny basic rights, or as to undermine the very democracy that it gives rise to?

Could the founders really have intended such a result?

The conservative viewpoint seems to be, all too often, that what is correct is to rigidly adhere to ideology, whether it flows from the text of an historic document or ancient book, or the ideas behind a particular ism, even when such rigid adherence no longer serves people and planet.

Yes, it saddens me to hear of the passing of Justice Scalia. However, it does not sadden me to think that perhaps society has a chance to move beyond ideologies that no longer serve us.

Staying grounded is a good thing and Justice Scalia was a shining example of that. But I believe it’s best to be grounded in what’s really good for all of us, especially where the constitution is concerned.

Saving Capitalism from Itself

Justice Antonin Scalia – On Staying Grounded

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