Understanding America's Social Ills

In two separate appearances at the Historic Sixth and I Synogauge here in Washington, Politics and Prose Bookstore hosted Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Both individuals were touting their new books, A Fighting Chance and Six Amendments, respectively, while discussing their broader belief systems. In addition to listening to Warren and Stevens, I had the privilege of meeting and introducing Vice President Joe Biden, who we as GW College Democrats alongside the Program Board and the Student Association booked as our end of year speaker, as he addressed GW students. Biden addressed the Democratic criticisms of Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal. All three of these public servants demonstrated that they firmly grasped the social ills facing the country, the plight of working class and middle class individuals shafted by special interests and a broken political system, and the need to utilize social and political levers to alleviate inequality. However, action is required beyond words in order to ensure that real social change is achieved.

Nevertheless, it is comforting that there are longtime public servants who understand the true injustices that have visited hardworking, decent people and who have the know-how, experience, and tenacity to see through it that these injustices can be reversed. None of these individuals are perfect by any means. Each of them have made flawed judgments that, in some cases, are not reflective of the interests of working class and middle class individuals. However, all of them fundamentally understand that it is these people who are the backbone of the economy, that it is their success that is inextricably linked to broader national prosperity, and that progressive public policy is necessary to advance their interests.

This understanding on their part was reflected in the language Biden, Warren, and Stevens used to make their cases. Vice President Biden powerfully made a compelling argument against the House GOP budget, outlining how philosophically, the Republican viewpoint is at odds with the history of our country being one in which economic success is driven by the middle class. Ryan and his acolytes believe in "this incredibly narrow mindset that presumes that wealthy investors are the sole driver of the economy - that all employers work solely by the grace of the shareholders' capital gain," Biden asserted. Senator Warren railed against the "system being rigged" in favor of the wealthy and the well-connected who, in the last three decades, have had a ladder up while folks at the bottom rung of the economic ladder have been denied such opportunity thanks to decades of laws pushed by big corporations to enhance their political and financial power. Justice Stevens scolded his former conservative colleagues on the Court for crafting decisions that have been favored by the Chamber of Commerce and big business interests, such as Citizens United in which he penned the dissenting opinion, and marginalized those with less.

It is reassuring that Biden, Warren, and Stevens articulate well the social ills facing the country and that they comprehend the disturbing outsized growth of power of the very wealthy as opposed to the meager growth of those making less. Further, the policy prescriptions they propose are ones that will materially improve the lives of those struggling to make ends meet. These ideas include a budget that rewards lower and middle class people while eliminating loopholes for the rich, more robust rules and regulations to constrain the financial sector from wreaking havoc, and a strong reaffirmation of core civil rights and civil liberties. In order for these policy initiatives to be implemented into law though, mass collective action is required to put pressure on politicians to make these changes. As Elizabeth Warren demonstrated in her successful fight to create a consumer protection agency, which the President embraced and fought for as well, it is worth a fight even if the interests seem stacked against you. Ultimately, the power of the masses yearning for the realization of full economic equality for working class and middle class people has, historically, won out, even after periods in which we had terrible inequality. It requires public mobilization though because as FDR said, "I agree with you, now make me do it." Make them do it.