I’ve been in and around Washington for almost fifty years, including a stint in the cabinet, and I’ve learned that real change happens only when a substantial share of the American public is mobilized, organized, energized, and determined to make it happen.
Political “pragmatism” may require accepting “half loaves” - but the full loaf has to be large and bold enough in the first place to make the half loaf meaningful. That’s why the movement must aim high - toward a single-payer universal health, free public higher education, and busting up the biggest banks, for example.
But not even a half loaf is possible unless or until we wrest back power from the executives of large corporations, Wall Street bankers, and billionaires who now control the whole bakery. Which means getting big money out of politics and severing the link between wealth and political power - the central goal of the movement Bernie is advancing.
I hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of pragmatism, as in “Bernie Sanders will never be able to get done (or pay for) what he says he will. We need someone more pragmatic.” When I hear that, I find myself thinking that the speaker is someone willing to settle for less than America deserves, someone afraid to take a chance on change that’s not only possible, but likely- if we’re willing to commit to it. Of course, if you don’t believe in something, the chances of it ever happening are trapped somewhere between slim and none.
“Pragmatism” seems to be a code word for those supporting Hillary Clinton. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with being pragmatic, but there’s such as thing as aiming too low out of fear that we can’t get to where we want to be except gradually via baby steps. Personally, I’m tired of baby steps. I’m tired of settling for less than we deserve because we fear not being successful. So what if we fall short? Even if we’re not 100% successful in getting everything we want in the way we want it, what’s so wrong with giving it a shot? I’d rather aim high and fall short than achieve a goal deliberately set low in order that we can congratulate ourselves for our accomplishments.
Achieving real change is hard. It takes commitment and the willingness to persevere in the face of stubborn opposition and obstruction. It takes a movement composed of Americans unwilling to settle for low-hanging fruit…which is exactly what Bernie Sanders is leading.
Bernie Sanders has the courage to confront the institutionalized bias that stains our nation.
- Ben Jealous
Why must pragmatism be thought of as examining a problem and then determining what we can’t have or do? Why can’t we have universal health care? Much of Europe does and has had it for quite some time. Why can’t we pay for college for everyone who wants to go? Much of Europe has figured out a way to do it. I could go on, but these two examples provide an idea of what we could do…if only we set our sights on making it happen. If we make education and health care priorities, we’ll find ways to make them happen. We’re Americans, damn it; it’s what we do.
We could stop spending so much money on our military, and we could start by requiring Europe to increase their military spending by making it clear America will no longer pay the freight for them. By freeing up money needlessly spent on defending Europe, we could easily pay for universal health care and universal college education. There are details that would need to be hammered out, of course, and America isn’t Europe; assuming we can create a mirror image of what Europe does is unrealistic…but there’s no reason we can’t learn from their example. “American Exceptionalism” doesn’t mean we’re so far advanced and arrogant that there’s nothing we can learn from other developed nations.
One of the reasons I’ve endorsed Bernie Sanders is that he speaks to big ideas; he’s not afraid to identify problems and address them with bold, new ideas. Some of these things might not happen, and for any numbers of reasons…but doesn’t it make sense to elect someone who’s willing to take those chances, instead of someone so pragmatic she’s afraid to pursue any sort of change that doesn’t have “incremental” attached to it?
We deserve better than half-measures and baby steps.
