“Know Thy Political Self”

After the disastrous election in November, I read as much as I could, hoping to find some way to channel my anger and frustration into positive action. One of the articles I came across was “How to Be a More Active Progressive in 7 Easy Steps,” a piece from a few years ago.

The first step: “Know Thy Political Self,” in 3 short writing tasks:

• a political philosophy (recommended length: 350 words)
• a list of my top ten issues, with brief statements of belief on the issues
• a list of my political activity in the past year (“could contain anything from ‘I voted’ to ‘I delivered a speech at the U.N.’”)

So, here is my first post of 2017: a statement of my political self.

My Political Philosophy

Rights should be extended as widely as possible.

Government should not restrict rights that do not affect others. For example, same sex marriage between consulting adults was rightly ruled to be protected by the 14th Amendment. However, the government should restrict activity that does harm others, such as industrial pollution.

No one should be a millionaire while others are homeless and hungry. In other words, the government should take steps to limit the acquisition of wealth and to provide for the most vulnerable through progressive taxation and aggressive spending on social services. The Rawlsian ethic should apply to economics: if the wealthiest member of the community would not be willing to switch places with the least wealthy member, the system is unjust.

We should adopt the Iroquois idea of considering how our actions will affect the next seven generations.

True costs must be considered in economics and business. For example, Walmart’s low prices come at the cost of atrocious supply chain practices and low wages for workers. Other products often come at the cost of pollution or increased carbon release, for example. Companies should consider a “triple bottom line” that takes into account social and ecological costs.

The United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights is a more enlightened document than the U.S. Constitution. We must never forget that our Constitution allowed slavery at its ratification.

My Top 10 Issues, plus 1

These are in no particular order except where noted.

Climate change – if we don’t solve this, the other issues will probably be academic.

Money in politics / campaign finance – it feels a bit naive to suggest that this could ever change, given how wealth retrenched itself in 2016, but removing money from politics could be a key to the other important issues. I see some hope in the fact that California passed a proposition condemning Citizens United, and in the fact that leaders like Senator-elect Kamala Harris (who will be the second Black woman in the U.S. Senate!) and Lt. Gov. (and gubernatorial candidate) Gavin Newsom are fundraising with “chip-in” contributions.

Education – not more important than the other issues, but obviously an area where I have the most expertise. I have begun drafting a piece on my vision for education.

Food justice / food security – I feel some shame at not taking a more active role in this. I’d like to become involved in fighting this at a local level in the new year.

Anti-racism – with a racist-in-chief taking the inaugural oath on January 20, white people need to stand in solidarity with people of color.

The Pew Research Center recently reported that in 2014, “median black household income was about $43,300, while white household income was about $71,300.” Black people are also “more than twice as likely as whites to live in poverty”: in 2016, 26% of Black people lived in poverty compared with 10% of whites.

This is not to mention educational inequities for Black and Latino children, police violence against Black people, the recent rhetoric against Latinos and Muslims, and the spike in hate crimes after November 9.

I know that a majority of voters chose Hillary Clinton, and I am encouraged by how much protest and criticism there has been against Trump, but there are still scary parallels between Germany in the early 1930s and our recent political discourse. There are also scary parallels between Trump’s proposals and our shameful internment of Japanese-Americans in World War 2. White people need to be prepared to stand for equality against what appears to be a rising tide of neo-fascism.

LGBTQ+ rights – A committed homophobe who wants to spend taxpayer money on “conversion therapy” is a heartbeat (or an impeachment) from the Oval Office.

Violence against women – with a sexual-predator-in-chief taking the inaugural oath on January 20, men need to stand in solidarity with women.

Health care / reproductive rights – I link these because so many attacks on reproductive rights have the consequence of limiting women’s access to basic health care. Planned Parenthood, for example, provided nearly 1 million cancer screenings in 2013, yet right-wing politicians (including Mike Pence) have demonized the organization and attempted to defund it based on dubious claims that Planned Parenthood is an abortion factory. (Even if it were, abortion is still legal, but that’s another story.)

And, of course, Trump campaigned on ending Obamacare; there is a good chance that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance later this month.

Immigration – immigrants’ rights are human rights. Here is an excellent example of how the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights – in this case, Articles 6, 13, 15, and 21 – is far superior to the U.S. Constitution in articulating a broad vision of a just future for all human beings.

Gentrification / housing justice – I am very pleased with the direction California has taken in the past 10 years, but this is perhaps our major Achilles’ heel. It’s too expensive for most families to buy a home. We need affordable housing if the California Dream is remain attainable for everyone, not only the most wealthy.

I went with eleven issues instead of ten because voting rights came to the fore this year. Voter suppression almost certainly contributed to Trump’s electoral win.

I could have also included mental health care, the digital divide, and prisons/criminal justice reform in this list; they are certainly important issues. Access to clean water is another issue that we need to pay attention to.

My political involvement last year

This is a short list. I voted in the primary and in the general election. I wrote to Dianne Feinstein & Barbara Boxer to express my opposition to the TPP. I donated to Keith Ellison, Kamala Harris, and Gavin Newsom. I called Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego’s office to express my support for his brilliant speech against Trump.