{"id":5339,"date":"2007-11-19T07:28:40","date_gmt":"2007-11-19T07:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=5339"},"modified":"2007-11-19T07:28:40","modified_gmt":"2007-11-19T07:28:40","slug":"the-case-for-nehamiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=5339","title":{"rendered":"the case for Nehamiah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a stark contrast:<\/p>\n

1. Paul Krugman, “Played for a Sucker<\/a>,” New York Times, Nov. 16: “On Social Security, as on many other issues, what Washington means by bipartisanship is mainly that everyone should come together to give conservatives what they want. We all wish that American politics weren\u2019t so bitter and partisan. But if you try to find common ground where none exists–which is the case for many issues today–you end up being played for a fool. And that\u2019s what has just happened to Mr. Obama.”<\/p>\n

2. Harry C. Boyte: “Our Passive Society Needs Some New Nehemiahs<\/a>,” Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, Nov. 16: “In today’s America, as we have come to look to others — experts, great leaders, celebrities — to save us from our problems, we have similarly become afflicted by civic illness. Our bitter divisions along lines of partisanship, income, race, religion and geography are fed by devaluation of the talents and intelligence of people without credentials, degrees and celebrity status. Our citizenship declines while we are entertained as spectators, pacified as clients and pandered to as customers.<\/p>\n

“We need new Nehemiahs who call forth America’s democratic genius of a self-reliant, productive, future-oriented citizenry, leaders who tackle tough issues in a collaborative way and reject the rescuer role. Such leaders would tap the talents of citizens to address public problems on which government is necessary but not sufficient, from climate change to school reform. They would challenge us to create healthy communities, not simply provide access to health care. They would recall that democracy is a way of life, not simply a trip to the ballot box.<\/p>\n

“The great leaders in our history — from Abraham Lincoln to Jane Addams, Franklin Roosevelt to Martin Luther King Jr. — have always called upon citizens to address common challenges, and in the process helped the nation remember its democratic soul.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’m with my friend Harry, and here are four reasons. First, Krugman treats the Republican Party and conservatism as monolithic, imagining that every member of those large conglomerations plays from the same disreputable script. (Cf. all these comments<\/a> on Think Progress.) In fact, Republicans and conservatives are quite diverse, and some are very discontented with Karl Rove’s style of politics.<\/p>\n

Second, Krugman’s argument is ad hominem. Instead of saying, “Senator Obama, you are wrong about Social Security; it’s not really in crisis,” Krugman says, “Senator Obama, you are a sucker for trying to meet conservatives half way.” Maybe compromise isn’t even Obama’s intent. He may actually believe that Social Security is in crisis. (Many people do.) When we stop giving arguments and reasons and start calling people “suckers,” it’s very hard to move forward.<\/p>\n

Third, it’s going to be impossible to solve any of our real problems unless someone builds a broad constituency. The ruling coalition must be wide enough to embrace some conservatives and some Republicans. Fifty-one percent is enough to knock things down (if you are ruthless), but it is not enough to build things up.<\/p>\n

Finally, Krugman’s political strategy presumes that liberal leaders can win elections and then implement smart policies that will make the country better. I think this is a long-term strategic error. No policies can solve problems without public support and public participation. In order for liberalism to fly, Americans are going to have to feel genuine connections to public institutions. They will not feel truly connected to government until (a) it seems to reflect some consensus and some civility and (b) it addresses their cultural discontents, which are deep and valid. The majority of Americans have genuine worries about a coarse culture, and unless liberal leaders can address their concerns in an inclusive, bridge-building way, liberalism is doomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a stark contrast: 1. Paul Krugman, “Played for a Sucker,” New York Times, Nov. 16: “On Social Security, as on many other issues, what Washington means by bipartisanship is mainly that everyone should come together to give conservatives what they want. We all wish that American politics weren\u2019t so bitter and partisan. But if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barack-obama","category-populism"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}