You Can Help Stop America’s March to the Right

Abstract

Progressives have systematically disempowered themselves by not presenting a unified challenge to the pro-corporate forces that continue to dominate Congress and the Obama administration. To reenergize the progressive movement, we need a new discourse in the public arena to pull public attention toward a vision of what this country could be like if the values of generosity, caring, compassion, environmental sanity, nonviolence, social justice, peace, and love for all humanity were to shape our schools, economy, media, and government. In short, the public arena needs a spiritual progressive voice. Shifting public discourse in this way will require many small, local interventions to happen simultaneously in neighborhoods, city councils, school board meetings, and living rooms across the country. A single person can’t bring about such a change — it’s a task that can only be accomplished by many people acting together. Will you join me in making a New Year’s resolution to speak up for this vision in the public sphere?I know that urging friends, neighbors, coworkers, and extended family to move beyond cynicism and apathy can be discouraging. Even people who agree with spiritual progressive ideas often say such ideas are too far in advance of the electorate. To get progressive lawmakers elected and progressive legislation passed, they argue, we need to focus on pragmatic strategies based on polling statistics and calculations about what seats are “in play.”The problem is, this approach is deeply mistaken. Why? Because its calculus requires the Democratic Party to put forward candidates who are so centrist that a mere twenty years ago their ideas would have been judged mainstream Republican. Once these centrist candidates are elected, they undermine the ability of the Democrats to put forward progressive legislation anyway. That’s what happened in 2009 and 2010 when, despite controlling the Senate and the House, Democrats were unable to pass truly progressive legislation because of resistance from within their own party.The wonderful gay and lesbian victories around marriage equality in 2013 suggest that the more effective way to build change is to root the articulation of a political position in a discourse not only of rights but also of love. The key is finding ways to understand what others fear in your spiritual progressive vision, and then finding innovative ways to speak to those fears.The Republicans have long understood the power of offering a coherent vision to the public. That’s why they adopted Newt Gingrich’s ten-point “Contract with America” in 1994 as their central unifying message — a decision that enabled them to take back control of the Congress. Lacking a similar unifying vision, the Democrats are once again on the path toward self-marginalization, while progressives stew in their own sense of powerlessness.Putting forward a larger worldview is both ethically appropriate and likely to be politically effective. The core values of love, kindness, generosity, and caring (caring for each other and the earth) must become the central focus of all who hope to heal and transform our world. A progressive political movement that does not prioritize love will never succeed in effectively challenging unbridled corporate capitalism and the toxic ethos dominating the global economy.Most people have two voices in their heads. One voice says this is a world in which other people are out to advance their own interests at all costs, and they will exploit us unless we succeed in dominating them first. The other voice says our own security and success in the world is more likely to be achieved when others experience us as loving, caring, and generous toward them. Those who hold the domination worldview tend to vote conservative, whereas those who hold the generosity worldview tend to vote liberal or progressive. Swing voters tend to heed the fear-oriented voice unless the generosity voice inside them is supported by voices of hope, love, and generosity in the media or elsewhere in their lives. This struggle defines the outcome of most elections. It is why Obama won overwhelmingly in 2008 when he strengthened our belief that a world of caring is possible. And it’s why the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives once Obama moved toward pragmatic centrism.We at Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives fully endorse attempts to fight for economic entitlements and political rights. However, we are aware that such attempts are often co-opted or defanged. Members of the capitalist class (the 1 percent plus their minions in the media, policy institutes, foundations, universities, and management levels of large corporations) have recognized that they can retain their economic power even as they acknowledge various identity groups, appoint token members of those groups to some positions of power, and abolish legal discrimination against women, gays, and minorities. Even as they have acceded to these demands, they have upheld the fundamental inequalities that guarantee poverty and keep the workforce disciplined through a fear of unemployment. And this fear is intensified by the weakening (or in some cases dismantling) of the social support systems that in other advanced industrial countries cushion the worst impacts of the capitalist marketplace on working families. Once they dismantle government supports, the conservatives are then able to say, “See, government really doesn’t serve your interests, so why should you be paying so much in taxes — let’s further shrink down government to the police and the army!”So we get the paradox of working-class, middle-income Americans voting for politicians who seek to dismantle the very government programs like Social Security and health care that the middle class depends upon. The research produced by the Institute for Labor and Mental Health — a facility dedicated to dealing with the mental health issues of working people that I directed in the 1980s — helped me understand how this happened. Liberals failed to fight for an alternative worldview, narrowing their public campaigns to “realistic” goals, rarely challenging the worldview of conservatives. The capitalist marketplace, with its structured competition of all against all, strengthened the individualism and mindset of “looking out for number one,” which in turn encouraged people to believe that economic class divisions are based on a meritocracy so that those who aren’t more economically successful should blame themselves for their own alleged failures. Class solidarity soon gave way to self-blaming and shame, and these, when brought home into family life, often contributed to a rising divorce rate and a fear that the family — the one institution set up to nurture people no matter how poorly they did in the marketplace — was itself being destroyed. And then the Right set itself up as the champion of family life, blaming the destruction of family values on liberals and progressives.That’s why a progressive movement must become ideological, not only in explicitly challenging fantasies of meritocracy and the assault on government by the 1 percent, but also and most importantly by addressing the deepest deprivation in our society — a deprivation of love and community. This deprivation makes it hard for us to believe that people genuinely care for each other or to feel that our lives have some larger meaning than the endless struggle for economic survival.To be successful, the progressive movement must position itself as the champion of reorganizing our economic and political lives so that they can promote rather than undermine our capacities for love and generosity. And it must support people’s efforts to get back in touch with their deep aspiration to live in a caring society based on caring for each other and caring for the earth. In short, we need a progressive movement that is unabashedly committed to love, kindness, generosity, and environmental sanity — a movement that is willing to stand up to those who call such values “unrealistic” or even “utopian.” We need a movement that insists that only a society based on such values, rather than on the materialism and selfishness of the capitalist marketplace, can protect us from the increasing shift toward the Right and the triumph of the interests of the 1 percent, a shift that is now happening with the blessings (or at least the capitulations) of both the Republican and Democratic parties. And this means challenging the Left itself, which is rarely attuned to, much less willing to champion, the psychological and spiritual needs that a capitalist society systematically frustrates.So we need to create a cadre or a spiritual progressive equivalent to the Franciscans or the Jesuits that can challenge both the ideology of the capitalist order and the one-dimensionality of the Left (even while supporting the economic and political rights agenda of liberals and progressives). And at this particular moment, we have to make clear that the Obama administration, while under ferocious assault from the Right, and defending itself from the most irrational attacks, is nevertheless partly responsible for this mess because it has neither fought for a coherent alternative to the worldview of the Right nor addressed the psychological and spiritual crisis that the competitive marketplace generates in our lives. This spiritual crisis undermines people’s belief in the possibility of solidarity or caring and leads them to despair and defeatism, which the Right then manipulates, often for nefarious purposes. If I thought that being progressive meant supporting the Obama administration’s mix of pro–Wall Street policies, drone attacks, militarism, jailing of whistle-blowers who expose domestic spying and other governmental wrongdoing, a health care reform that requires everyone to buy insurance but sets no restrictions on how much the insurance companies can raise their rates, an environmental policy that doesn’t come close to addressing the dimensions of the environmental disaster we face, and a willingness to reduce government social spending while giving carte blanche to Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, and the military, I wouldn’t want to be a progressive any more than do many Americans.What makes me optimistic, despite my deep disappointment with the Obama administration and with the psychological and spiritual obtuseness of some liberal and progressive movements, is that love itself permeates the universe and continues to manifest itself in the aspirations of most human beings. No matter how successful the media and daily life in capitalist society are in generating despair, individualism, materialism, and cynicism, the desire for a world based on love and generosity cannot be fully extinguished: it keeps on popping up and demanding to be heard. I call this Love’s Rebellion — a refusal to accept the ethos of materialism and selfishness as the ultimate truth of our lives, an insistence on seeing the goodness and generosity in others, and a determination to replace “power over” with caring for each other and caring for the earth!It’s time now to give Love’s Rebellion a political platform. And to make that happen, we need your help to push these issues into the public sphere. Here there is something to be learned from the Tea Party about strategy. Tea Party activists managed to push the discourse in the country to the right by mounting electoral challenges to Republican lawmakers who were seen by the Tea Party as too centrist. That same thing could happen if spiritual progressives were to launch campaigns against centrist Democrats, and simultaneously to challenge liberal and progressive movements to reframe their demands to include the issues we raise in our Spiritual Covenant with America (see tikkun.org/covenant).The most effective way to help introduce a spiritual progressive voice into the public arena is for you to be in the public sphere. You can start by creating a local study group to discuss Tikkun articles; forming a chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives; building a spiritual progressive caucus in your union, professional organization, church, synagogue, mosque, political party; or running for some sort of office. Many people who run for local school board, city council, or other posts have never been elected officials before — this is something that any of us has the ability to do. Being old, young, inexperienced, or poor cannot prevent you from going door-to-door to get the signatures you need to become a candidate. If your mobility is limited, it’s possible to do outreach through the Internet.The purpose is to challenge the current values generated by what we call the globalization of materialism and selfishness (though it is often known as the globalization of capital). Instead of simply reacting to every latest outrage, you can help put forward a whole different frame for politics. Together, we can raise consciousness about how a framework of love and generosity can manifest in concrete political programs: a Global Marshall Plan, an Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a more sensible health care plan (Medicare for Everyone), a ban against all forms of government spying on American citizens, protections for whistle-blowers, a tax on carbon, a ban on fracking, massive funding for clean sources of solar and wind energy, a huge program of building high-quality housing and environmentally sustainable mass transportation, universally available free child care and elder care, a ban on increasing the interest on student loans beyond the level necessary to keep up with inflation, the legalization of marijuana and other non-addictive psychoactive drugs, a minimum wage set at the level of a living wage (today in California that would be approximately $22 per hour for a family with two adults and two children), and a guaranteed annual income for everyone who is unable to find work or unable to do their work.As we succeed in electing more spiritual progressives to public office, we will need to build a strong movement organization (the Network of Spiritual Progressives can serve as a starting place) to help sustain those people elected and keep them from being engulfed by the existing corruption of our government or from giving up in frustration. No matter whether you use a wheelchair, live in a retirement home, or are just starting college classes, you have the capacity to collect signatures to get a ballot initiative to back any of the progressive initiatives I’ve described. If you have children, bring them along — they’ll love it if you get into it.OK. I realize all of this might seem a little scary and overwhelming, and you’ll need help to act on these ideas. We want to provide that. We can provide you with draft resolutions and other materials. We can give you materials to hand out at the next statewide or national gathering of your political party, professional organization, or religious institution, or at a local supermarket or bookstore.We have a training for potential activists or leaders in a spiritual progressive movement that affirms Love’s Rebellion. It is scheduled for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, January 17–20, 2014, in the San Francisco Bay Area (more info at spiritualprogressives.org/training) that we’d love for you to attend. Even at the last moment, signing up for the training might still be possible — send me an email at rabbilerner.tikkun@gmail.com. And if you are reading this after January 20, you can set up an event in your area and we can come and do another training there. Get us thirty people who want to do a two- or three-day training and can afford to subsidize our travel and staff time, and we’ll be there. Contact me at rabbilerner.tikkun@gmail.com if you want to take on any part of this project.Though it may be too late for the 2014 midterm elections, it’s time to start building toward the 2016 congressional and presidential elections. To do that, spiritual progressives need to build groups of people who are willing to meet consistently to plan out a local strategy. Here are some possible activities that such groups could pursue:Study the perspectives we’ve developed in Tikkun and create a monthly reading group that discusses the articles in the latest edition of Tikkun magazine. Encourage group members to go to spiritualprogressives.org and read about the Spiritual Covenant with America (tikkun.org/covenant), the Global Marshall Plan (tikkun.org/GMP), and the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (tikkun.org/ESRA). Role-play how to raise these issues in door-to-door encounters with your neighbors.Run as delegates to the statewide and national conventions of your political party (even the Republican Party — you’ll be surprised, but there are people in every political party who will respond to Love’s Rebellion and be attracted to the core ideas of the Spiritual Covenant with America). Alternatively, get a petition to put your name on the ballot for some relevant public office and use the opportunity of running for office (any office) to spread new ideas that emanate from Tikkun’s Network of Spiritual Progressives into the public arena.Go to churches, synagogues, mosques, civic organizations, professional organizations, or the local city council to present these ideas. The goal is to generate a public debate about the ideals that lie behind the Network of Spiritual Progressives’ programmatic focus — even if in doing so you lose some electoral support. Changing consciousness is the goal, and that can only happen if we are ready to lose and keep coming back and showing why the worldview of love, generosity, caring for each other and the earth, compassion, and kindness is actually a far better framework to use than the narrow worldview of self-interest that the pragmatists and realists rely on to motivate supporters.Go to constituent meetings of your congressional representatives and challenge them for being too narrow in their vision of what is needed.Build a local chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives that will continue on beyond any election. Tikkun is barred from endorsing candidates in elections in order to retain our nonprofit status. You are not similarly barred, so our trainings and ideas can be very helpful to you and others who are ready to bring our visionary ideas into the public arena. A caring society — based on caring for each other and caring for the earth — is precisely what is needed now. People are hungering for it. So many people have always felt alone without anyone else to ally with in building a more caring world. You can be the spark that ignites the souls of others and enables them to finally have the confidence to fight for the world they believe in and yearn for.Create a monthly potluck in your community for all social change activists, share food and stories of what people are doing, and encourage people to meet in small groups to share the problems that they’ve encountered so that they can learn from each others’ experiences. Use the opportunity to present Tikkun’s analysis and to celebrate Love’s Rebellion!So let’s make a New Year’s resolution we keep: to make significant steps toward this goal by the beginning of 2015. If not you, who? If not now, when?