Letter #3 -- Ron Paul and You

Dear Barry,

What’s the takeaway for you from last night’s New Hampshire primary?  I would urge you to look carefully at Ron Paul’s results.  Whatever your re-election campaign has learned about Mitt Romney as your putative opponent this Fall, I think that Ron Paul’s success may provide for you a useful opening (if not a sobering warning) in facing the national electorate this time around.

In 2008, Paul received 7.8% of the vote in New Hampshire’s Republican primary and finished a distant fifth.   This time, he finished second with 23%.  More importantly, press accounts report that over half of all the votes cast in yesterday’s primary came from so-called “undeclared” voters – the crucial, and heavily courted Independents.  Of these, more voted for Paul than for any other candidate.

Why?  How is it that Paul did so much better this time than last? His is, after all, a protest candidacy.  But what, exactly, is he protesting? What is his appeal to the electorate? His positions on monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank, and America’s role in the world are not new and did little to promote him in the past.  What is resonating in 2012, however, is his profound mistrust of government, his stinging judgment that government continues to fail the American people, and his caustic disbelief that it can do anything to correct itself.  Hence his conclusion that the best one can hope for from government is that it get off our backs.  In sum, Paul’s message reflects the anger and disappointment that many Americans, themselves not merely hurting in the aftermath of the recession but still immersed in it, feel about their government.

In your 2004 Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention you observed,

 [F]or alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we’re all connected as one people. . . .

It is that fundamental belief [that] I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

This call to a bedrock American belief in our national exceptionalism and common purpose fired the imagination and energy of those who became your core supporters in 2008 campaign.  It fueled the outreach to formerly disaffected Americans, including the young, the poor, minority group members, and independent voters of all stripes.  Events have transpired that have driven many of these same folks to despair, even cynicism, about government.  Some have found that Ron Paul articulates their current situation. 

My hope is that your campaign will see in the Ron Paul phenomenon the importance of reminding the American people of the values and vision that undergird the way you approach governance.  There will be much discussion and debate of the way you have and have not succeeded in actualizing your program.  That’s fair comment and criticism.  But what you and your campaign need to insist on, I believe, is that your commitment to “find[ing] the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort” (2008 Acceptance Speech) remains unshakable.

Respectfully,

Larry

January 11, 2012  

  

Letter #2 -- Government and the Middle Class

  

Dear Barry,

WNET, our public television station, reported tonight on its “Need to Know” program about the strains facing the people who live and work on Main Street in Nashua, New Hampshire.  There are a couple of general themes and reflections that emerged from the program that I’d like to share with you.

First, and most important, is the sadness that my wife Judy and I felt watching the program.  The statistic that 100,000,000 Americans – 1/3 of the population – live below or only slightly above the poverty line is not merely shocking but also infuriating.  Deepening our outrage, moreover, was the human face that the program put on the statistic: 

·      the couple with only part-time employment but $50,000 in medical debt following the premature birth of a child; 

·      the husband and wife with four children whose life savings have been drained from $30,000 to $500 following a series of job lay-offs; 

·      a low-wage newspaper delivery man who never has a day off; 

·      the student who believes that her college debt  will follow her her entire life; 

·      the Main Street businessman who’s closed two or three stores and has now liquidated his entire savings to try to salvage the last. 

The head of an extended household observed that she got paid on Wednesday and, after paying the bills, they were broke on Thursday.  Living paycheck to paycheck, she wondered how her family would survive if she lost her job.  Regrettably, she’s about to find out;  the narrator reported that, shortly after the interview, she was fired.  The Episcopal priest and the local marriage counselor both noted how those who had previously been immune from the consequences of the economic downturn were now victims of it.  The gravamen of these anecdotes, in my judgment, constitutes an indictment of any idea we might hold about the nature and purpose of civil society. 

Secondly, and this is really what I wante to share with you in this letter, is the sense of betrayal toward government expressed by the people in the program.  These are good people;  no one is looking for a handout.  They are looking for help in working through their problems. From their perspective, the institutions of government have simply failed them.  They don’t blame Democrats or Republicans, they feel abandoned by both.  As one small businessman put it, he’s making choices, decisions, and concessions every day in the effort to save his business.  Why, he wondered, can’t our leaders in Washington do the same. 

  

The job numbers reported today suggest an upward trend.  If it continues like this for another few months, the pundits say, it will help you politically in seeking re-election.  You yourself observed that, while positive, the increase in the number of jobs created is far from satisfactory.  You are correct, and I hope that the circumstances faced by good people in Nashua, NH – multiplied 10s of millions of times across the country – will shape your own actions in the days, weeks, and months ahead. 

The dilemma, of course, is that political discourse in an election year is unavoidably polarizing.  We are more attuned to sharp elbows rather than handshakes, to ranting instead of reasoned dialogue.  The disconnect between the frantic bombast of the candidates traipsing across New Hampshire in advance of next Tuesday’s primary and the quiet desperation of the people interviewed on “Need to Know” is jarring.  I fear that, when the contest is joined by the Democrats this fall, we will continue to be assailed by accusations, self-serving pronouncements, and lugubrious predictions of national decline if the other candidate is elected. 

I’m a realist.  [Well, at times I’m a realist.]  I know that you will be required to put on your political track shoes and run the race.  But I also believe that by temperament – and by personal experience – you are inclined toward comity.  Though people like myself were often frustrated by and critical of your willingness to find common ground with an obstinate, often unreasonable (to us) opposition, your electoral success in 2008 speaks to the value of that approach.  The American people might not agree on what work they want government to undertake, but all the polls reveal that they want a government that works.

Respectfully,

Larry
January 6, 2012    

Letter #1

Dear Barry,

An introduction and a disclaimer.   I'm a retired Jewish communal professional who labored in the public policy vineyards for 30 years.  Broadly speaking, my vocation's roots reach into the prophetic tradition of Judaism with its commitment to the principle of tikkun olam, the repair or restoration of a broken world.  In secular terms, our efforts were focused on what might broadly be defined as a social justice agenda: first amendment freedoms of speech and religion, safeguarding the wall of separation between church and state, support for a strong public education system, nurturing intergroup and interreligious relations, combating racism and bigotry,  fighting poverty and economic injustice, advocacy for international human rights, assuring the continuing support for Israel as a strategic and democratic partner of the United States, and advocacy for a generous and welcoming immigration policy.

I'd like to believe that, in retirement, I maintain the same general sympathy for the "weak clients" and "voiceless" in our society that I had as a communal professional.  I know that I am still firmly committed to finding ways to address pressing public challenges.  Estimable, high-minded goals are mere rhetoric unless pursued smartly.  Like many Americans, I share your vision of a post-partisan governance, of decision-making that transcends needless political rancor and venal self-interest.  I bristle at the ineffectiveness of Congress to conduct the nation's legislative business.  Subsequent to the failure of Congress to reach a deficit-reduction agreement I wrote on Facebook, "There is much to debate as to what are the necessary next steps to restore and revive trust in our government and hope for the future. But, in the face of these momentous issues, the preening paralysis of our elected officials is both unpardonable and unforgivable."  Both liberal and conservative friends agreed with me.  I know that you share that general frustration, and I want to work with you to overcome it, to point us as a nation in a new direction. 

Now the disclaimer.  Calling my blog "Dear Barry" is not meant as any disrespect for you or the office of the president.  In fact, it is really the opposite.  When I read Dreams from my Father, I was deeply moved by the intimacy and affection for you shown by your Kenyan relatives.  The warmth, high spirits, and unalloyed joy with which they guided your African journey was moving.  While always supportive, subsequent posts may find reasons to engage with you critically, please know that I do so from the same supportive place of your Kenyan relatives.

I look forward to sharing ideas with you between now and the election.

Respectfully,

Larry
January 3, 2012