Our Agenda for America

You’ve probably been there. It’s a family gathering, maybe Thanksgiving or a wedding, and someone starts a political conver­sation that is as ill-informed and jargon-filled as Fox News. You hear assumptions about the world that are so alien, you wonder if you’re living on the same planet. There seems to be no way to have a meaningful dialogue, much less find common ground.

But common ground is just what we discovered in researching the Fall issue of YES! We found a nation less neatly divided than those red-blue state maps would have us believe. There are now more “Independents” than registered Republicans, so the red-blue divide is already obsolete.

But more fundamentally, when it comes to the critical issues of jobs, war, and health care, among others, large majorities want the same things. We want to be treated with respect and are prepared to offer it in return. We want our hard work rewarded with decent pay. We want quality education and health care for our children. And we want security in the face of eco­nomic, ecological, and geopolitical crises.

In this issue, we offer an American agenda based on 10 areas of broad agreement. What if, instead of letting the candidates, lobbyists, and corporations set the agenda, we set it ourselves, based on what we want, and evaluated candidates based on which of them would best meet our priorities?

To get to that common agenda, we’ll have to reject the belligerence that has domi­nated politics in recent years. Comedian Jon Stewart was right when he accused those who turn politics into a shouting match of “hurting America.” The politics they create exasperates ordinary people, reduces complex issues to simplistic catch phrases, and dumbs down government.

Instead of contributing to real solutions, these pundit smackdowns set back efforts to deal with today’s global crises. We desper­ately need a politics that draws on our collective creativity and intelligence to bring us together in an all-hands-on-deck drive for solutions.

The Purple America issue of YES! spotlights Americans who are reaching beyond their usual comfort zones to find that common ground. Among them are Thomas Sheppard, a two-time Bush supporter who is greening his New Jersey farm, and evangelical pastor Joel C. Hunter, who is making poverty and climate change a top priority at his Northland Church.

It’s a challenge to bring Americans together when we’re reeling from the effects of an economic meltdown and a war that has devastated rural and urban families alike. Some people have risen to that challenge and others have not, as we see in David Sirota’s report on his travels around the United States. First we visit the Minutemen, who take out their rage and sense of powerlessness on an even more marginalized group. But then we go to New York, where members of the Working Families Party are bringing people together to work for economic fairness.

Coming together or turning against those less powerful—this, more than red or blue, is the critical choice point.

The latest science on the human brain offers reason to hope we’ll choose to come ­together, suggests David Korten, in the wrap­-up to our Purple America section. New ­research shows that we literally get high from helping others. Except when provoked into anger or fear, people are predisposed to collaborate. If we follow those impulses, if we pool our talent and smarts and work together, we can turn the crises that threaten our world into an impetus for transformation.

Now there’s something to talk about at Thanksgiving.

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Get a Free Trial Issue or Buy a copy of Purple America, the Fall issue of YES!

Barack is in, air travel is out

Today marked the beginning of one era and the ending of another.

Today is the first day in U.S. history that an African-American will carry the banner for president from one of our major political parties. It wasn't long ago that African Americans in many parts of the U.S. couldn't even register to vote without risking their lives. And even today, the suppression of voting in communities of color continues. This moment does not mean we have vanquished the mean spirit of racism and all the selfish opportunism that goes with it. In fact, we could see much more in the general election.

Yet it is a moment when people of all the colors chose a nominee based on the content of his character, his intelligence, his nuanced understanding of policy and politics, and perhaps most important, his evident passion that we as a nation reach for the best of who we are. His unwillingness to pander or to fling mud has already raised the bar of this campaign season--already made it easier to get into the political fray without feeling the need to shower immediately after.

Barack Obama represents many things to many people, but perhaps most importantly, he represents a tipping point--a moment when we realize how much stronger our nation can be when we can draw for leadership on all the communities that make up the United States, not just on those who have led in the past.

And we're going to need that strength, creativity, and unity of purpose as we confront the crises caused by eight years of the Bush administration and also caused by our collective denial of the world we have all helped to create.

Which brings me to what may be another tipping point reached today. United Airlines joined American and Continental Airlines in announcing major cutbacks in staff, routes, or the number of planes they'll be flying. USA Today has a good summary of who is affected as the high price of fuel hits an already unstable airline industry. The lower supply of airplane seats will likely lead to higher prices and shortages of seats for those outside business class.

We may look back at the summer of 2008 as the time when cheap travel ended in the United States.

Many, including YES!, have been predicting the end of cheap oil for some time. In the Fall of 2004, we published an issue entitled: Can We Live Without Oil? As I read about the airlines, I reread my opening editorial, written when oil was still about $25 a barrel (it had nearly doubled that by the time we went to press):

Can we live without oil? Can I?
Like it or not, I'm realizing that before long, we're going to have to learn how to live with a lot less. This is true for several reasons, any one of which would be motivation enough, but together, the picture is stark:

• Scientists, normally wary of emotional appeals, are issuing alarming warnings about the dangers of climate change. [See the Spring 2008 issue of YES!]
  
• The war in Iraq is not going well, and the continued use of military force to guarantee access to oil supplies is deeply problematic.
• Exploration and exploitation of oil supplies continues to degrade what remains of pristine habitats and the lands of indigenous peoples.
• Production of oil is at or near its peak, and even the most optimistic estimates say production will begin an inexorable decline within a generation. Meanwhile, consumption continues to rise, notably in the U.S. and China. It is difficult to imagine that oil will remain cheap and available as this gap between supply and demand widens. [Italics added]
  

What will it mean to live in a 21st century that is phasing out dependence on fossil fuels? No one knows the answer to that, but as we enter this new world, we do know one thing. We'll need to work together if we are to have a chance. Barack Obama's nomination is an important sign that we might in fact be able to do that.