Op-Ed: A Case for a More Progressive America

I Don’t Get It Either: Why Now is the Time for Radical Change 

By Joanna Patzig

“I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United 
States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for. I don’t get it.” 
- Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Second Democratic Debate of 2019 

​There were a lot of quotable moments in the last round of debates, and probably more succinct ones than the one above. But this moment stuck with me as a representation of the arresting struggle between political strategy and important political discourse. For context, Senator Warren was responding to former congressman John Delaney’s criticism of her economic positions. 
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The first night of the debates was defined by Warren and Sanders defending their progressive policies to lower polling moderate candidates. John Delaney attacked the ambitious social plans that Sanders and Warren are known for by calling them “impossible promises” and “fairytale economics,” assuming that the extreme proposals would not only risk alienating moderate voters, but that the plans could never pass our impossible congress. 

Underneath this exchange there are very different perspectives on both the state of the Democratic Party and the strategy that it will take to win the presidency. The importance of this election can be paralyzing, but I agree with Warren that now is precisely the moment for progressive idealism. There’s a lot to unpack, so buckle in. 

The debates made it clear that many of the democratic candidates don’t have a clear consensus about the desire and needs of their constituents. This lack of understanding is really apparent in discussions about healthcare. Unfortunately, there wasn’t concurrent fact checking during the debate, but it’s undeniably true that healthcare is not affordable for a disturbing percentage of the population due to record high costs and income inequality. The census bureau estimates 28 million people are uninsured, resulting in thousands of deaths every year. All of the democratic candidates support some kind of a public option for healthcare; Some, like Joe Biden, want to build on Obamacare, while others like Amy Klobuchar want to focus on reducing pharmaceutical costs. Warren and Sanders support a Medicare for All plan that would eliminate private healthcare, which has been a surprisingly provocative concept to other candidates despite its popularity with voters. That’s the background, now let’s get into the subtext of arguments against progressive plans. 

In the most recent debate John Delaney framed Medicare for All as an end to industry and personal choice, which does sound jarring for a capitalist nation. But this republican rhetoric fails to recognize how exploitative the standing system is. Rather, as a more progressive candidate would say, it is a drastic measure meant to cut criminally high costs. Don’t let Delaney's outdated anecdotes about his working class relationships to health care fool you. A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that 59% of American citizens support Medicare for All, believing that healthcare shouldn’t be a business. To me, Delaney's stubborn defense of corporatism is more indicative of political private interests, and the systemic corruption that comes with profiteering from the misfortune of the sick. 

​You can see other corporate interests playing out in between the lines of the debates as well. While Bernie Sanders and John Delaney both lauded their host city Denver for it’s recent growth, Delaney credited cooperation between government and the private sector while Sanders recognized the brutal policies that allowed industry to abandon domestic workers in the first place. With the possibility of recurring foreign interference and voter suppression in the coming election, we need a candidate who can be honest and stand against the exploitative practices of industry. This is why many candidates are refusing lobbyist campaign donations - although research shows some have broken that promise. In-fighting among democratic candidates could be damaging in the general election, but if we’ve learned anything from the last election we should know that now is a time to be highly critical of our leaders, and even the media and polls that we understand them through. 

Admittedly, I’m the target audience of progressive candidates -- I’m young, and frustrated, and not particularly attached to longstanding capitalist policy traditions. My experiences can’t speak to everyone’s, but I think it’s important that the democratic party does everything it can in the face of urgent political situations we’re in. In the wake of the TWO mass shootings this week the country is starting to recognize the need for change, even when it challenges our self image. Many are calling for a plan like the Green New Deal for gun control that would restructure our society quickly for the sake of public safety. Again, this is, in part, a corruption issue because of the powerful reach of the NRA. For millennials and students like me, it’s unacceptable to see the disturbingly unequal distribution of wealth and power in our country preclude lawmakers from protecting the rights of the people on so many fronts. Equally, we cannot allow excessive political pragmatism to hold back our expectations. 

Yes, I do worry that progressive ideology would alienate both more moderate candidates and ex-Trump supporters who could be key in winning the white house. Yes, It’s true that right now Mitch McConnel and the narrow republican majority in the Senate have virtually brought things to a stand still. But that may change in the 2020 election, and either way I think it is useful to theorize utopian standards, even accounting for bipartisan compromise. Trump’s presidency has heightened the very crisis that helped elect him in the first place, it’s time to accept that it will take acute intervention to relieve these crises and replace him in office. That's why, like Bernie says, it’s so key that younger voters get energized to vote.

It helps that the democratic debates, despite all of their issues, are starting to make an entry point for public opinion. That’s one reason I’m writing this, to reiterate the urgency of political change from my perspective. We have to demand that our government has to act uncharacteristically quickly on issues that I didn’t even touch on like immigration and climate change, as well as health care, because lives are at stake. It follows that the primary race is part of that conversation. We can’t be afraid to dream big -- after all look at the crazy things the Republican party has gotten away with (cutting taxes to the rich, child abuse, etc.) We need hope to talk about the future. We need to practice “love” as Marriane Williamson would say. 

I’ll leave you with another quote from Senator Elizabeth Warren: “Democrats win when we figure out what is right, and we get out there and fight for it. I am not afraid. And for Democrats to win, you can’t be afraid either.”