Category: Counting the Cost

I love Black History, and so revel in Black History Month. Not that Black History should be constrained to a month. Indeed, when I wrote my book “Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History” in 2010, I hoped that some folks would touch the book each day and talk about the many ways African American people have shaped our nation’s economic life, from building this country, to being the basis of our bond system. Despite my work, and that of others, Black History Month celebrations seem to center on the men in our history, and on the familiar names.

As a progressive who worked hard to help get Secretary Hillary Clinton elected, it is challenging for me to accept Donald Trump as President. But, he won. At least for now, I have to make the best of a bad situation. Which means progressives like me will have to both resist the Trump administration’s odious policies, and also pressure — and even cooperate with — the administration to implement policies that reflect our worldview.

Every day that he holds the presidency, Donald Trump does something outrageous. He blusters, he just plain lies, and he bullies. He pushes his decisions, his executive orders, down the throats of a Congress that he dominates. Why not let the democratic process work and let them vote to build a wall and pay for it, instead of insisting, by executive order, that the wall will be built. In just one short week as president, Trump has demeaned our democracy and our voters, caused international turmoil, and more. But he is doing exactly what he said he would do.

The economic philosophies of Democrats and Republicans are drastically different. While neither party is interested in dismantling the predatory capitalism that extracts surplus value from workers, Republicans are more interested in reinforcing predatory capitalism and “free markets,” while Democrats are more interested in ameliorating the effects of predatory capitalism and regulating markets in ways that produce somewhat more equitable results than so-called free markets.

When Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, he envisioned all kinds of people descending on our nation’s capital, bringing demands to federal agencies.

“Ain’t I A Woman,” railed Sojourner Truth, “I have ploughed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman! I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well. And ain’t I a woman? I’ve bourne 13 children and seen most all sold off and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman.”

Professor Deva Woodly teaches political science at the New School for Social Research in New York. During a recent talk, she shared that trust in our nation’s institutions is at an all-time low. That is, perhaps, why the man who currently holds the title of president-elect was able to prevail in the November election over someone far more qualified. Using Gallup Poll data from June 2016, Professor Woodly noted that the military is our nation’s most trusted institution—73 percent trust them, while our Congress is the least trusted with only 7 percent support.

I began election night with exuberance. I was among the many who forecast a Hillary win. The only disagreement among my circle was how big the Hillary rout would be. I thought she’d get at least 300 electoral college votes, and hoped that she’d thump Trump by getting as many as 340, holding him to less than 200 electoral college votes. However, the tables were turned and Trump was the one doing the thumping, with the electoral vote count estimated to be 290 to 228 (at this writing, final counts were not in).

I’m writing two weeks before the November election, writing and praying that Election Day comes sooner than it is supposed to. I did my early vote thing so that I could, if necessary, drop into battleground states like Virginia, North Carolina or Florida to do my bit to get out the vote. And I’m hoping that voters will do the right thing and elect Hillary Clinton. But as I wrote, I know that there is the possibility (not probability) that Mr. Chump will prevail.

I watched the Oct. 19 presidential debate in both awe and horror. Awe because I truly do not understand Mr. Trump’s temerity to lie, interrupt, sniff, sigh, and interject offensive comments (“such a nasty woman”) in lieu of disagreement.