theprogressivepapers-blog1

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The Progressive No. 1

After the full experience of the failures of the federal government, you are invited to deliberate upon a New Constitution for the United States of America. The subject itself is not one to be taken lightly, nor should it be seen as “radical” in the contemporary international community. Instead, our crusade should be met with open arms and supported by consolidated democracies around the world as we usher in a new era of true equity at home and abroad. As Hamilton states in The Federalist No. 1, “it has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide, by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force,” and that question has been answered time and again over the course of our history. If you have to ask, you already know.

In a brief historical foray of the Constitution, we see that “the inferior position of blacks, the exclusion of Indians from the new society, the establishment of supremacy for the rich and powerful in the new nation - all this was already settled in the colonies by the time of the Revolution… [and] it could now be put on paper, solidified, regularized, made legitimate, by the Constitution of the United States” (Zinn 89). Not only does the document legitimate supremacy of the bourgeoisie, but it has allowed for the slow reform of archaic - and often racist or discriminatory - policies that leave a wide swath of the public dispossessed, alienated, impoverished, and enslaved. Minority groups - who now make up more of the population than whites - have been systematically denied basic necessities and protections, even as we continually tout the “American Dream” of making it big. 

Our history is stained with the blood of the slaves, violent occupations of colonial peoples across the world, the overthrow of foreign governments, covered up genocides perpetrated by the political elite, modern slavery presented by mass incarceration, and so many more injustices. And yet, there has been no attempt to rectify this violent history and its vestiges in modern American society beyond discourse from both major parties - perhaps because they come out of the very laws that allow these atrocities to happen time and again. Even so, we must highlight that those in Congress do little to protect the layman, yet rely heavily on her votes. Counting on news cycle saturation and biding time until the next disaster, inaction has become the default response by both sides. Democrats have continued to play traditional, moderate politics at the behest of Nancy Pelosi while Donald Trump and the Republicans have conducted a full-scale guerilla war against democracy. 

The Constitution is not an elastic, it will not snap back into place in November. 

The People have given the Government 231 years to secure our rights and freedoms, and the Government has wasted these centuries on ineffective and inefficient policies that are “politically feasible” and only marginally improve their citizens’ material circumstances. For far too long the ears of our Representatives and Senators have remained deaf to our blood-curdling screams in the name of re-election. Widespread unemployment and poverty, police brutality, school shootings, billionaires amassing wealth at the expense of the global economy, and militant racism are all issues we as a country must redress immediately. However, the Constitution, by design, makes tumultuous change an impossibility, and the current Congress appears to lack the political will to enact policies that benefit the people - even during a massive crisis. Despite this, the American tradition of revolt and rebellion should continue and we should not demand less than we deserve.

Change is coming and we are the ones who will decide the fate of the country. Will we continue barreling on the path to a fascist state? Will we collectively forget the last four years and fall into line behind Joe Biden? Or, will we take into account the injustices, tyranny, and inequality and understand that it does not have to be this way? These questions will remain until the Constitution is replaced, as will the atrocities and violence. I implore you to ask yourself: is this the America I want to live in?

If the answer is no, Thomas Jefferson states:

“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

It is our right - nay, our duty, as American citizens, to stand up for our rights. We must build a coalition to stand against the Constitution which so selflessly protects tyrants, corporations, and billionaires, but can’t lead to the arrest of the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor.

[theprogressivepapers-blog1]

It’s Time We Listened to the “Kids”

As a scholar, I’ve spent my fair share of time imagining what a post-Trump America will look like. But my vision for the United States doesn’t match what the many in the media are predicting; I like to refer to these predictions as “wishful thinking” because they largely assert a return to “politics as usual” or suggest some type of resurgence in the Obama Era of Good Feelings - neither of which will happen. The idea of going back to “normal” would be valid if the Constitution were truly a living document and policy problems were adequately and substantively addressed, but that hasn’t happened in the last century or so. The Constitution didn’t save us from Trump, it didn’t get him removed from office, it didn’t stop him from performing blatantly illegal actions that make our country unsafe both domestically and internationally, it didn’t put Breonna Taylor’s murderers behind bars, and it won’t save our democracy. 

Yet, there are very few in the political sphere that will admit this very real fact. It’s radical in today’s polity to suggest that the Constitution is a tired document that needs to either be seriously reformed and amended to holy hell, or replaced completely by a parliamentary-style government. The latter solution would allow for greater representation and it adequately addresses the issue of extreme party polarization by encouraging the formation of coalitions to gain a majority. Furthermore, parliamentary systems effectively limit the power of the individual in favor of party power, leading to more discipline, less showboating, and (hopefully) no filibuster. But of course, nation-building, like nation-destroying, is complex and not especially popular among the general electorate.

However, one specific demographic - my demographic - is incredibly receptive to progressive policies, including changing the system completely: 18-44 year olds. We coalesced around Bernie Sanders in both the 2016 and 2020 election and will most likely decide whether Joe Biden wins the next election. Even so, Democrats aren’t doing nearly enough to appease the “New Left,” instead choosing to focus on moderate, aging Republicans. This alienates our demographic - who is set to have the second greatest voting power, and is primed to turn out in record numbers in November - further adding to our distaste for Establishment politicians who have done little to nothing to help our generation get by. 

In the last month, we have taken to the streets demanding the abolition of the police force and basic human rights for African Americans and Democrats haven’t tried too hard to appease us. We have provided adequate, well-researched policy proposals and solutions to police brutality, yet we are categorically rejected by the likes of Joe Biden - a man who penned and ushered in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which invariably contributed to mass incarceration and didn’t address police brutality in any way. We saw the systematic campaign perpetrated by Democrats to end Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid twice, called it out, and were gaslit by the party of the working class. After being slammed by the media and older generations for being “lazy” or “uninterested in anything but our phones,” and having our activism ignored or torn apart by the people who are supposed to be on our side, it’s no wonder that many of us have a distaste for “politics as usual” that sometimes manifests as voter apathy. Many of us recognize that politicians on both sides are not actually interested in helping us; our lives are a game for the political elite to play with, and, trust me, that fact is not lost upon the majority of us.

Now it’s our turn to change the world into a more equitable place that respects the human rights of all people. It’s time to listen to the “kids” who are protesting for basic human rights and necessities like the right to not be murdered by those who protect and serve us. Our contemporary body politic is unquestionably corrupt, and we should recognize that the subpar material conditions we live in now have pervaded across centuries. It is not only the fault of the current regime that they can get away with blatantly illegal acts, it’s the fault of the system that allows it to happen time and again. Thus, we must ask ourselves: Why does our system of governance allow injustices? Why do corporations get treated better than human beings? Why are we so different from other developed nations who don’t have these problems? Why do we allow people to murder and get away with it? We have given the Government 231 years to fulfill the promises of our social contract, how much longer must we wait?