Why 2016
Matters
By Nick
Paleologos
Is the American media obsessed with polls or what?
Everywhere you turn, craven politicians on cable tv are endlessly pontificating
about “what Americans believe” and “what the country wants.” Newsflash: America—as
a nation—tells us what it wants every four years during presidential elections. This is the only time in our democratic
system when the collective will of the country is officially expressed—bestowing
upon the winner a mandate to move the country in the direction advocated.
Mid-term elections,
on the other hand, exist primarily to determine how expeditiously the president’s
voter-approved agenda can be implemented. And most of the time, Americans use
mid-terms to slow things down. Nevertheless, setting a course for the country has
always been the exclusive prerogative of presidents—and by extension, the people who
elected them. That means you and me.
Along those lines, America made a historic decision in 2008.
We sent a black guy to the White House for the first time in history. He
promised to stop shipping American kids overseas to fight other peoples’ wars; he
pledged to create jobs at home and to rebuild our economy. He also vowed to extend affordable healthcare
to millions of uninsured Americans. And we elected him by a margin of nearly 10 million votes.
In his first term, he did pretty much all of those things.
“Four” may not be the perfect number of years between
national plebiscites. But it’s the best we’ve got. And it certainly gives us
enough time to experience the short-term consequences of our choices. In 2012, the choice facing
America was clear. Change direction? Or stay the course? The president’s
opponent said the country was on the wrong track. He promised a hard turn to
the right: spend more money on wars abroad; cut taxes on the wealthy even
further; and get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
He lost. In fact, he lost by more than 5 million votes.
What does that tell you? It tells me that the forces of
equity and tolerance are on the rise again in our country--and not a moment too
soon. Thirty-five years of slavish adherence to a national agenda that
routinely sacrificed fundamental fairness to an unfettered free market has
left America’s middle class bereft, bankrupt and bewildered. The one place
where we’ve been able to register our frustration—indeed our fury--has been in
presidential elections. Like the one we’re having next year.
We don’t yet know who the final two candidates for president
will be. But we do know that they will have to navigate a riptide of cultural crosscurrents
while their Twitter feeds are bursting with hashtags that will include: income
inequality; black lives matter; Citizens United; immigration reform; free (and
fair) trade; climate change; and rebuilding America for a new millennium—among
many others.
At the end of the day, 2016 will be about the following questions:
1) Is America ready for a woman to be
president?
2)
Should our wealthiest citizens and corporations at least pay the same effective tax rates as
everybody else?
3)
Should we build upon and improve the Affordable
Care Act?
4) Should
debt-free college education be a basic right for every qualified kid in this
country?
5) Is it time
to require a background check before anybody can buy a gun in America?
I'm guessing that only one of the final two candidates will answer yes to all
five. And by so doing, provide America with a third consecutive opportunity to
send a clear and unambiguous message to congress, the chatter class, and beyond.
What we “want” is a safe country for our kids--where freedom and fairness are
not mutually exclusive; and where healthcare and higher education are
rights--not privileges.
Is that too much to ask?
