National Death Wish, part 2

Gradually, more and more Americans seem to be waking up to the reality that our current president and his cronies are bad for this country (forget about what they are doing to the rest of the world). Yet polls show there is no assurance we will do anything about it in the next election. Part of the problem is the apparent unwillingness of the opposition (the Democrats) to articulate anything like a reason they should govern. But part of is is also the continued success of Republicans at using misleading names for everything ("Death tax", "Patriot Act", "No Child Left Behind", "War on Terror", "Culture of Life", "Family Values") and getting away with it. These terms appeal to their "base", without requiring explanation.

This brings into clear focus the rationale for their war on education: the harder it is to read, the less people are willing to do it, and thus the less they will do it. With a population unwilling to read, all you have to do is give everything a clever moniker, and no one will be the wiser. This already explains why the "base" increasingly vote against their own interests. And it explains why we are unlikely to change course before we have irretrievably damaged ourselves. Unfortunately, we will drag the rest of the world with us.

National Death Wish

Young people make impassioned pleas to be heard and respected. They march, wave flags, burn cars, in frustration over their lack of prospects. Meanwhile, Villepin fans the flames by publicly hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, champagne glass in hand. And so the cycle goes, with each iteration inching closer to complete meltdown. The French seem bent on committing slow suicide.

The problem is that the desperate and highly sympathetic youth in the street is asking for the wrong things. In solidarity with the labour unions, he wants lifetime job security while only having to work 35 hours per week (and only those 43 weeks he actually has to work). The tragedy of the workers and students is that they seem to have internalized the idea that work is a bad thing. (And, Americans, don't laugh--we invented a restaurant chain called Thank God It's Friday!) They have taken the spirit of worker empowerment and turned it into a right not to have to work. Just who do they think will produce the stuff and perform the services that make their lives so comfortable in the first place?

One short-term solution is to outsource it all to the third world. Outsourcing, of course, the worst sin of all. Leaving that aside, even if they were contract it all out to people from developing countries, where is the money going to come from to pay for stuff? The decline will just spiral more rapidly out of control. How is it that at least 60% of these people don't understand this? We are no longer talking about masses of exploited workers, slaving away under the watch of robber barons. We are talking about a country that survived some horrific tragedies to make itself, partly through hard work and resilience, into one of the richest and most desirable places in the world to live.

As with so many disputes in today's world, the French dispute over employment laws has become an all-or nothing fight, a struggle not to yield an inch. In part, it reflects the understandable fear that is seeping into the consciousness of many in the industrialized world, the fear that their cushy lives are getting a little less cushy. But to respond to that fear with a complete retreat from competing is, well, suicidal.

Where have you been all this time?

At last, a leader who articulates the values of his party while being willing to challenge its dogma. I refer to Barack Obama, who today, acknowledged that the Democrats need to re-examine their New Deal heritage, and who dared to demand performance from teachers in return for better conditions. He exhorted the party to stay true to its core beliefs, while being willing to put obsolete policies to rest.

Last fall, here in California, we were given a Hobson's choice between caving in to the teachers' unions or eviscerating them completely. The rare voices in favour of sensible compromise were drowned out. The truth is, teachers labour under intolerable conditions, and deserve both better pay and more support for their mission. The truth is also, that teachers' unions have made a religion out of the wrong things, like lifetime tenure, instead of focussing on the right things, like their own continuing education, and pay for performance. They will never admit it, but their focus on protecting bad teachers has been bad for all teachers. Why should anyone have lifetime tenure after only two years at their job? But then, why should we expect to attract the best when we pay them barely above the poverty line?

We have been hearing about this shining new talent, Mr. Obama, for some time. In his statements today, he showed the way. If the Democrats can reform, if they can hold to their core values while being willing to jettison dysfunctional methodology, they will deserve a shot at returning to power. If they merely trot him out to attract black votes, and don't listen to what he is saying, they deserve to remain in perdition.