Data from the election results indicate that
even though President Barack Obama won a second term there were some weaknesses
in his first term.
It is clear that Obama has a problem with
angry old white men such as the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. As an angry old white man I would volunteer
as a cabinet advisor on this issue, but I’m having trouble figuring out how the
Roman Catholic hierarchy might be considered relevant. Their dogmatic pronouncements
on contraception, gay marriage, and abortion are to be considered prior to
other issues. This policy has effectively
nullified Catholic Social Teaching concerning labor for the hierarchical church
and its true believers. (e.g. no
official support for the striking Palermo Pizza workers – also: “Bishops fail
to agree on economic document,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Religion New
Service, November 14, 2012, p. 3) But despite
threats of hell itself from the bishops, a majority of Catholics voted for
Obama. The hierarchy has lost its moral
core established by Vatican II.
My first blog posting (9-1-09) expressed
hope that with the new Obama administration we would make progress on health
care, immigration reform and labor law.
The
passage of the Affordable Care act was a monumental accomplishment. Both Roosevelts,
President Truman, Presidents Kennedy and Clinton expressed a desire to pass
such legislation but were unable to do so.
Why health care for all? John
XXIII wrote in his encyclical Pacem in Terris:
Beginning our discussion of the rights of man, we see that
every man has the right to life, (see U.S. Declaration of Independence) to
bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for the
proper development of life. These means are primarily, food, clothing, shelter,
rest, medical care and finally the necessary social service. (Pacem in
Terris, Part I, 11, 4-11-1963)
Nothing was done on
labor law reform. The desperately needed
EFCA – employee free choice act was hardly mentioned. If such a law were in place the striking
Palermo Pizza workers would have a union that Palermo management would be
required to accept and negotiate with “in good faith.”
Immigration reform
was not achieved. The administration policy
of prosecutorial discretion whereby only felons would be targeted for deportation
was not adequate. Our experience in
Milwaukee was that we were unable to save family bread winners from deportation
even though they were not felons.
Efforts in Chicago were more effective.
Congress failed to
pass the “dream act” which would make it possible for undocumented students to
attend college. DACA, however, put in
place by the Obama administration before the election, makes it possible for
young people to delay deportation in hope of a new immigration law. In
Wisconsin the Walker administration rescinded the “in state tuition” law which
would help undocumented students go to state universities and technical
colleges.
“Every human being must also have the right to freedom of
movement and of residence within the confines of his own country, and when
there are just reasons for it, the right to emigrate to other countries and
take up residence there.” (Pacem in Terris, Part I, 25. The document refers to a similar comment by
Pius XII Christmas Message in 1952. See
U.S. and Mexican Bishops on immigration – Strangers No Longer: Together on
the Journey of Hope, Jan. 2003)
SOME ANECDOTAL CANVASING DATA
I have admitted that I’m an angry old white
man, but my partner, we’ve been married 40 years, is white - old, but female
and positive. She works with confident
skill for social change. We did canvassing
in three neighborhoods for the Obama campaign.
We went out twice in the Latino neighborhood with Voces de la Frontera and
once in an African American neighborhood under the direction of Wisconsin Jobs Now. We also did a turn in our own
community of Wauwatosa.
As always we enjoyed talking to people in
the Latino neighborhood. All that we
talked to in our two two-hour excursions, except one, said that they would vote
or had voted for Obama and now Senator Tammy Baldwin. One young man said he
wasn’t going to vote because they are “all liars.” I was sympathetic to his position, but Joanne
convinced him that Obama was not a liar and that a vote for Obama was crucial
for the Latino community.
The African American
community was very welcoming. We had a
list of addresses and names of voters but some of the addresses turned out to
be empty lots. – monuments to the choice of nothing. We talked to a lot of people, some not on our
list, all supporting Obama. We were
invited into homes to talk to grandparents and kids. It was a moving experience. On the street we encountered 5 or 6 young
men. They asked what we were doing and our
response started a dialogue. Do we get
paid for our work? No – we are
volunteers. They told us they needed
work. We suggested that they contact the
neighborhood election office because there were some paid election
workers. The banter evolved into a
serious political discussion. Why vote,
they asked. What good would it do? The African American community has had high chronic
unemployment for many years, yet lots of people, outside the community, are
making lots of money. It was a spirited
discussion; Joanne and I stayed out of it.
The conclusion was - that it could be much worse – they would vote. Consider John XXIII’s Mater et Magistra:
“As regards labor, Pius XII repeating what appeared in Leo
XIII’s letter, declared it to be both a duty and a right of every human being.” (Part I, 44)
“In this connection, it is today advisable as our predecessors clearly
pointed out, that work agreements be tempered in certain respects with
participant arrangements, so that ‘workers and officials become participants in
ownership, or management, or share in some manner in profits.’” (Part I, 32)
We also canvassed in our own Wauwatosa
neighborhood. The canvassing was
directed by our political organization – “Grass Roots Tosa.” In our two-hour turn we didn’t talk to as
many people as in the other neighborhoods – not many answered the door. Those we talked to said they would or had
voted for Obama and Baldwin. A young
woman said she wasn’t going to vote because she didn’t know enough about the
issues. Dialogue was impossible; she
wanted us to leave. One angry old white
man shouted at us from a second floor porch, “who-do-ya want?” We explained.
He shouted back that he wasn’t going to vote because he’d been fooled too
often, but his daughter was going to vote for Obama which didn’t make any sense
to him – end of discussion. The
President won white suburban Wauwatosa.
WHERE DO WE
GO FROM HERE
In my opinion climate change should be
the priority issue and the criteria for policy in the next four years with special
reference to “preferential option for the poor.” Other major issues that must be dealt with
are income inequality – the right of workers to organize, chronic unemployment,
unemployment due to technological advancement and also immigration reform. Can there be immigration reform without an economic
improvement in Mexico and Central America?
Consider a prayer offered at St. Benedict
the Moor Parish, Milwaukee, Sunday November 18, 2012 in solidarity with the
people protesting at the “School of the Americas,” Fort Benning, GA:
“As we gather here we wish to be in solidarity with all who
are participating in the vigil and civil disobedience at the ‘School of the
Americas at Fort Benning today. Along
with them, we denounce all violations of human rights, the tactics of torture
and war taught and initiated through the ‘School of the Americas.’ We will speak such that we might be heard
that we might be heard in the White House, in the halls of Congress and in the
hearts of people across the Americas so that the ‘School of the Americas’ will
be closed forever and the foreign policy of the United States will be changed.”
These issues must be resolved with effective
action that will also address climate change and maintain a preferential option
for the poor. As a nation we should
reject the “American Dream” as moving up in the consumer society.
President Obama has the skills to lead the
nation in this direction. The politics
seem impossible, but then so did a second term.
It was a great win. After the
election I’m having trouble re-establishing myself as an angry old white man.
