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December 2000

Staff Editorial
There is hope in an era of Bush.
by the PERSPECTIVE staff

UC Endorsement
Steve Smith and James Coleman are the liberal's choice.
by the PERSPECTIVE staff

Canadian Comrades
It really is better up there.
by Danny Schlozman

Triumph or Tragedy?
Clinton's legacy is one of calculated compromise.
by Jeffrey Theodore

Buying Survival
Africa needs money, now.
by Ved Lekic and Alexandra Neuhaus-Follini

Pharmitas
Pharmaceutical companies fund Harvard research.
by Nathan Perl-Rosenthal

Students for What?
Folic acid has a hidden message.
by Shelby Meyerhoff

Greens Take Root
PERSPECTIVE talks to Cliff Ginn.
by Dev Purkayastha

A Year to Remember
A year from Seattle, the WTO protests go on.
by Bob Elliott

Cry Freedom
America's ideal of freedom is questionable.
by Nikhil Jaikumar

Introspective
In Defense of Money
by Brad Hershbein

Salmagundi

The Back Page
Keeping Christmas
by Julia Silvis

By the PERSPECTIVE staff

By the time you read these words, this year's Presidential election may finally have drawn to a close. After the month-long maelstrom in the Sunshine State, the man who received fewer votes than his opponent in the nation and was the choice of fewer voters in Florida stands ready to exercise power as if he were the legitimate winner of a landslide election. The Floridian election raised several deeply troubling questions about the Republican Party's commitment to true democracy, let alone a newly compassionate conservatism. The appalling claim that hand recounts somehow magically create votes among Democrats too stupid to vote properly would be funny if it were not so salient. Reports indicate that faulty voter lists from the Secretary of State's office improperly disenfranchised Floridians, many of them African-Americans. Voters also speak of state troopers blocking roads in heavily Democratic areas, of ballots unavailable in Hatian Creole despite the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and of election workers failing to tell citizens how they could cast ballots subject to later verification of their voting status. Shockingly, Republicans have reacted with nonchalance to these serious charges. The sacred franchise has become just another partisan football. It is not. Of course, candidates want to win. However, they must respect the sanctity of democracy and stop casting aspersions on those who tried to vote. Certainly, we feel that a full manual recount of all the votes in the state must occur. More fundamentally, we wonder what the Florida debacle says about the right of the American people to govern themselves.

Looked at in the broader sense, liberals can find in the election results obviously bad news, as well as deep questions to ponder. The Republicans will control both the Presidency and both branches of Congress. At the same time, the issue stances of Democrats tended to poll better than those of Republicans on topics ranging from health care to education to managing the economy. Stanley Greenberg, the pollster, has even spoken optimistically of “an emerging progressive majority.” Seen in a longer-term context, the Democrats have now lost their New Deal-era status as the natural majority party in state houses and in Congress. Yet, the Republicans have not consolidated full-fledged dominance. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, the towering political figures of the last decade, have departed from the scene without achieving ascendant status for their parties. At the same time, partisanship has risen, and we have seen more straight ticket voting than at any time since before the New Deal realignment. For the past three elections, the parties have been nearly at parity. They control equal numbers of Senate seats and state legislative chambers. Neither party has a dynamic leader ready to lead a wholescale realignment of the American scene. Through luck (or worse), the Republicans have effective control in Washington, but neither party has captured the commanding heights of the political discourse.

What, then, do all these data mean? How should liberals act? First, we must remain vigilant about events in Washington and in the state houses. Republican domination tempts us to wash our hands and sit pretty in liberal Cambridge. To do so would be selfish and dangerous, for the stakes are too high and the coalitions too fragile for us to give up on politics. All those who care about civil rights and liberties know that nominees to the Supreme Court will determine the nature of individual freedoms in this country for a generation. Faced with the horrific prospect of justice DeLayed and justice denied, we must use all the strategies in our playbook, from lobbying to voter outreach to direct action. We must not retreat from politics just because we dislike what we see. Second, we must resist the splittist and factionalist tendencies that come all too naturally on the Left. For we all seek, in the end, a politics that helps people live happier and freer lives. Specifically, supporters of Al Gore and of Ralph Nader must work to bury the hatchet and make common the cause to advance an agenda that questions the excesses of contemporary capitalism. Odious as it may seem, we must also form strategic alliances with groups who do not necessarily share our entire world view, whether these are pro-choice New Democrats, internationalist Republicans, or individualist libertarians. Moreover, we must take more care to present our policies as sensible responses to real-world problems, and not as distant attempts to impose wide-eyed solutions.

Third, we must consider carefully the effects of the last major change that this election has confirmed: the transition from party alignments based on economic issues to ones in which cultural concerns play a more important role. Strong support for abortion rights now predicts a vote for the Democratic nominee better than any other issue, and better than any category except being black or Jewish. Democrats have made gains over the last decade among well-educated professionals, especially women, and lost support among working-class whites. In these prosperous times, moreover, the major-party candidates sparred especially on the future of the middle class entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare. Although largely excluded from this picture, many Americans still need government to help them live fully free lives. They have few powerful friends. When responding to their needs and seeking their votes, we must think creatively about how to extend social insurance provisions to cover the poorest Americans, and to remember the needs of the working class. Stronger provision for social insurance represents good policy, but we feel that it is also good politics. Finally, we must keep this election in context. Great struggles take time. The principles of the Left have evolved over centuries, and they do not stand or fall on the basis of a few thousand ballots in Florida. As we face Republican control and wait for realignment, we remember the words of Ted Kennedy after he lost the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1980: “For me a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. But for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on; the cause endures; the hope still lives; and the dream shall never die.

Questions? Comments? Please contact perspy@hcs.harvard.edu