The Challenges We Face

I wrote this five years ago. Biden had just been elected and it was a time of hope, tempered by grave concern. Needless to say, the concerns are graver today than they were in 2021.

The Challenges That We Face
These are the challenges. They are all serious. There is no single cause,
they are distinct, but connected. They are not necessarily listed in order of
gravity
1. Domestic terrorism and right wing violence. We do not need to live in
Fear but the threat is real. It come from violent extremist groups and “lone
Wolf” actors, mobilized by internet propaganda. (In 2025, we are seeing this play out on our streets as masked thugs dish out their special form of cruelty)
2. A militant far right movement that has been encouraged by Donald
Trump and has found a home in some quarters of the Republican Party
and the conservative movement. The movement includes Neo nazis, white
supremacists, Christian nationalists, and anti government militias. Some
of the better known groups are Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three
Percenters.
3. A growing right wing populism based on a politics of (mostly white)
resentment. Inspired by Donald Trump, the right wing populists are now a
major faction in both the Republican Party and the conservative
movement. The demise of Donald Trump does not mean the demise of
right wing populism. They should be characterized as reactionaries, driven
by a deep fear based resentment(even hatred) of immigrants, foreigners,
socialists, liberals, Democrats, feminists, antifa, LGBTQ folks, cities, Black
Lives Matter, the list goes on. They really believe that America is going to
hell in a hand basket, and they blame it on all of the progressive changes
of the last sixty years. They fear a multi-racial, changing society, and
worship an idealized past that never really existed.
4. A growing distrust of democracy and an emerging authoritarianism on
the right. This is most evident in the idolization of Donald Trump and the
recent attempts of Republican politicians, egged on by Trump, and fearful
of his base, to overturn the results of the presidential election. We also see
emerging authoritarianism in the deliberate efforts to suppress the votes of
people of color. While the racism is obvious, voter suppression is an attack
on democracy itself, an attack on the right to vote, on the right of all of the
people to participate in the selection of their leaders. Unfortunately, these
anti egalitarian forces have been able to take advantage of countermajoritarian features of our political system: the Electoral College, the over
representation of small states in the Senate and the infamous filibuster.(Now, in 2025 we watch in horror as Trump seizes more and more power, and Republicans attempt to rig the mid-term elections)
5. All of this has been facilitated by wave after wave of misinformation,
that at times resembles an all out war on truth. How can so many deny the
reality of the pandemic? Why do so many refuse to believe that Biden
won the election? How can seemingly intelligent individuals succumb to
increasingly bizarre conspiracy fantasies? Why doe QAnon have so many
followers? No, it is not a failure of the educational system. It is the
existence of a right wing media eco system. The rightly maligned Fox
News is just the tip of the iceberg. We are not talking about legitimate
conservative sources like National Review, we are talking about Info Wars,
Gateway Pundit, Epoch Times, Daily Caller , Breitbart, 4Chan, MeWE,
Parler. These outlets and platforms are not practicing traditional
journalism with a conservative slant, they are engaged in the dissemination
of “politically affirming falsehoods”
6. A Republican Party that has moved further and further to the right.
When I began studying politics in the mid sixties, there were more
differences within the parties than between them. While the Republican
Party had an emerging conservative wing, there was also a small liberal
faction, and the party’s center of gravity was in, well the center. As the
Democrats embraced civil rights, and drew more and more support from
Black voters, the Dixiecrats left, and the party became consistently more
liberal. But the rightward drift of the GOP has been much more extreme.
For all practical purposes there are virtually no moderate Republicans.
Today “moderates” like Mit Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins
are clearly conservative. They are only moderate when compared to the
likes of Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Jim Jordan.(Trump’s return to power -despite his criminal convictions- illustrates his hold on the party. Meanwhile, JD Vance waits in the wings)
7. The continuing influence of the Religious Right. To be clear, I am not
referring to all evangelical Protestant Christians. But I am referring to the
politicalization of religious conservatism that we have seen over the fast
forty years. The religious right has led the fight against reproductive rights,
and LGBTQ rights. Sadly, many conservative Christians have overlooked
Trumps character flaws and hateful rhetoric in exchange for conservative
justices on the Supreme Court.

8. Plutocracy and economic inequality. Plutocracy means rule by the rich.
The disproportionate political power held by the wealthiest of the wealthy
does not explain everything, but it explains a lot. In America the wealthiest
1% own 40% of the total wealth. Much of that is owned by the top .01%
Income inequality is also a problem. The wealthiest 5%(those with annual
household incomes above 248,000) brought in 23% of the nations total
income. Meanwhile, 10% of Americans live in poverty.
Needles to say, the economic catastrophe brought on by the pandemic
has only made things worse.
Much of this inequality is systemic, deeply rooted in corporate
capitalism. But the political power of wealth has been enhanced by the
obscene role that money plays in American politics. The topic is too
complex to cover here but I would recommend two books: Dark Money by
Jane Mayer and Let The Eat Tweets by Hacker and Pierson (The policies enacted in Trump’s second term(“Big Beautiful Bill”, etc) are only accelerating this concentration of wealth in the hands of the few-at the expense of the many)
9. Climate Change. Over the next thirty years we need to be reducing
carbon emissions by an annual rate of 4%. We must end our dependence
on fossil fuel. The power of the fossil fuel industry is a serious problem.
10. Racism. I am writing this on Martin Luther King Day. I do not want to
deny either the gravity of the problem nor the progress that has been
made. There is little doubt that racism plays a role in all that is discussed
above. I guess that is what we mean by systemic racism. Every problem
of the system, indeed every element of the system is intertwined with
racism. It is telling how the Pandemic, and the subsequent economic
disaster, has disproportionately impacted people of color. It seems that
every victory is met with backlash, reaction and resistance.
While old fashioned bigotry is now regarded as uncouth by many, the
rise of white nationalism and white identity politics indicates that it is still a
threat. Meanwhile, the dog whistles and coded language continues “I am
not a racist but......all lives matter, blue lives matter, BLM is anti-white,
straight white males are a persecuted minority, I grew up admiring Dr.
King, but not these BLM radicals, if you don’t want trouble with the police,
just do what they say, I hate (c)rap, .....hey I have Mexican friends but they
speak English, these illegals are taking our jobs....Covid came from China,
Muslims are taking over, they’re even in Congress, Obama is a muslim.”

Closely related to racism are other forms of bigotry: anti semitism,
homophobia, transphobia, islamaphobia, and a generalized fear of “the
other”.
11. Sexism, patriarchy and toxic masculinity. Men have no monopoly on
cruelty and ignorance, but I see a lot of sexism running through the
problems discussed above. How do you explain the sheer hatred directed
toward Hilary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi?(and Kamala Harris in 2025) The equation of strength withmale anatomy(what have balls got to do with it?) The fetishism of guns, thetoxic rhetoric that incited the insurrection, the macho posturing of Trump
and and his followers, the violent behavior of the insurrectionists, the
necessity of a Me Too Movement.
11. The Pandemic. Our worst public health crisis in a century. The
numbers don’t lie, 394,495 deaths in the United States as of January 17,
2021. Countless deaths could have been avoided if the Trump
administration had not completely mismanaged the crisis.
These are the challenges(there are probably more). We cannot afford
the luxuries of cynicism or despair. There is too much work to be done.
January 20 is Inauguration Day, hopefully an era of progressive change is
on the horizon.

2025 Postscript

Needless to say, these challenges still confront us. We must face them with realism, determination, courage and hope.