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**OCTOBER 19, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
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**** How the Center Enables Fascism
It's not enough to be 'pro-democracy.' It's necessary to be
pro-worker.
If we lose our democracy to fascism, one key reason will be that
corporate Republicans and Democrats, who profess to care about saving
democracy, have relentlessly opposed the populist economic policies that
might give working-class people some reason to believe in democracy.
The other day, the usually perceptive Anand Giridharadas had an extended
op-ed in the
**Times**
,
adapted from his new book. He was eloquent on the fascist threat, but he
got one big thing wrong.
Giridharadas had three basic points to make. First, we are at dire risk
of becoming a fascist country, and we surely are. Second, the far right
is simply better tactically at using what my generation called guerrilla
theater to get people's attention and rally support for the right's
issue-framing. ("The right presently runs laps around the left in its
ability to manage and use attention. It understands the power of
provocation to make people have the conversation that most benefits its
side ... Democrats and their allies lag on this score, bringing
four-point plans to gunfights."
He's right about that, too. But his most important argument, which
sounds accurate, is wide of the mark.
In urging Democrats to have the courage of their convictions and to lead
more boldly, Giridharadas conflates the left with the pro-democracy
center. He writes, "The left has a bold agenda: strengthen voting
rights, save the planet, upgrade the safety net. But policies do not
speak for themselves, and the cause remains starved for a larger,
goosebumps-giving, heroes-and-villains, endlessly quotable story ...
that helps people make sense of the time and place they're in."
Progressives do not lack boldness or compelling narratives. What they
lack is votes. And progressives are not the same as "Democrats." The
corporate wing of the Democratic Party has relentlessly resisted
structural policies that would transform the life chances and political
views of working people.
Universal and public health insurance; a much higher minimum wage;
massive investment in caregiving; a strengthened right to organize
unions-despite bare majorities in both houses, we have not been able
to get these through Congress, because of the opposition of some
Democrats as well as Republicans. All this goes well beyond the
"upgraded safety net" that Giridharadas attributes as the left economic
program.
In that respect-let's not mince words-centrists have been enablers
of fascists, because long-festering pocketbook grievances have won
converts to Trumpism. More clever tactics will not alter that reality.
Giridharadas is right that it will take extensive organizing, but
let's not mistake the pro-democracy movement for a transformative
economic movement. Republicans who loathe Trump-Liz Cheney, Rob
Portman, Ben Sasse, and the House Republicans who voted to duly certify
the 2020 election results-all these worthies voted for the
pro-corporate and anti-worker policies that made Trump.
Pro-democracy has to mean pro-economic democracy. Giridharadas is on
point when he salutes the efforts of on-the-ground organizers. But they
need to be organizing for economic justice, not just for procedural
rights, and often in opposition to other Democrats.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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