If things were what they used to be in years past, my first blog post of the fall would be about places I had travelled in the summer and the frivolous going-ons at the Yabanaki beach in Varkiza, filled with summer nostalgia. But none of these things happened this summer and as for nostalgia it rarely is the child of mundane experiences.
Instead, the summer laid more devastation in the US as premature re-openings and callus behavior by people spread the virus and death to thousands. And that was not all. America’s cities convulsed with protests in response to deadly police shootings of Black Americans. So, like in some dark music piece, the summer broke out in a crescendo of sickness, deaths, strife for social justice and broken plans.
We tried to salvage some of the pleasures of summertime by taking advantage of what our natural surroundings have to offer, visiting beaches, parks and preserves – some for the first time. And we did take limited risks in order to socialize with friends with the usual precautions of wearing masks and social distance. We even tried outdoor dining as a gesture of support for the local businesses. All things considered and compared to the hardship and losses suffered by so many other people, we count ourselves among those fortunate enough to have escaped thus far the scourge of the pandemic and ready to move on toward better days.
But this fall is different not just because we are getting out of an unusually deadly and anything but let-loose summer, but also because Americans will soon have to decide the direction they wish for their country. And, if I may be excused for some hyperbole, it is still true that as America goes so does the world in many respects.
The pandemic and our individual and collective response to it as well as the social unrest following the deaths of Black Americans in the hands of police should have taught us something about personal choice, personal responsibility and law and order. That personal choice not informed by an ethical code and social conscience is an empty privilege; that personal responsibility without social sustenance is abandonment; and that law and order not grounded on justice lose legitimacy.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that the much-needed political debate about the serious problems America faces, centered around racial, social and economic justice, is falling victim to a much more urgent call. The call to preserve the rules and values of American democracy as opposed to pursuing a narrowly defined nationalism of an America that denies its diversity.
Long before the pandemic happened upon us, critical conditions had been set in motion that would lead us to the dead-end politics of populism and its dubious leaders. Populism arises when people feel frustrated and thus become more receptive to the alluring messages of cynical demagogues who succeed in corrupting people’s faith in democracy and pluralism. We ‘ll always have corrupt and devious politicians, but when their personal follies and exaggerated self-importance are not checked by the people, then we should worry. Graver yet, it is to dismiss the populist sentiment of the people and especially the conditions that drive them to that state.
A lot has been written about what has driven America to this point. But two books stand out in their ability to encapsulate the main arguments. In Deaths of Despair Anne Case and Angus Deaton (a Nobel laureate) use the stark power of numbers to describe how job displacement, social alienation and an ineffective health care system has driven hundreds of thousands of middle-age men in Fly-Over America to opioid dependence and suicide.
In Winners Take All Anand Diridharadas lays out his case against the global constellation of elites that abuse capitalism to corrupt free markets, amass power and wealth and frame the narrative to ensure that “change” never undermines the underpinnings of their dominance.
A common thread that connects all the economic, social and race-related failings is the diminished presence of a social conscience. The neglect and even dismissal of the social good as a legitimate goal. And it’s not because no one writes or talks in its defense but rather because the majority of us have become immune to its influence dazzled by the glitter of the system, so rewarding if you are on the lucky side of the tracks but so punishing if you are not.
In different ways, this is going to be a fall of discontent for many. But we can get out of this dismal state if we are willing to re-examine the relationship of the individual to the society and of the individual self-interest to the social good.
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