Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer- Ryan's State of the Union Response
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Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:46:38 -0500 (EST)
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TheRyan Response and the Politics of Austerity
 
     The contrast between the values underlyingPresident Obama’s State of the Union Address and Representative Paul Ryan’sRepublican response could not have been more stark. 
 
     Ryan’s response to the President’s callthat America win the future…was a demand that we return to the past.
 
     His answer to Obama’s appeal that we are “allin this together” was an unvarnished vision of “law of the jungle” socialDarwinism. 
 
     He responded to the hope that we cansucceed….with the fear that “America’s bestcentury will be considered the pastcentury.”
 
     And from the political point of view –most telling – he responded to Obama’s call that we invest in the future withwhat amounted to a call for austerity. 
 
     By framing the coming battle over nationalpriorities as he did, President Obama set up a contrast with the Republicansthat is a massive winner for Democrats and Progressives.  By taking the bait, Representative Ryansharpened the contrast.
 
     The Republicans could not have chosen abetter person to respond to the President – at least from the Democratic pointof view.
 
     The plain fact is that, as much asRepublicans don’t want to believe it, progressive values are the values thatdefine the center of American politics.  When they are expressed confidently and contrasted with those of theRepublican right, they provide a solid foundation for political success. 
 
     Let’s focus on four key contrasts.
 
     1).Future versus Past. As MSNBC points out in its “Lean Forward” ads, humanbeings are not built to stand still or go backward.  We are built to evolve – to yearn for thefuture – to make the next generation better than the last. It is one of ourspecies’ most important selective traits. And America’s owes much of its success as a society and as an ideal tothe fact that its social fabric has internalized this innate human desire forprogress. 
 
     Just as a shark has to move forward tobreathe, so too does American society.  If we stop moving forward, we will wither anddie.
 
      Appeals to nostalgic images of the pastsometimes work politically when they are offered as an alternative to confusionand fear.  But they don’t work if theyare offered as alternatives to a clear call that we invest in the future. 
 
     More than anything, this generation ofAmericans want their children and grandchildren to have better lives than we do. That central goal, more than anything else, defines the high politicalground – the center – in American politics. 
 
      Last night, President Obama made itcrystal clear that that goal is his central measure of his success aswell.  

     2).We’re all in this together versus social Darwinism.  President Obama was eloquent in describinghis vision that every child – and every ethnic group – are all part of an Americanfamily that will succeed or fail together. He expressed his fundamental confidence that everyone could make acontribution to our future.  
 
     Ryan did not.  In describing the future of society dominatedby what he calls “big government,” he said:
 
   This is a future in which we will transform our social safety net into ahammock, which lulls able-bodied people into lives of complacency anddependency. 
 
    Youhave to ask what planet Ryan woke up on. America does not lack for people who work hard.  We have the most productive work force in theworld.  Millions of Americans would loveto work hard, the problem is they can’t find a job because Ryan’s “successful”friends on Wall Street engaged in an orgy of reckless speculation that sunk theeconomy and put eight million people out of work.  
 
     But frankly, it’s self-defeating, badpolitics for Republicans like Ryan to be blaming the laziness of middle-classAmericans for our economic problems. Average voters don’t find patronizing, elitist concern for how Americansworkers are getting “soft” and “dependent” particularly compelling. 
 
     In fact, in the context of the sufferingand pain that Wall Street inflicted upon average Americans, it sounds downrightridiculous.  And of course that isespecially true while Ryan’s Wall Street friends continue to pay themselvestens of millions of dollars for speculating on financial markets.  
 
      Some people make products in our economy. Others make bets.  In Ryan’ssocial Darwinist world it’s perfectly fine for those who make the bets to getrich, while those who could and should be making products are left in the scrapheap. 
 
     3).Hope versus Fear.   President Obama’sspeech brought a message of hope.  Obamawas resolute in his belief that America can succeed.  Ryan’s speech was laced with fear. He argued:
 
    We still have time… but not much time. If we continue down our currentpath, we know what our future will be. Just take a look at what’s happening to Greece, Ireland, the UnitedKingdom and other nations in Europe.
 
     The American economy is not the economy ofGreece.   We are not about to default onour debts (unless of course Republicans refuse to raise the national debt limitand artificially default).
     In fact, of course, the cause of thegreatest economic collapse since the Great Depression was not “overspendinggovernment” any more than that was the cause of the Great Depression itself.  In both cases the cause was under-regulatedWall Street and precisely the philosophy Ryan proposes to adopt.
     Economicfear is not the only fear to which Republicans will pander in the comingyear.  Republican-led committees in theHouse are launching “investigations” of Administration enforcement ofimmigration laws; “radicalized” Muslims; and the “New Black Panthers.”  
     But in the end hope trumps fear – as longas the voters believe that those who lead us have a credible, reality-basedplan to turn hope into reality.
     4).Investment in the Future versus Austerity. Rather than simply sitting by and hoping that things will improve –rather than give up attempting to shape better lives and let our future bedetermined by the sharpest speculators – President Obama proposed that Americainvest in making that hope into reality. 
     He called this a new “Sputnik moment.”  A moment like one in the early 1960’s whenPresident Kennedy called on the country to invest in the technology, education,productive skill and spirit to make America succeed in space – and create amassive new generation of innovation and economic progress. Obama said:
    Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launchof a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we’d beat them to themoon.  The science wasn’t even thereyet.  NASA didn’t exist.  But after investing in better research andeducation, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave ofinnovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.
     Ryan’s earlier “Road Map” proposal for theeconomy, and his speech last night, warned that these “investments” were reallyjust more government spending and advocated precisely the same kind of economicausterity program that is a recipe for economic stagnation.  Luckily, austerity proposals are also arecipe for political defeat.  
 
     Just ask Britain’s Prime Minister DavidCameron how popular it is to raise tuition for college students and cut back oneducation, while continuing to allow the wealthiest people in the land to escalatetheir massive incomes.
 
     Those who advocate “austerity” always say“we must all tighten our belts.”  But theRepublicans really mean that “we” need to tighten our belts so that a tinynumber of millionaires can be free to make millions, unrestrained.  In the end – when the rubber meets the roadand there are specific proposals for cuts that impact everyday people’s lives –that will become more and more clear to everyday voters.
 
     But what is just as important, in thewords of an old TV commercial, “Americans don’t just want to survive, they wantto succeed.” They are willing to sacrifice to succeed, but not just to survive.
 
     In fact, in his speech last night,President Obama called on Americans to sacrifice:
 
Sustaining the American dream has neverbeen about standing pat.  It has requiredeach generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a newage.  Now it’s our turn.
 
      But he didn’t call on Americans tosacrifice to return to the past – or to keep things the way they are.  He didn’t make President Carter’s mistake ofappearing to ask people to lower their expectations.  Just the contrary, he asked them to be heroic,to sacrifice now to assure that we make progress – that the next generation hasa better life than the one we enjoy – more freedom, more possibilities, moreopportunity.  That is the kind of call tosacrifice that inspires people.
 
     The fundamental error of those whoadvocate that “we” must get along with less – that we can’t afford to give moreeducational opportunity to our kids, or a secure retirement to our seniors, orhealth care to every American – is that they are calling on most Americanssimply to lower their aspirations – to abandon their hopes for a better life.  
 
      And that is especially true when mostAmericans are being asked to sacrifice so that very few – the elite on WallStreet – can continue to increase their control of more and more of our incomeand wealth creating a level of income inequality not seen since the 1920’s. 
 
     When given the choice between aspirationand austerity, Americans will choose aspiration every time. 
 
      Last night’s speeches framed clearly thebattle that will rage for the next two years – and the battle for our future.
 
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, andauthor of the book:  Stand Up Straight:How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.

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