It's STILL the Economy, Stupid

From my kitchen table I watch the snow sticking to our porch screen, whiting out my usual view of the woods behind our house. I am waiting for the snow to stop so I can plow the driveway. It is mid-January in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and this is the first snow of any consequence, so plowing the driveway really isn’t such a burden. On some years by this time I was worried I was going to wear my snow blower out, but not this year.

My name is Tony. You can picture me as a middle-aged man, with a middle-management job, a mid-range income, and unfortunately middle-age spread, sitting at his kitchen table in the Midwest. I’m not an economist or a political pundit, just your average guy with a driveway full of snow. That’s my caveat for what is to follow. I’m going to give you the view from my seat at the kitchen table. Your view might be very different.

I started my political life as a Reagan Republican. I loved his "city set on a hill" vision of America. Keep in mind that when President Reagan took office, the biggest problem facing the nation was "stagflation," the wicked combination of a stagnant economy and uncontrolled inflation. Reagan's theory was to ignore the problem of inflation while stimulating the economy. President Reagan loved the phrase "a rising tide raises all boats." This began an economic boom that continued, with sustained attention and adjustments, for many years through several administrations.

On the other hand, if I could describe George W. Bush’s fiscal policies in a simple phrase it would be “a rising tide raises all yachts.” He has siphoned the tidewater from the open ocean of the economy and walled it up behind a dam of privilege where only the powerful benefit. But just like New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, that levee will eventually come crashing down, revealing all that has been hidden, in all of its repugnant splendor. The only choice we have is, do we want to wait until it all crashes on us at once, or do we want to begin a controlled reduction of the pressure from the imbalance in the economy?

From here in Middle America there is a belief that there must be a middle way, not of soft-headed socialism or hard hearted capitalism, but of people-powered progressivism. I still believe that stimulating the general economy while rolling the extra tax revenue into social programs is the best way to resolve the disparity of wealth. If we can grow the economy in a way that the impact is felt at every financial stratum, we will provide hope for all the people of America, not just the privileged few. If we want to create hope where there is currently despair, wealth has to be circulated into the economy, not horded at the top. The purpose of wealth is to help others achieve some level of wealth. Obviously that’s not what we’ve been doing for the last six years.

Of course, as I’m writing this, I’m typing on my new laptop, sitting at my lovely kitchen table in middle-America, which is quite the seat of privilege. So, I could be wrong. Right now, instead of looking for a third way, I’ve got to go plow my driveway. I’ll see all of you in the living rooms and meeting rooms of Iowa as we try to work this way out together.