A New Hope

A few weeks ago, Barack Obama delivered a commencement speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. I encourage you to read the full text. More than any other current politician, Obama gets liberalism right. He has a remarkable ability to present a liberal vision of what America is and should be, and he does it in a way that appeals to most Americans' innate sense of justice, fairness, and pride in their country. He is also very good at contrasting this liberal view with the vision of America held by most conservatives. Here's one passage from his speech:

"Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again,
there are those who believe that there isn’t much we can do about this as a
nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their
government—divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand
it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health
care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and
so on. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past
there has been another term for it—Social Darwinism—every man or woman for him
or herself. It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or
ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise
faster than they can afford—tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag
workers who have lost their job—life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child
who was born into poverty—pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is
especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in
life’s lottery, that we’re the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at
least we won’t be the chump who Donald Trump says: “You’re fired!”
But there is a problem. It won’t work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that
it’s been government research and investment that made the railways possible and
the internet possible. It’s been the creation of a massive middle class, through
decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our
economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief
in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for
each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all
in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity. That’s what’s produced
our unrivaled political stability."

I really hope other liberals and Democrats can follow Obama's lead. At the very least, it's encouraging to know there is at least one politician out there who gets it.