Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Shifting Left

The Democratic hopefuls are announcing their intentions, Congress has a new crop of young Representatives, and these days the news is about "shifting left."

I'm not a very political person but when I hear this sort of thing often enough it does make me wonder what it means. It seems to have started with Bernie Sanders running in the 2016 primary, calling himself a socialist. Besides being a kindly and patient old curmudgeon, he said things that everybody was already thinking. Like, for example, let's not destroy the earth. Is that really a "lefty" thing, and if it is, what kind of insane world do the "center" and the "right" live in? I saw a conservative lady in the news the other day who is pro-measles -- and I admit, I just don't understand some of it. Measles are good for us, she said. Are there people who believe in destroying the environment, just because? I know there are, but it is a crazy thing to want. Normal people want the world to continue in its natural balance. That is not a "shift left," it is obvious and sensible not to destroy our own planet.

Health insurance for all -- come on, who in America actually wants to pay to go to the doctor? Nobody else does it, in other countries. Are there actually people who say, when I get sick -- even when I'm healthy -- I want to take my hard-earned money and give it to some insurance company so they can make cheapskate, profit-driven, cynical decisions about the care I get? The rest of the civilized world has free healthcare, why is it a "shift left" to want that here, too?

Guns -- the NRA manages to get their people on the news, but really, what normal person really wants teachers to have guns in their own kid's classroom? There is a lot of industry money keeping this issue alive but ordinary people feel bad when bunches of people are killed in a school or a factory. You don't have to be a lefty to wish that people could live without fear of random bullets. There can be a balance where people who will be responsible with firearms can have them; no other country in the world has the kind of problem we do with guns. You don't have to be a leftist or a socialist to wish the world was safer for innocent people.

I mean, is it too fluffy for some people, too soft, cowardly somehow, to think you should be able to walk down the street without being shot by some random nut? Is that just too "leftist" for some people?

It does not make sense to anybody for a few billionaires to have more money than they can spend, while everybody else shops around for gas two cents a gallon cheaper. You don't have to be a lefty to see that that's crazy, it is just regular common sense. Do you know how much a billion dollars is? Jeff Bezos could end the homeless problem tomorrow if he wanted, and he'd make the money back in a week. Is that a crazy socialist idea? There is enough money for everybody to be comfortable, so why are most people struggling while a few live in incomprehensible wealth? This is not "shifting left," it's just plain common sense.

Oh my favorite: "regulation." Man, it sounds bad, doesn't it: government regulation. This is supposed to be an evil concept, the government regulating businesses. Yeah, it means your food is edible. It means you can drink the water. It makes it harder for your bank, or your grocery store, or your employer, to cheat you. "Deregulation" is good for corporations who want to make more money by cutting corners on safety and honesty. Other than that, it is bad for actual people. You don't have to be a lefty to see that, everybody is glad the government regulates things. Are we "shifting left" when we want dishes that don't poison us with crazy hormones, buildings and bridges that don't collapse randomly, medicine that is what it says it is?

I don't think the United States is going to have a situation where the workers take over the means of production or overthrow our government in some revolution. We're just not like that. American workers are happy to work hard for a fair salary, and yet asking for a living wage signifies "shifting left." Encouraging the formation of labor unions is "shifting left." You're a lefty if you think it is wrong for American companies to use slave labor and terrible working conditions around the world. But what kind of person wants that? Ask a Republican, would you want to be forced to work in a factory for thirty cents a day? The answer is, of course not. Everybody knows that is wrong. Even Republicans.

All of these things are just common sense. Nobody wants to work all week and get a paycheck that doesn't pay the bills -- nobody. It would be dumb to want that. Nobody really thinks it is a good idea for cops to shoot black people for having a broken taillight or for being in the wrong part of town. Nobody thinks that the government should take people's kids away from them and put them in strangers' homes, or put them in cages, or lose them. Nobody really minds if two men or two women fall in love, as long as they're happy. All this is just common sense and human nature.

Somehow the news media depict these normal, human ideas as "shifting left," and worry about going too far. The pundits talk like you're an extremist if you believe in being nice to people, fair, kind. I don't see how it can persist the way it is -- nobody wants this authoritarian stuff that's destroying our government now. What the pundits call "shifting left" is just plain commonsense, live-and-let-live, normal human nature. I'm looking forward to a vibrant and healthy primary season.