Howard Zinn's vision of Economic Justice - Not Just Blind Fantasy

[Political Heretic]

Vision of economic justice:

"Where the United States has declared an end to military intervention, has eliminated its intelligence agencies, has dismantled its overseas military bases, has reduced its armed forces to a small peace-keeping contingent ready to heed the call of the U.N. General Assembly for emergencies, and where the resultant saving of half a trillion dollars is then added to another half trillion dollars that comes from a wealth tax and a truly progressive income tax, the trillion dollars then to be used in the following ways:

To establish a program of Health Security, with free medical care and prescription drugs for every person, citizen or not, with the government footing the bill.

To guarantee public employment (on environmental projects, arts projects, etc.) to people unable to get work in the private sector at a fair wage.

To guarantee free education up through the university level.

To guarantee decent housing—through rent subsidies or low-interest home loans—for any family not able to afford market prices for good housing.

How to achieve this? Organize a new national movement around this agenda, which will then engage in a variety of nonviolent tactics: strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, marches, occupations, to insist that this program be enacted."

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2004/1104zinn.html

Howard Zinn was an activist, historian, and author of many books, including A People’s History of the United States. He died on January 27, 2010 at 87.

Before cynics bring sarcasm and mocking tones to this thread talking about how impossible or unrealistic hopes for this sort of change are, I'd ask you to think for a second...


Why would you treat hopes with hostility?
I'm addressing a specific group of people who seem to get very angry when people talk about radical change - who then shout, and make fun of, mock, insult and ridicule any talk of such change. To such people: when you mock hopes for peace, for social and economic justice, doesn't that say something about you?

It's one thing to have skepticism that revolutionary change is possible. But its another thing to belittle anyone who talks about what a better society would look like. I mean, you should want those things too, correct? And if you're only opposition is that it seems impossible, then it makes no sense to respond with hostility and mocking. It would seem like the most understandable response would be to say something like, "Oh how I wish we could live in a world like that, but sadly getting there seems impossible." That would seem pretty honest and authentic.

Having said that, I'd like to point out that revolutionary change is always just around the corner. In periods just before dramatic change in history, people thought revolutionary change was just as impossible as people think it is today. At every point in history right before revolutionary change, the cynics or the disheartened claimed that culture had changed so much and was so different from times past that radical change was simply no longer possible.

Over and over again, those who oppose change or those who are simply too discouraged to believe in the possibility have claimed that change was impossible. And yet if there has been any constant to history it is that empires fall and that revolutionary change happens.


Two Components for a Climate Ripe for Change
The doubters, the disheartened and the outright cynics have one thing right and its one thing that Zinn may not have acknowledged enough: movements don't just spontaneously explode onto the scene from nowhere, and movements don't gain traction unless the social conditions are right.

Revolutionary change has at least two components - social crisis and public action. Sometimes people hoping to organize and mobilize people don't appreciate that fact that some of the factors that can make movements successful really are out of personal control. Social climates must become intolerable to enough people, that they are no longer willing to quietly take it.

Social conditions must be painful enough and unjust enough for enough people to conclude that hanging on to the precious little "stuff" they have isn't worth keep silent anymore. Social reality must become so transparently exploitative that people stop thinking of themselves as republican or democrat, right or left, conservative or liberal and start looking at things as a question of Bottom vs. Top.

Perhaps we do not quite have that climate yet. But we are most certainly on our way there. Now is the time to stop ignoring radical ideas and passionate activists and start considering the possibility that - maybe even in your life time - people may take to the streets in a civil rights movement for economic justice.

Even if that's a long-shot, I just can't see any better way to spend my life than in service to the effort to see such a revolutionary movement come to pass. If you can tell me something better to spend my time doing, let me know.

[LWolf]

1. That's heartbreaking.

Because moving in a more ethical, moral direction IS possible, and I don't see people supporting it.

[truedelphi]

4. Those of us who do not have pompoms where their

Brains should be are attempting to move in Howard's direction.

[LWolf]

11. Yes.

I've been swimming upstream all of my life, hoping to accomplish my goals in this lifetime.

[asdjrocky]

2. I really needed this today, thank you.

I went to the bookstore yesterday and bought what must be my tenth copy of People's History and I also picked up The People Speak, so I woke up this morning ready to go. Ready for some real change.

You're the best for bringing this at just the right time, thanks again.

[G_j]

3. everyone should read this

really!


thanks

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. Thank you.

Well stated.

Continuing along the paths that are currently being trodden is no longer tenable.

[patrice]

6. That IS possible and this is what makes me so heart-felt deep down Disgusted with Christianity*

There are real Christians out there, but, mostly, it has failed as an institution, because the Money Changers ARE in The Temple.

[ipaint]

7. I hope I see it and am able to participate.

It would certainly make up for the 3 decades I've spent since reagan with a sinking, sick feeling in my stomach.

[Political_Junkie]

8. I agree the time is coming.

I pray it's in my lifetime.

[G_j]

9. kick

[Douglas Carpenter]

10. kick and recommend

[Taitertots]

12. He is well intentioned but foolish

"To establish a program of Health Security, with free medical care and prescription drugs for every person, citizen or not, with the government footing the bill."
I support universal single payer health care. However, to call it "free medical care" with "the government footing the bill" is disingenuous. We still foot the bill, and it isn't free, it is just better and cheaper.

"To guarantee public employment (on environmental projects, arts projects, etc.) to people unable to get work in the private sector at a fair wage"
We should increase public works and environmental projects. We should not try to pretend it can be a cure all to get to the natural rate of unemployment.
It depends on the excess labor of the market being suited for the needs of the government. It is counter cyclical, increasing taxes during recessions to pay for hiring the unemployed.

"To guarantee free education up through the university level"
Flood the market with college graduates. Good way to make sure we have lawyers working at McDonald's.
Again, he is pretending something we all have to pay for is free.

"To guarantee decent housing—through rent subsidies or low-interest home loans—for any family not able to afford market prices for good housing."
As if the price of housing wasn't inflated enough. This is a good way to totally screw up the housing market.

"Why would you treat hopes with hostility?"
Because what you plan to do will not cause the well intentioned results that you want. I want government health care, full employment, affordable university education, and affordable housing. Now lets figure out what will actually cause them to happen.

[Political Heretic]

13. Disingenuous screed. You'll have to do a lot better than that for anyone to take it seriously.

It's funny that all of our criticism ignores the fact that a plan for paying for these costly structural changes to our society was given right in the OP. Yet you pretend like it wasn't.

"To establish a program of Health Security, with free medical care and prescription drugs for every person, citizen or not, with the government footing the bill."
I support universal single payer health care. However, to call it "free medical care" with "the government footing the bill" is disingenuous. We still foot the bill, and it isn't free, it is just better and cheaper.

This is nothing but silly semantics. It's free to those who don't make enough money to pay taxes. It's "free" in the sense that thanks to taxation I wouldn't owe anything each time I had to visit a doctor. Everyone "gets" that its paid for through taxes. No one is "confused" on that point, including Zinn. And again he does not suggest these things before telling you explicitly what we should do differently in order to come up with the money to pay for it.

"To guarantee public employment (on environmental projects, arts projects, etc.) to people unable to get work in the private sector at a fair wage"
We should increase public works and environmental projects. We should not try to pretend it can be a cure all to get to the natural rate of unemployment.
It depends on the excess labor of the market being suited for the needs of the government. It is counter cyclical, increasing taxes during recessions to pay for hiring the unemployed.

"Natural state of unemployment" - do you even know what the phrases you throw around mean? NSU is 100% pure right wing economic fundamentalist horse shit, for starters. Thanks for bringing that steaming pile to DU. You are talking about playing the game within a failed system of corporate capitalism. We are talking about ending that failed system in favor of something else. Our goal should be employment for all.

We may not reach that goal perfectly, but if we save the trillion plus dollars Zinn suggests we can move towards a society that looks a lot more like Denmark, for example, which has exceptionally low unemployment, exceptionally low poverty and one of the highest quality of life ratings in the entire world. Do not pretend like there are no real world examples of a far more just approach to society.

"To guarantee free education up through the university level"
Flood the market with college graduates. Good way to make sure we have lawyers working at McDonald's.
Again, he is pretending something we all have to pay for is free.

Right because flooding the market with uneducated high school dropouts serves us so much better. That's brilliant.

Your claim that anyone is pretending that this is free is a 100% false. I know you are capable of reading, and the very first sentences in the entire post start with discussing generating revenue to pay for anything suggested. The things suggested are in answer to the question "how should we spend 1,000,000,000,000 plus dollars saved from dismantling our imperialistic society and rededicating those resources?

"To guarantee decent housing—through rent subsidies or low-interest home loans—for any family not able to afford market prices for good housing."
As if the price of housing wasn't inflated enough. This is a good way to totally screw up the housing market.

Ensuring that people are not homeless isn't a luxury. Shelter is a basic right, and its the responsibility of a morally and socially responsible society to ensure that even the "least" of its people have access to housing. Housing is a human right first, and a way to make a bunch of money second. The solution to problems in the housing market is not to make housing more select and exclusive. That simply runs contrary to the conscience of a liberal of any strip - moderate to radical.

"Why would you treat hopes with hostility?"
Because what you plan to do will not cause the well intentioned results that you want. I want government health care, full employment, affordable university education, and affordable housing. Now lets figure out what will actually cause them to happen.

No you don't. You don't want any of those things. You want to say that you want those things while supporting the status quo at every turn. There's a big difference. You're arguments in response to this thread were totally knee-jerk. It was as though you had a script of ready-made pat answers all set to go. It betrays an ideology rather than an honest engagement. Delivering talking points in defense of business as usually and then slapping on the cutesy tagline "hey I want all those things too" does not make it any more believable.

You claim you want government run health care, but then ridicule the call for..... government run health care?

You claim you want full employment, but then claim its not possible.

You claim you want affordable university education, but fear the terrible nightmare of "flooding the market" with graduates.

You claim you want affordable housing, but turn around and say that affordable housing will kill the housing market.

Do you realize how transparently silly that sounds? It's obviously to anyone reading that you delivered a knee-jerk post reflective if ideology rather than any sort of critical thought. And the fact that you didn't even realize Zinn started off before saying anything else by discussing explicit how to pay for what he was suggesting only proves that.

"Now let's figure out what will actually cause them to happen" is code for "I don't want them to happen." "Well intentioned by foolish" is code for "morally right but a thread to my interest in profit and power."

Over and over through history those passionately committed to social justice have had to fight people saying exactly what your saying with about the same sincerity that you say it.

[Taitertots]

15. Thats quite an imagination you have there

Health care:
Calling it "free" or saying "the government foots the bill" is a lie. We all still have to pay for it, just pay less for better service. Zinn needs to use honest language. Calling dramatic tax increases "free" really is lying. Universal single payer doesn't need lies to defend it. I'm not going to pretend lies are the truth to support causes I believe in.

Tell the truth to people. You will have to pay less if you get sick. Your employer will pay less and hire new workers. Other countries are doing it and it works better than it does here.

Free Tuition:
There is a middle ground between free tuition K-PHD and flooding the streets with dropouts. If you were interested in honest dialog you won't even make such statements.

Everyone should get a free education K-12. College should be paid for with loans made available through the government to everyone. The loan conditions should stipulate that you don't need to repay unless you exceed a certain yearly income. Anyone who wants college could get it and repayment would be no burden to the poor.

Natural Unemployment:
I guess all my liberal economics professors were all wrong. I better tell them someone with no qualifications knows better.

Funding:
Even after reducing expenses $1,000,000,000,000 we will still be $1,000,000,000,000 over budget. His whole plan is to borrow $1,000,000,000,000 every year with no plan for how to reduce this. All his schemes are sure to cause dramatically increasing costs. Worse yet they increase the most during recessions, when the government will be getting less money in taxes.

Home ownership:
All those subsidies are going to do is dramatically increase the cost of housing, requiring more subsidies. Soon less and less people can afford housing without subsidies. Taxes have to increase to pay for the subsidy, which depresses production and increase the need to have subsidies.

We solve the problem by funding the construction of more houses. More people are put to work and the houses can be offered below market to low income individuals. We don't destroy the housing market or crush the government with expenses.

[upi402]

14. It was time for change when Kennedy was assasinated

and we got a cover-up that continues unanswered to this day. After Raygun's Iran hostages and Conta-cocaine shenanigans, the Bush the first Panama deception with media complicancy... oh god I'm getting tired again... but it is WAY past time. Way past "the time is ripe" and all the way to rotten.