A Moment Of Truth for the Biden Administration--Its Very Future is At Stake

 The blazingly blunt cover of this week's "The Economist" has it right:

"BIDEN'S DEBACLE"

There is no escaping, no side-stepping this brutal description.

 Sure, we had to finally exit this 20-year commitment. But we had pledged we would do it carefully, with dignity  while protecting our troops and citizens and those thousands of Afghanis who supported us in the pursuit of Freedom, at risk to their and their families' lives. 

We are failing miserably to do this.

 Biden claimed the right to the Presidency based on his competence, his compassion and his integrity. Sadly, his response to date fails on each of these measures.  

He is failing to acknowledge a grave misunderstanding of the speed of the Taliban takeover as a result of his actions. He is shifting blame to Trump (who admittedly deserves a good measure of it) and to the Afghani government and worst of all to the Afghani soldiers  He is failing to be compassionate about the threat to the lives of thousands of people.  Above all, I believe, he is failing to be transparent and speak straight to the American public and maybe even himself.  People aren't blind or dumb. They see what is happening. 

If he doesn't turn this situation around dramatically in the next week, I believe Biden's presidency will incur fatal damage. 

Inevitably it will be scarred; the photos of petrified Afghanis on the tarmac of the airport clinging to the landing gear will live on for decades. However, the jury is out on how this event will most be remembered and the impact it will have on the next three years of Biden's administration.

It is perfectly clear what Biden has to do to avoid "fatal" damage. 

1. Start by speaking straight to the American and world public. "I misjudged the speed with which the Taliban would assume control" and "we are going to do everything to make sure we do the right thing now and going forward" We have seen again and again that much worse than making a mistake is not owning up to it promptly and taking action to deal with its consequences. 

2. Expand the number of troops, clear the roads, open other airports and do everything else necessary immediately to secure the safe exit of U.S. citizens AND those many Afghanis who supported us as interpreters and in other ways. 

3. Provide humanitarian support for the Afghani people working with other nations. 

The most fundamental values of our Nation are at stake here. Can people trust our word and our promises? Are we honest with ourselves and others? Will we do everything in our power to do the right thing?

David Brooks' "Blame the Bobos"

 

DAVID BROOKS’ – BLAME THE BOBOS

This article, which appeared in the September edition of The Atlantic recycles the thesis Brooks (and others) have advanced, Brooks in a book close to the same title, over a decade ago.

 

He brings an abundance of secondary research to demonstrate the sharp contrast of attitude between classes--the “elite” feeling superior based on wealth acquired through merit (as they see it) and openness to diverse views—in contrast to “others” of lesser means who feel looked down upon (to some degree they are) for their less informed and idealistically pure attributes, as they believe the elite class improperly construes them. 

 

I have written elsewhere about how I see multiple forces coming together, building on each other, to increase inequality.  These forces include differences in education, starting at the very earliest age, differences in the neighborhoods in which they live, differences in the social circles in which they circulate, differences in their marriages (with today, more and more couples marrying with the same educational and cultural background).  None of these factors, of course, are truly new but they have been exacerbated by the increasingly reinforcing systems in which we live. 

 

In my view, however, Brooks over generalizes and deals in stereotypes with some of the sub-groups he describes.  He emerges for this reason being too pessimistic about the possibility of change going forward.  I, of course, am forever hopeful, optimistic.  I have often been proved wrong.  But sometimes right, too, for I have seen advances many would have predicted would take far longer or not come at all.  For example, the recognition of not only the legitimacy but the beauty of same-sex marriage and parenting. 

 

I believe Brooks is particularly off-base in his discussion of two classes.  The first is what he calls “the blue oligarchy:  tech and media executives, university presidents, foundation heads, etc.”  While he acknowledges that these executives tend to be in favor of higher taxes, redistributive welfare policies, universal healthcare and concern for the environment, he goes on to say they “tend to oppose anything that would make their perch less secure:  unionization, government regulation that might affect their own businesses, anti-trust policies.”

 

While that is true of some, it is not true of many others.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the leadership of many major corporations, including P&G.  I believe for example that many more executives than in the past are ready to take on restrictive voting rights.  Most of all, I believe they see their responsibility to society as being greater than they have before.

 

The other group I believe Brooks underestimates is what he calls the “offspring” of the elite class.  He notes that many of them are driven by “moral contempt.”  He says they look up and see the generations above them “talk about equality but drive inequality.”  I have experienced the truth of that.  I believe many of these younger so-called offspring will do more to change the environment in which they live than Brooks predicts.   We need to count on that.

 

Brooks is right in saying that the victory of Trump and other populists has come from a large number of people who feel they are looked down upon, and for good reason.  This has to change and I believe a program like National Service, which Brooks (and Biden) supports, is absolutely key to the future.  

 

I agree with Brooks in his belief that Joe Biden's character and belief in people and the programs he is advancing through the infrastructure bill and his family support proposal, including universal pre-K and free tuition for community college, strikes at the heart of what we need to thwart the current widening inequality. 

 

These initiatives are importantly economic in nature.  But they’re more than that.  For the availability of these economic opportunities will lead people to think differently about themselves and about how they are regarded.  And as they advance, it will lead all of us to regard them differently, too, at least so I hope. 

 

An element which Brooks’ article seems to fail to take account of is race and particularly the challenge African-Americans face.  Brooks talks about a sense of ease which the elite class has in fitting into situations, knowing what to say and what not to say to advance in the system.  He has a key point here, and there is a racial as well as a class aspect to this.  I have found that African-Americans who have been accorded the benefits of quality education and have had the benefit of empowering relationships with one or more individuals, are much more likely to acquire that sense of ease than African-Americans who have not had these benefits.  This makes the formation of intentional positive relationships within corporations and any organization so important, especially with minorities.  But it also enhances the value that I am confident will accrue from better education starting in the very earliest years, preschool and Kindergarten.  It also calls for schools of higher education to reach out more affirmatively to bring in more young men and women from lower income, racially diverse backgrounds. 

 

A Collection of My Essays and Blogs

 Friends, 

For your information, I have recently published a collection of my favorite blogs and essays. Its title is, not surprisingly, "Pepperspectives: Reflections on Values for Living, Global and National Issues and Other Contemporary Issues". 

Some of these essays are more personal than others; many draw on my favorite books; most have been written in the last six years and, hence assess the contemporary challenges and opportunities we face, nationally and globally. They include a few essays informed by my children and one written by my twelve year old granddaughter. 

The collection is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book formats. 

John Pepper

Recognizing Special Interests Alongside a Unifying Common Good: Justice and Equal Opportunity

 The One of the Many:  America’s Struggle for the Common Good by Martin E. Marty

 

This book, written by Martin Marty, was published 23 years ago but it could have been published today with equal if not greater relevance to the moment we’re living in.  It is a short book of about 240 pages. Its essence could be boiled down to an even shorter book, really an essay. Whatever the length, it is powerful and relevant. 

 

I took away three related thoughts:

 

1. The importance of telling and understanding each other’s stories, personally and as special interests, alongside the importance of recognizing the importance of pursing a unifying common good.

 

2. The concept of affection.  The value of “having affection” for one another and how that is different than love; it is not as strong as love but terribly important.

 

3. The concept of kinship or kin.  

 

Marty explores the different pulls of “pluralism” and allegiance to the common good.  He contrasts the unum and the plures.

 

There has constantly been in our country tension between the two.  Alexander Hamilton in 1802 expressed his fear of the influx of foreigners who must “tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; and to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities.  In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important.  And whatever tends to discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.” 

 

Our other founders, Franklin and Jefferson, offered similar testimony in defense of the unum, of sameness. 

 

We face the question:  How do individual special interest groups themselves co-exist and how do they make contributions to the common good?  What we’ve seen in Lebanon and Bosnia to this very day alerts us to the dangers of tribalism, unchecked by republicanism—that is a commitment to see how we do achieve the common good.

 

One writer came upon an interesting metaphor—the porcupine—to depict civil association. This is a model that allows for both the need to “hover together” and the need to “draw apart.”  This metaphor describes citizens in their national and sub-national groupings and as individuals.  

 

James Madison in Federalist No. 51 speaks clearly to the rights of factions and common interest.  He recognized the importance of individual factions but he did not want those members to lose the sight of a theme that brings together everyone against the goal of “justice as the end of government.”  Justice is a unifying theme for a cohesive sentiment. 

 

Marty wisely writes that “intimate communities, because of the closeness and commitment that they express, depend upon love.  Citizens, however, cannot express sentimental attachment or personal affection for all fellow citizens and societies conceived as civil association.  They certainly will not credibly display love, because of the impersonality of the bonds of association and the heterogeneity of those who are encompassed by them.”

 

Here is where the concepts of association, affection and kinship come in.  I turn to Procter & Gamble.  I’ve often described it as a community, and I still do.  Having read this book, I believe that the concept of affection is a very good description of how P&Gers feel about one another.  So is kinship.  Fellow P&Gers are kin. 

 

Family reunions, just like P&G reunions, bring together kin and affection.  They draw on the notion of the “binding tie of cohesive sentiment,” which Felix Frankfurter enunciated. 

 

As I wrote at the beginning, this book was written 23 years ago.  It was meant to address the need to resolve the tension between particular interests and factions with the need to pursue the common good.  At this moment, I believe we have in Joe Biden a President who instinctively is primed to unify the interests of individual factions, many of whom have been deprived of justice, with the pursuit of a common good, of a binding sentiment--justice and opportunity for all—which can unify us. 

 

Marty’s book serves to illustrate that the search for this unifying end point has been a perpetual one in this country and, indeed, in the history of the world. Despite the challenge, it should not stop us from continuing to pursue it. I feel confident it will be pursued under the current administration. Now, may it only be realized. We need a unifying common vision o

The Absence of A Proper Sense of Humility and Common Understanding in U.S.-Russian Relations

 The November-December 2001 issue of Foreign Affairs followed the 9/11 attack on the United States by only a couple of months.  How different the climate was then compared to today with regard to attitudes of Russian and U.S. citizens and the relations between the Russian and the U.S. governments.

In an article written by Timothy Colton, Professor of Government and Director of the Davis Center for Russian Studies at Harvard, and Michael McFaul, Associate Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and, a decade later, to be the Ambassador to Russia and viscerally opposed to Putin, we read this:  “If Putin returns to Cold War habits, he will be moving against the grain of Russian public opinion.  Russians’ empathetic response to the attacks on America sprang from something deeper than mere strategic concerns.  Russians aligned themselves with the United States in its hour of need—and have been more pro-American in their reactions and in their own government, because, in part, of a deep support for democracy.  Russian people today, despite a decade of unmet expectations since the fall of communism, strongly endorse core democratic values.  And they do, among other reasons, because of a sustained Western policy of engagement has encouraged democratic governance within Russia and the country’s integration into the Western community of nations.”

“Russia’s transition from authoritarianism is far from complete, however.  Inattention to the fragility of Russian democracy would be a huge mistake—and one that would have serious negative consequences for American security.”

We failed utterly to follow this line of reasoning. We paid almost no attention to the fragility of democratic governance in Russia. We read the situation through rose-colored glasses,  the way we wanted it to be. More importantly, we showed almost no respect for or awareness of Russia's historic concern for security as we continued to expand NATO to the East to borders touching on Russia. 

“In fact, Russia’s newly constructive approach to the West should not be surprising", the article continued.  "Rather, the fact that a democratizing Russia seeks a positive, peaceful relationship with the democratic United Sates fits an established pattern in international relations.  Almost every democracy in the world now enjoys a cordial relationship with Washington, and no democracies number among its enemies.” 

Here is an unbridled expression of America's "exceptionalism".  

“As the United States embarks on a protracted conflict with a new worldwide foe (referring to terrorists), it is seeking to mobilize all countries, including Russia, into a new anti-terror coalition.  In building this alliance, the Bush administration may be tempted not to scrutinize the credentials of those who sign up to fight alongside it.”

And here we go as the article continues, sticking our nose into another country’s business.

The authors write.  “Democratic transgressions within Russia will, therefore, not rank very high among U.S. policy priorities, especially once Putin starts providing the military assistance he has promised to the new campaign.  That would be a mistake.  The United States must not forget how important it is to support democracy in Russia, since that country cannot become a complete partner of the Western alliance until it becomes fully democratic.”

This is a terrific example of how we extended our values to other countries and culture in a demanding and at least in hindsight to my eyes, presumptuous way.

The authors went on to say that “because Putin leans toward Europe, wants good relations with the United States and evidently values his personal relationship with Bush, American decision makers already enjoy some leverage in promoting democratic ideas through state channels.  Bush and his team should refrain from lecturing Putin about America’s superior political system and highlight instead the benefits of integration into the West—for which democratization is a pre-condition".

Continuing:  “In the decade-long transition of the former Soviet bloc, correlation has developed between levels of democracy and economic growth.  Washington must point this out to Moscow, while also explaining how democratization will facilitate Russia’s participation in European institutions.  Putin wants to make Russia a great European power once more.  Bush must remind him that today all European powers are democracies.”

Talk about lecturing and speaking down to another country. 

The absence of any sense of humility in this essay, any sense that Russia might take a different approach to the future than ours, written by two very influential academics and one that would characterize future U.S. administrations proved to be a path which not only failed to achieve the goals we sought but has turned what had been the positive view of the Russian public toward the United States into a negative view. And vice versa. 

We and Russia will not see the proper role of governance the same; we won't hold the same values in all areas. In some, we may vigorously disagree and will and should say so .But let's not forget.  We have many common interests which demand we work together for our mutual interest and very survival. They include combatting the risk of nuclear disaster, the destruction of the environment and our planet as we know it and failed states and terrorism. Moreover, it is a reality that almost all members of the Russian and American publics want the same thing: peace, safety and the opportunity for a decent life for our families. We must act on these truths, with the wisdom and stamina to resolve legitimate issues like Ukraine, Syria and cyber-security which today keep us apart. We owe that to both our nations and the world.  

Is Reconciliation Possible? Ending the Conflict and Carnage in Israel and Palestine. My Hope Endures!

  

Reaping the Rewards of Mutual Respect and Empathy in Pursuit of a Compelling Goal

 

We read story after story, decade after decade, and, recently, day after day, about the conflict and unending carnage within the Israeli and Palestinian communities.

 

It remains a herculean task to exit from this trauma; yet, difficult as it is will be to achieve, there is hope to be drawn from a short essay authored by Dr. Adam Lee Goldstein, the Director of Trauma Surgery at a Medical Center in Holon, Israel (The New York Times, 5/20/21.)  

 

Dr. Goldstein’s hospital is on the southern edge of the city, in a working-class neighborhood filled with Jews and Arabs, recent immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, and the countries of the former Soviet Union.

 

On Tuesday, May 18, the hospital faced a crisis.  Within an hour, more than 40 patients had arrived, four in critical condition, three needing emergency surgery.  For the next few hours, the entire hospital worked to evaluate and treat the wounded, no matter their religion or ethnicity.

 

The groups fighting each other in the streets of Holon were suddenly combined together inside the walls of the hospital’s emergency room.  They arrived wearing religious Jewish undergarments or Arab garments.  An Arab nurse treated a Jewish wounded person; a Jewish intern examined a young Arab man who had been injured by a rubber bullet to the chest.

 

Dr. Goldstein writes that his medical center lacks funds; it is not the biggest hospital in Israel, and it has not been painted for four years…“but to me it represents everything that is beautiful and possible at this place.  Before, during and after this current disaster, we are the hospital for one of the most diverse, elderly and neglected populations in Israel.  We train residents from all over the world, especially Africa and Latin America, and Palestinian residents from the West Bank in Gaza.  In two and a half days, we received more than 100 people wounded from missiles, falling schrapnel, or the violence on the streets.”

 

Dr. Goldstein eloquently concludes, “in the coming days, years and decades, I hope that what is happening now under the roof of this hospital—the selflessness, the lack of ego, the team work and diversity and mutual respect—can be a model for this entire country, for our entire region.  If neighbors and communities can’t work together, can’t get along in the way that I see every night in our hospital, I worry that we are guaranteeing that the suffering across this country will only get worse.  If we do come together as we do inside our own walls, it will be a beautiful thing.”

 

This story took me back to a “beautiful thing” I experienced in 1999, at a meeting in Bucharest, Romania.  Bucharest is the headquarters, bringing together nine different countries made up of different ethnicities, different religions, and different languages.  P&G employees were present that day from each of those countries.  Several that had recently been in a war with one another and remained divided by bitter religious differences. 

Toward the end of the evening of grand celebration, diverse music and dancing, one person after another from each of the different countries came up to me to tell me how inspired they were by being able to work together in P&G against a common purpose and set of goals.  Their faces glowed as they told me this.  And so did mine.

 

These men and women had come to know each other.  They had developed empathy for one another.  And they were experiencing the thrill—for that is what it was, of seeing what they could accomplish together despite differences which before and, yes, even in the future, would risk tearing them apart unless they reunited in the pursuit of a compelling goal and came to know and appreciate one another, not as some “labeled” generic category, but as individuals.

A Dramatic Example of the Role of Contingency and the Individual in History

 I just finished reading one of the most galvanizing and analytically insightful books I can recall recently reading called Hitler’s 30 Days to Power:  January 1933 by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.

 

With unbroken narrative drive and razor-sharp intellectual analysis, Turner traces the unpredictable and totally contingent nature of Hitler and his Nazi Party ascending to power through his assuming the chancellorship on January 30, 1933.  At the beginning of the month, this would have seemed entirely unlikely; the Nazi Party had suffered defeats in recent elections, its morale was dispirited and there were signs that the German economy was starting to turn the corner from the extremely severe depression which had been afflicting it.

 

Turner’s book persuasively makes the case that Hitler’s appointment as chancellor was by no means inevitable, even if it were possible.  There were preconditions in German history, past and present, which in fact made it possible.  The preconditions went way back at least to the failed democratic revolution in 1848, to the political right’s capturing the cause of nationalism in the course of the country’s unification under Prussian leadership.  The economic conditions and social tensions that gave rise to a militant working class political movement and eventually to its split into bitterly opposed factions (the Communists and Social Democrats), the shock of defeat in World War I and the draconian Versailles Treaty conditions—all of these and more—were historical preconditions.

 

However, as Turner makes clear, “An examination of the events of January 1933 undercut any notion of inevitability by revealing the strong elements of contingency in the chain of events that brought Hitler to power.”  And importantly, they involved individuals.  I won’t try to review all of the individual roles here, but they’re important and merit study.  There is the weakness and poor judgment of the aging President Von Hinderbergh who, in the end, was the only one who had the right to appoint the chancellor.  There was the political ineptness and simple lack of drive for power of Kurt von Schleicher, the chancellor, who in many ways allowed this to happen. There was the mendacious von Papen, who thought he could control Hitler, greatly overrating his ability as deputy chancellor.  There were the liberal parties who didn’t accurately read what Hitler had committed himself to.  There was von Hindenberg’s son who, despite his better judgment, finally went along with Hitler because he didn’t think Schleicher was up to the job.  And there was luck in different meetings between the people as the conspiracy to get rid of Schleicher despite Hindenberg’s adversity to Hitler was born and carried out.

 

Turner goes on to describe an alternative that could have occurred at this point in Germany’s history:  a military autocracy.  von Hindenberg could have allowed this.  It would have been against the Constitution, but that was clearly going to be violated by Hitler and von Papen knew it.  Hitler’s would not be a parliamentary coalition government; it would end up being a Presidential and eventually a dictatorial one.  Upon von Hindenberg’s death in 1934, Hitler of course appointed himself as the president.

 

In the early years, Hitler was buoyed by the economic recovery, by the desire for stability by the German people and by his toning down the anti-Semitism and intent on military conquest which was coursing through his veins.  

 

I agree with Turner’s ending judgments:  “Only through the political blindness and blunders of others did Adolf Hitler gain the opportunity to put his criminal intentions into effect between 1933 and 1945.  This is not to say that he alone was responsible for the heinous crimes committed during his rule.  To the everlasting shame of the German nation, Hitler found large numbers of lackeys eager to persecute, subjugate and slaughter people deemed dangerous or inferior by the perverted standards of his regime.”

 

“Although the Nazi’s dictator’s career left only a negative legacy, it provides a powerful example for subsequent generations of the crucial need to exercise the utmost care in selecting those to whom control is granted over the most powerful—and potentially the most lethal—institution created by humanity:  the modern state.”

 

“This story serves as a reminder that nothing except change is inevitable in human affairs, that the acts of individuals make a difference, and that heavy moral responsibility weighs upon those who wield control over the state.”

 

This book was written in 1996, fully 25 years ago.  We received another reminder of the importance of Turner’s summary points in the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States.  On the flip side, we saw the importance of these points, manifested positively, in the choice of Winston Churchill to lead Britain in 1940.