by Van Jones
This great wealth divergence has resulted in an unjust and dangerous concentration of economic and political power in the hands of the few. It has pushed millions, especially the rising generation and communities of color, into the shadows of our society. The middle class continues to shrink, and the number of poor people continues to grow. The political elite has failed to take the necessary steps to restore opportunity to the majority of Americans.
As a result, the very idea of the American Dream has become a cruel joke to millions who are working harder than ever and falling further behind. In an October 6, 2011, article entitled “Flat-lining the Middle Class: Economic Numbers to Die For,” Andy Kroll reported on TomDispatch.com: “In 2010, the average middle-class family took home $49,445, a drop of $3,719 or 7 percent, in yearly earnings from ten years earlier. In other words, that family now earns the same amount as in 1996. After peaking in 1999, middle-class income dwindled through the early years of the George W. Bush presidency, climbing briefly during the housing boom, then nose-diving in its aftermath.”
America once was a country in which we believed that those who worked hard and played by the rules should be able to advance. But the worst of the top 1 percent have turned that old formula upside down. Too many people on Main Street (let alone the back roads, alleys, and side streets) are finding today that they cannot succeed—no matter how hard they work, and no matter how scrupulously they follow the rules. At the same time, other Americans, including the worst of Wall Street, apparently cannot fail—no matter how inept, corrupt, or lazy they are, and no matter how many times they break the rules.
Someone has already decided that they are “too big” to fail.
CHEAP PATRIOTS VERSUS DEEP PATRIOTS
The time has come to turn things right side up again and declare that America’s honest, hard-working middle class is too big to fail. The aspirations of our low-income, struggling, and marginalized communities are too big and important to fail. The hopes of our children are too big to fail. The American Dream itself is too big to fail.
And we are not going to let these things fail.
Of course, it will not be easy to stop the dream killers. Tax policy that burdens working families and gives the biggest breaks to the super-rich has helped to keep more and more of our national wealth locked in the private safes of the top 1 percent. This alarming economic polarization, combined with the constant flow of good-paying jobs overseas, threatens to end our status as a middle-class nation. Too many of our big banks and largest corporations are behaving in a manner that is both irresponsible and unpatriotic. Their conduct makes it that much worse for the many patriotic and responsible businesses—especially small businesses—that follow the rules and provide good jobs to their employees.
Additionally, many well-intentioned people have been recruited into a powerful crusade—the Tea Party movement—that promises the American people economic relief by slashing taxes and taking a wrecking ball to America’s government. The impact of the Tea Party’s reckless policies would be to financially decimate our government, further dismantle America’s middle class, and strengthen the chokehold that the top 1 percent has on the economy. Nonetheless, the Tea Partiers effectively seized the public narrative in 2009 and congressional power in 2010, quelling the wave of hope generated by the 2008 election. They have succeeded at painting their agenda “red, white, and blue.” If we are to have an economy that works for the remaining 99 percent, this kind of “cheap patriotism” must be sidelined in favor of a “deep patriotism”—one that honors the accomplishments of our parents and grandparents. After all, they used the tools of both free enterprise and democratic government to build a society that sets the global standard.
THE BATTLE IS JOINED
Fortunately, a new force has emerged with the long-term potential to both repair America’s democracy and renew the American Dream. A massive protest movement has risen within the United States, eclipsing the Tea Party. It aims to fix our political system, heal our economy, and end Wall Street’s tyranny over our lives. The outcome of the battle remains uncertain, but the highly anticipated “fight back” in America has begun. It’s about time.
Corporate America’s millions of casualties are beginning to find their voices, stand together, and fight back—against joblessness, homelessness, and despair. The destruction of America’s middle class is meeting with angry opposition in the streets. The protest wave began in February 2011. It was powered by public fury over union-busting legislation proposed by Tea Party governors in Wisconsin and Ohio. It grew throughout the spring, as students mobilized to oppose tuition hikes, and foreclosure victims resisted evictions. In the summer of 2011, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in every U.S. congressional district to rally against devastating budget cuts under the slogans “Jobs Not Cuts” and “Save the American Dream.”
Then, on September 17, a few hundred activists calling themselves Occupy Wall Street pitched their tents in Manhattan’s financial district. Their daring tactic captured the imagination of millions in America. The boldness of their action ignited a passion for change in hundreds of other cities in the United States and around the world. The tiny spark that was struck in the Wisconsin winter became a national and even global prairie fire by the end of the year.
Most importantly, in a country that has been divided along so many lines of color and economic condition, the Occupy Wall Street protesters created a new identity that can include and unite the vast majority of Americans. Their simple slogan—“We Are the 99%!”—is now the rallying cry for everyone who is struggling against an economy that enriches the few at the expense of the many. That rallying call is meant to underscore the ways in which the nation’s economy is failing everyone—except the very top 1 percent. It is intended to empower members of America’s super-majority to understand ourselves as having a shared plight, a common cause, and enough power to change things.
There is reason for hope. The United States remains a rich nation—the wealthiest and most inventive in the history of the world. Global competition and technological advances pose challenges for American workers, but we should always remember that the proverbial pie is bigger than ever today—and still growing. As a nation, we are getting richer; our GDP is still greater than it has ever been. The problem is not that the pie is shrinking; it is that working families are taking home smaller slices of it, as wealth and income are concentrated upward. It will take smart policy, better business practices, and community-driven innovation, but we still have the power to reclaim, reinvent, and renew the American Dream.
The growing movement faces three important challenges:
• To transform some of its protest energy into electoral power;
• To shift from expressing anger to providing answers; and
• To balance confrontation with aspiration and inspiration.
At this pivotal moment in history, we can make our economy respect the 99% and work for the 100%. To do so, we must develop and promote serious solutions that fit the scale of the problems that the protests of 2011 highlighted.
This book proposes some.
America is still the best idea in the world. The American middle class is still her greatest invention. This book is dedicated to the proposition that—with the right strategy and a little bit of luck—the movement of the 99% can preserve and strengthen them both.
BEFORE I SHARE MY OWN OBSERVATIONS and suggestions, let me declare—up front—a few biases and convictions.
First, I believe in both electoral politics and peaceful protest; they are two blades of a scissor, and both are needed to make real change. Some see marches, sit-ins, and public demonstrations as unruly, scary, or out of fashion—so they reject protests. Others think our democracy is so corrupted by big money and media madness that participation is beneath them—so they reject electoral politics. I believe that progress is made from the bottom up and from the top down. Therefore, I believe that nonviolent direct action and smart voting are the twi
n keys to meaningful change.
Second, I am no longer the anticapitalist firebrand of my youth: to fix our current problems, American communities will need investment, invention, and innovation. That is mainly the task and role of a robust private sector. This book focuses on the need for good legislation, in hopes that better-regulated markets can fix the problems that badly regulated markets caused. What we know is this: there are tens of thousands of socially responsible entrepreneurs out there, trying to bring forward the good jobs, enterprises, and industries of the twenty-first century. Our government should be a partner to these emerging problem-solvers in the U.S. economy, not the old problem-makers.
Finally, I am personally committed to America’s success. The reasons are deeply personal. I know America very well—good, bad, and otherwise. My family has lived on these shores for unknowable generations—through our enslavement, through a century of Jim Crow terror, through the Civil Rights Movement, and into these challenging times. By way of my Native American ancestors, I can claim roots that go back millennia, right here on these lands. My blood is mixed with the soil. Just by leafing through the pages of my family photo albums, one can see all of the joy and pain that is our country. The stolen land and stolen labor that helped build this nation are a part of my heritage. So is the heroic effort by which Americans started smashing down old barriers, healing ancient old hurts, and—in Dr. King’s words—making real the promises of democracy.
I believe in the possibilities of the American Dream—in part, because the dream of equal opportunity sustained my ancestors. As a proud son of America—and as the proud father of American sons—I have a duty to continue the work of helping to make an America “as good as its promise.”
IN MY VIEW, A MOVEMENT that believes itself to be the 99% at war with the 1% cannot succeed in America—nor should it. But a movement that is the 99%-for-the-100% in America cannot fail. This book is intended to help those courageous enough to stand with the embattled 99%—while holding out a dream that is big enough to move the 100%.
I.
1
THE ROOTS OF HOPE
FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THE THRILL of seeing Barack Obama beat the odds to become president of the United States was one of most exciting and uplifting experiences of our lives. The feelings of joy, hope, and anticipation were heady and unforgettable. But did Barack Obama alone create the hope that so many of us felt in 2008? The assumption that he did is sensible. He is a brilliant man and a gifted orator, who emerged as the perfect counterpoint and antidote to President George W. Bush. Candidate Obama gave Americans the opportunity for a much-needed reset. Today he is still among the world’s most admired and beloved leaders. Barely out of his forties, he has inspired hundreds of millions of people, both in the United States and around the world.
What, or who, inspired Obama? From what source did he draw the courage—and the audacity—to run for the highest office in the land, as a freshman senator from Illinois? He said in 2004 that he had no intention of running for president in 2008. What changed his mind? What shifted in America that altered his thinking about the possibilities he saw for himself—and for the country? To answer these questions, one has to look beyond the time frame of the 2008 campaign and examine the rising political and social movements that predated—and in fact prefigured—Obama’s historic bid.
Sober analysis makes it clear: the movement for “hope and change”—in all its multiracial, tech-savvy, people-powered promise—did not originate inside the 2008 Obama for America campaign, nor did it arise fully formed out of the snows of the Iowa caucuses. Key precursors were well established before Obama ever declared his intention to run. Obama’s campaign helped to crystallize an emerging “hope and change” movement, giving it language, symbolism, form, and a visible champion. In fact, the movement predated the 2008 electoral season altogether—by at least five years.
2003: A PEOPLE-POWERED MOVEMENT IS BORN
In many ways, the movement that elected Obama was born in 2003, taking the form of a massive, desperate effort to derail Bush’s planned invasion of Iraq. Millions of Americans marched, signed online petitions, and spoke out to stop the war. They used the Internet to self-organize in a way that was original and stunning; membership in a tiny, online group called Moveon.org swelled into the millions, and the organization became a household name. Thousands of women flocked to the banner of a new peace group called Code Pink. Activists from antiglobalization struggles brought forward a youthful fighting spirit and creativity, much of it birthed and shaped in the 1999 Battle in Seattle, in which people gathered from around the world to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Important coalitions such as Win Without War and United for Peace and Justice sprang up to give voice to the peace-seeking majority of Americans.
In just six weeks, the nascent antiwar/pro-peace movement had mobilized more people against the invasion of Iraq than had been organized to stop the Vietnam War in the first six years of that conflict. And the movement quickly linked to similar mobilizations across the globe. The New York Times declared that the peace effort had become a second “superpower,” embodying and expressing the force of world public opinion.
It is especially important to remember that at the head of all this there was no “One Great Leader.” There was no singular messiah, no superstar stepping in to play the role of savior. There was no single organization, giving orders.
And yet in depth, breadth, creativity, and speed of development, the peace movement was without precedent. With no solitary hero directing its efforts, the push for peace produced some of the largest demonstrations in the history of humanity—with tens of millions of people self-organizing against the Bush juggernaut.
Ultimately, the antiwar mobilization failed to prevent the war, but it became the sign—and the seed—of things to come.
2004: ANTIWAR MOVEMENT BECOMES ANTI-BUSH MOVEMENT
When the bombs started falling in Iraq, the war protestors could have quit, gone home, and given up. They could have thrown up their hands and said, “This is too hard. We can’t do anything about the way things are going in this country.” But they didn’t quit. They held onto their “hopes,” and they still wanted “change.” They refused to give up on America.
As a result, the antiwar movement of 2003 became a movement for nonviolent regime change in 2004. The people birthed a grassroots crusade to unseat a sitting, wartime president. The Democrats nominated a good, dedicated, and accomplished presidential candidate, U.S. senator John Kerry. For all his strengths, Kerry was never seen as a superhero. Yet it almost didn’t matter; the people were growing a super movement.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean’s heroic effort in the 2004 primaries had already shown the power of new, online tech tools and unorthodox campaign approaches. Dean’s novel fund-raising model used the Internet to solicit small donations (eighty dollars on average) from a broad base, inverting the traditional high-cost, high-touch formula in which candidates relied on a few wealthy, established political donors for large sums. This was the model the Obama campaign would later perfect and ride to the White House.
All across the country, ordinary people got involved in the 2004 presidential election with unusual passion and fervor. This was especially true for young people (the Millennials), who began to emerge as a major voice and force through edgy new groups such as League of Young Voters, Hip Hop Summit, Hip Hop Caucus, PunkVoter, HeadCount, Generational Alliance, and Voto Latino, as well as Rock the Vote, United States Student Association (USSA), Black Youth Vote!, and campus PIRGs.
Film director Michael Moore’s electrifying cinematic intervention, Fahrenheit 9/11, further riled up the base. Lines to get into the film on the opening weekend snaked around blocks. Despite screening in a limited number of theaters, the film broke multiple records, earning more the first weekend than its blockbuster competitors and going on to become the highest-grossing documentary ever.
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom shook up the estab
lishment by calling for the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004. The quest for marriage equality took its place under a spotlight nationwide—and stayed there, thanks to the persistence of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersex, and questioning community. Determined to end this form of unequal treatment, these groups carried on nonviolent battles, in courtrooms, on the airwaves, on city streets and during every subsequent election cycle. Their courage and passion added greatly to the growing momentum for positive change.
By November, millions were on the move—organizing themselves outside of the formal structures of the campaign, uniting across lines of class and color. Leaving nothing to chance, people even volunteered for “election protection” efforts—overseeing voting booths to avoid a repeat of the fiasco that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s selection of George W. Bush as our forty-third president in 2000.
This flourishing of electoral activism was much bigger than Senator Kerry’s official presidential campaign. Many who had supported Ralph Nader’s Green Party bid in 2000 came rushing back into the fold. But it was much broader in scope than the Democratic Party. In 2004, we saw the birth of a genuine, pro-democracy movement—standing up against the entire apparatus of one-party rule in Washington, DC.
Everyone remembers Kerry’s stinging loss at the ballot box on election night, but they forget that this newborn, fledgling force came within one hundred thousand votes in Ohio of evicting Bush from the White House. That’s how powerful this progressive, people-powered phenomenon had already become, way back in 2004.
