It’s Déjà vu
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All Over Again
16 years ago this July, John Edwards delivered a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention, as he endorsed the nominee, John Kerry. Before you cringe, which has become a wide spread feeling when we think of Edwards post the 2004 election. Those uncomfortable thoughts aside, John Edwards delivered remarks which have stayed with me long after the failed Kerry bid and the unfortunate unraveling of Edwards himself. That moving oration has been memorialized as, The Two Americas Speech”. Prophetic, searing and wise, and in the 16 years since, I am sorry to report, America has progressed little. The Obama Presidency certainly moved the ball down the field, with ACA, and measures to lift the working poor. Alas, the incremental movements combined with a powerful Senate blockers, America is bitterly divided and not even at mid field. We are two Americas, still and now they are stoked with acrimony, resentment and hatred.
It is worth a look back, in order to truly take stock in the winding road which has carried us seemingly in circles. And, it is not lost on me that the Presidential Election of 2004 witnessed the birth of the swift boating of a political candidate. The success of the swift boat campaign saw its spread far and wide right down to local elections that realized slash and burn tactics, work. Sadly, the tactics have grown into a cottage industry of vile, fact less, insult hurling and debased election processes. And, here we are; name calling, Twitter clashes, FB feuds and simply being manipulated by bots, targeted posts and paid shills, as the divide grows increasingly cavernous. John Edwards was right then and he’s right now.
Edwards put forth the disparity in clear terms, Wealth gap, healthcare gap, education gap, housing gap and through his eyes, as a child of the south the concepts smacked with stark truth. This wretched coronavirus has revealed and amplified those stark truths in no uncertain terms.
Edwards said on healthcare, “We can build one America. We can build one America where we no longer have two healthcare systems. One for families who get the best healthcare money can buy and then one for everybody else, rationed out by insurance companies, drug companies, and HMOs. Millions of Americans who don't have any health insurance at all. It doesn't have to be that way”. Yet, the disparity remains and has accelerated under the current administration, as they move to gut the ACA in court. It is easy to observe the disparity in real time, with the lack of access to care, the brutal reality that race and poverty correlate to mortality, and the lack of PPE and support at the front lines resulting from an over burdened healthcare system, and a feckless federal supply chain response, to name a few glaring examples.
Edwards said on Education “We shouldn't have two public school systems in this country: one for the most affluent communities, and one for everybody else. None of us believe that the quality of a child's education should be controlled by where they live or the affluence of the community they live in. It doesn't have to be that way”. Yet the disparity remains, as we witness in real time what distance learning has revealed; the lack of opportunity and access to the internet for the working poor, the realization for many, that the role and importance of our underpaid teachers, and the function school systems play in providing nutritional support to students and their families, just to name a few.
Edwards said on the wealth gap. “I mean the very idea that in a country of our wealth and our prosperity, we have children going to bed hungry. We have children who don't have the clothes to keep them warm. We have millions of Americans who work full-time every day to support their families, working for minimum wage and still live in poverty. It's wrong. These are men and women who are living up to their bargain. They're working hard, they're supporting their families. Their families are doing their part”. Yet they are, and the big corporations are still taking advantage of them for the bottom line, at every turn. In a recent piece by Jessica Lussenhop for BBC news (I urge a read) https://www.bbc.com/news/
16 years after The Two Americas speech we find ourselves progressing little but more importantly being revealed by a silent invisible enemy. Will systemic change emerge as the silver lining? I only hope, as I would not want to visit this on the next generations, the burden has been heavy. Perhaps the time is now to treat both the virus and the republic. The time might be now to reset and begin in earnest, the will and desire to rebuild one America.
Carol Anne Costa
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