The psychologist, Abraham Maslow, developed the concept of the hierarchy of needs. He posited that the lower needs, such as physical security, had to be satisfied first before the higher needs, like spiritual or philosophical pursuits, could be satisfied. And if those more fundamental physical needs were suddenly stripped away, the most lofty intellectual would resort to scrounging for food in the streets.
A similar concept is applicable to politics. On any given day, we are confronted with many issues. Some are what you may call higher issues of principle. Some are what we usually call bread and butter issues.
And like Maslow's hierarchy, these issues are not all equal. If your children have no food, chances are you won't be showing up at the librarian sponsored protest opposing the Patriot Act provision allowing the federal government to monitor what books you read.
Not that this issue isn't immensely important. But compared to finding food for your hungry children, it's pretty much the last thing you're thinking about.
Now, I bring this up because, right now, many, many Americans are struggling to meet their physical needs. To use Maslow's model, they are stuck on the bottom tier.
Despite the fact that we are the wealthiest nation in the world, we have the highest child poverty rate of any developed country. Many millions of Americans are not able to provide for their families. They are not able to get needed healthcare treatment because they can't afford it. They must work twice as hard as their parents just to break even. And still they are falling behind.
Meanwhile, the benefactors of the increased inequality of wealth are benefiting more and more. The vast American fortune has accumulated into the hands of very few and the dream that once was the middle class is yielding to a new American serfdom. You can call it servdom since pretty soon we'll all be serving fries with that burger.
The ruling elite are literally bankrupting the commonwealth. We can't afford to pay firemen and police officers. Our schools are in shambles. Our roads are in decay. Our water is no longer safe to drink. We are turning into a third world country.
So how do the ruling elite get away with pillaging the commonwealth right from under our noses? One way is through television. If religion is the opiate of the masses, TV is a coma.
But the other way I want to focus on here is the method of distraction. Year after year, election cycle after election cycle, the ruling elite and their mostly Republican operatives push to the front burner some controversial, higher tier issue and we on the left take the bait. And so while we're standing up for our principles out on the front lawn, they're carrying our furniture out the back door.
So with this in mind here are a few things I couldn't give a fuck about (at least compared to starving Americans):
- I couldn't give a fuck about the ten commandments on the courthouse lawn of some redneck town in Alabama I'll sure as hell never visit. In a world where the justice system is rigged against anyone who can't afford Jonny Cochran and we have the highest prison population per capita of any western country, it's the least of my worries.
- I couldn't give a fuck about stem cell research. In a world where the rich are the only one who can afford the benefits, fuck em. We can wait.
- I couldn't give a fuck about prayer in schools. I firmly come down on the side of the ACLU on everything. But as long as those schools require armed officers roaming the halls and they can't even afford books, I can wait.
- I couldn't give a fuck about gun control. Well, I could give a fuck about gun control anyway. I support the right to bear arms in the most Jeffersonian sense.
- I couldn't give a fuck about gay marriage. One of my best friends and business partner is a lesbian. I love her like my sister and it hurts me to see her try to eke out a life with her partner in this fucked country. But even she doesn't think that calling it marriage is a top priority while Republicans use it to distract from their agenda of really ruining our lives. Again, we can wait.
- And finally, though I could go on, I couldn't give a fuck about Terry Schiavo. This is only the latest in the ongoing distraction campaign and as usual, the liberals have taken the bait. Even in a perfect world, I don't know where I would stand on this issue. But I know one thing, the ruling elites, the architects of the Iraq war, and Walmart are all happy to see this (and steroids) become the top issue of the day.
Now, let me be absolutely clear:
In a different America, where no child is hungry, and no one gets turned away from a life saving medical treatment because they don't have $100,000, and a significant percentage of our population is not looking at zero prospects for a decent life, and our consumption of energy doesn't threaten the very survival of humanity, any one of these issues could be my number one issue.
But I'm making a political calculation. We will not only continue to lose the fight for survival and economic justice, we will also continue to lose the fight for social justice and higher principles until we champion the basic needs first.
We must first become the party of the working class again to have a chance to win on our loftier goals. When the Democratic party again represents physical security, we will find little opposition to our higher principles.
Now, I know the arguments for not standing down on the controversial issues. If we can't stand up for the hard stuff we can't stand up for anything right? That's one anyway.
But I'm not talking about abandoning these issues. I'm talking about putting them on the back burner until we return to a solid majority on a populist agenda. Secure people's physical needs first. Just like Maslow.
There are some higher principles we cannot put on a back burner. Like the 1st Amendment, civil rights, or democratic integrity. These higher principles are instrumental in our ability to secure our physical needs.
But what I use to gauge the priority of all our issues is how do they measure against a single mother working 60 hours a week for almost minimum wage who has just been evicted from her apartment because she had to choose her child's hospital bills over rent.
We simply must be the party who saves this mother before we can be the party who saves Terry Shiavo.