Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

How About Democracy in Presidential Race?

I begin this column while visiting family in Virginia where it’s impossible to go a day without thinking about presidents and how we select our leadership in this so-called democracy. Virginia, as the state tourism department will tell you, has been home of more presidents than any other state (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor) (all multi-millionaires, entitled, landowners, English, men).

This trick of history means you can visit one or two presidential homes in a day, coming away from each with a distinct impression of the man and his lifestyle. Slaveholders, aggressive businessmen, military grandstanders, they are typical of our choices throughout history. And, yes, I’m ignoring their excellent qualities. Thomas Jefferson, for example, was an innovator. He believed in progress and was an early adopter of designs and technologies. His masterpiece, Monticello, features self-opening and closing doors that work with pulleys under the threshold and a weathervane that helped predict the weather.

At the same time, his slaves numbered in the hundreds, keeping his home meticulous and his grounds productive. When a slave became competent in a skill like nail making or violin playing, Jefferson would fire the paid help and keep the slave, somewhat predicting today’s pecuniary decisions. Even our large, prosperous corporations today fire the expensive help and hire cheap day labor. Why the author of “all men are created equal” didn’t free his slaves is a trick linguistic question. He didn’t consider slaves (or women) as men.

When they didn’t have the vision and finances to build Monticellos, some of our former presidents pretended. George Washington, for example, had a wood mansion but wanted “presentation of stone.” So he instructed his farm manager that the walls be “rusticated,” with grooves beveled into planks of wood to look like grout and stone blocks. To make the appearance even more real, they used sand, ground down from local sandstone, “dashing, as long as any will stick, the Sand upon a thick coat of paint.” This work was done, of course, by slaves. But Washington, unlike Jefferson, stipulated that his slaves should be freed upon the death of himself or Martha, whoever survived longest.

No dummies, these early presidents, but we must admit that even these earliest American leaders were chosen on the basis of flash rather than substance. What, on the other hand, if we choose the next president in terms of humility, humanity, thoughtfulness?

So let’s look at the reputed wealth of the next potential Democratic candidates. We find mostly folks who have gotten by pretty well in the world. We don’t have firm figures yet, but former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland is arguably the wealthiest with an estimated $93 million. Beto O’Rourke, who wants everyone to know he’s not a socialist, has $9 million. Elizabeth Warren? Between $4 and $10 million.

Only one of the potentials, Rep Eric Stalwell from California, is in debt. His student loan payments are around $600 per month, putting him in the same league with increasing numbers of millennials. Student debt has risen to an estimated $1.6 trillion, or 8% of GNP, according to the Washington Post.

Student debt seems to be leveling off, although at appallingly high levels. And, not because we’ve gotten smarter about borrowing or more generous with scholarships. Students are giving up, believing that their lives with or without a college degree will be about the same. It won’t, and hooray for the students who on June 25, sued Betsy DeVos for supporting fraudulent for-profit colleges that take student loan money without delivering authentic educations.

Of course, there are reasons besides education to be in debt in America. Americans borrowed $88 billion last year to cover medical treatments. There are farmers borrowing to finance seed for a crop that may be washed out. Then there’s credit card debt, as we all know, that keeps expanding, interest upon interest, even if you don’t buy anything. One out of four of us expect our debts to outlive us. Together, we owe more than ever before—an estimated $4 trillion with no end in sight.

And that’s not including national debt. Despite POTUS’s promises to reduce it, in February 2019, according to NPR, the US national debt hit a record $22 trillion dollars.

Now, this column isn’t an endorsement of Rep Stalwell or anyone else, and I don’t want to condemn millionaires, but let’s begin to evaluate our candidates on the basis of substance rather than flash. For much of history, Americans have voted in an aspirational way, believing that if we elect the one who makes the most promises, the luck will rub off.

Instead, let’s select someone who shares our experiences. Someone who has lived in a normal middle class neighborhood, for example, or lost a farm. Or committed in a real, active way to a higher ideal, like the end of military expansion, or the reduction of carbon in the atmosphere.

Home in Missouri, after a flight over too many miles of flood-washed fields that won’t see a crop this year, I have to ask: What if the next president led in the way that teaches us to put people and planet ahead of self-interest?

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, August 1, 2019

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