What do you want the U.S. and the U.S. President to be like 20 years from now?

 

What do you want the U.S. and the U.S. President to be like 20 years from now?

Americans often vote for President on how we’re feeling that day (not even, say, two or three months ago, often enough). One thing I’ve seen though is how long a Presidency shapes the future U.S. and future U.S. Presidents, an influence that can easily last 20 years or more. The social and economic issues will change; war and global issues will change; but the tone you hear now is a tone you’ll still be hearing 10 and maybe 20 years from now.

Carter influenced the Clinton Presidency (Southern Democrat); Reagan influenced Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, even Obama with neoliberal economic globalism; Clinton influenced the political centrism of Bush 2, Obama, and Biden; Bush 2’s legacy of lying openly regarding Iraq and Afghanistan clearly influenced the all-lies-all-the-time Trump assault on democracy and freedom; Obama has obviously shaped what we see in Biden and in the current candidate Kamala Harris, and Biden has (obviously) influenced Harris too.

 So: 20 more years of contempt for truth and democracy, of racism and sexism and homophobia and hatred for anyone who isn’t a rich white man or a wife who serves him? Or 20 more years of the tone that Harris presents: respect for others, mutual aid, and a belief in opportunity for all, not just those who have historically owned and run the U.S?

And that’s one big reason why, however the country and the world and the crises we see are going to change, I’ll be voting for Harris and Walz. I want to see what’s going to come after them. I don’t want to face endlessly a Trump-style contempt for human rights and democracy and basic human dignity and respect.

Poet, Rate Thyself: Respect, Prestige, Finances

Stan Apps asked the following question on his blog the other day:

"A reputation economy--no $$$, only R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Is it a utopia? (And if it is a utopia for some, does that automatically make it a dystopia for others?"

And here was my answer:

"I think many poets are familiar with a respect economy, which of course shades very quickly into a prestige/reputation economy, and is therefore also related to a financial economy. Although none of these three economies is the same, they're pretty closely linked.

I think poets should rate themselves on a scale of one to ten how they think they stand in these economies.

I'm giving myself:

Respect 7
Prestige/Reputation 5
Financial 4

Of course, it's easiest to rate oneself on the financial economy, second easiest to rate prestige/reputation, and hardest to rate respect.

Which suggests therefore that a pure respect economy, which doesn't exist of course, could nonetheless not be a utopia for one simple reason: any time something important depends on what other people think of you (which is, of course, most of the time), there's no end to trouble."

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So, poet or whatever you are or do, here's your chance to rate yourself on the scales of respect, prestige, and finances.

And of course it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on these (slightly tongue in cheek but not entirely) ideas.