July, 2020
Washington – It's time to turn the energy generated by the BLM and similar protests toward working for positive, long-lasting changes.
Not that the protests haven't already achieved some of that, what with getting rid of Confederate statutes and namings (long overdue). But there's always a risk of losing control of movements to provocateurs who want to create a backlash and to those who like destruction for its own sake, as in toppling statues of Union soldiers and even U.S. Grant.
What positive ideas might people rally around? What causes are good enough to take not only into the streets, but into the halls of government? Here are three suggestions:
1. Wage Ratios. Growing economic inequality (the root of many of our problems) can be reversed by applying wage ratio eligibility standards to most, if not all, federal grants, contracts, tax credits, and tax deductions. A wage ratio is the ratio in an organization between those with the top compensation and those with the lowest. In the 1950s, the ratio was about 20:1. It is now many times that; the inequality gap has become dangerously wide, such that American social cohesion itself is at risk.
We already apply such ratios for some programs. For example, 401(k) pension plans, to be eligible for federal tax preferences, must not reward the top ranks at the expense of the bottom. If we adopted such standards for all federal programs, we would strike a major blow for narrowing the nation's inequality gap. Federal spending would be a force for reducing inequality, with no new programs or expenditures involved. Putting more money in the hands of those at the bottom rather than the top will unleash economic activity and opportunity.
2. Medical Care. Name about any developed country in the world for an example of medical care financing that is superior to ours in America. Universal coverage must be our goal, regardless of the specific means to achieve it. Access to medical care is essential to alleviating the appallingly bad conditions many Americans must deal with to survive.
Obviously this now means control of pandemics as well, which strike disproportionately at those who face racial discrimination.
3. Climate Threats. The disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus are only a prelude to what might soon be upon us resulting from climate change. Reducing carbon emissions must move to the top of the national agenda. Both our energy and food production systems need overhaul not only to cut carbon emissions but to sequester carbon in our plants and soils.
The Farm Bill is not ordinarily what people take to the streets about, but a completely new one focused on healthy food and healthy, carbon-storing soils, is desperately needed. Poor nutrition is associated with diseases that weaken resistance to pandemics.* Agricultural practices that enrich the soil must become the norm rather than the exception.
Are these causes that can excite people enough to turn them from marching protesters into marching advocates? I can't think of anything more anti-racist; now is the time to do it.
_____________________________________________
* From the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: "As more is learned about infection by SARS-Co V-2 and the development of COVID19, it is clear that it has significant nutritional implications. These parallel epidemics, one noninfectious (obesity and diet-related chronic diseases) and one infectious (COVID-19), appear to
be synergistic. Those at most risk for the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, including
hospitalization and death, are people afflicted by diet-related chronic diseases (obesity, type 2
diabetes, and cardiovascular disease). Finally, throughout the world, the consequences of
physical isolation and financial disruption by the threat of COVID-19 infection has led to
significant increases in food insecurity and hunger, further increasing susceptibility to both
infectious and diet-related chronic diseases. Thus, these interrelationships between chronic
diseases, COVID-19, and social determinants of health, emphasize the critical importance of
improving dietary patterns. These parallel epidemics demonstrate the central role of nutrition and
healthy dietary patterns in susceptibility to both infections and diet-related chronic diseases and
these relationships should be further examined in future dietary guidelines."
