The "Ups and Downs" of the State Of The Union

Watching President Obama's State Of The Union address on January 27 reminded me of the Paul Revere and the Raiders' song "Ups and Downs". Over and over, he would get our hopes up by identifying a serious problem or a too-powerful interest, only to let us down by offering half-hearted reforms as solutions.

He railed against those Wall Street banks which "hand out big bonuses", but then backed down, saying only that "they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers". Modest fee? Ooh, that'll show them. But why tax the banks, modestly or not, when they'll just increase customer fees to cover the new taxes? Why not tax the individuals receiving the obscene bonuses - say, a 100% tax on compensation over a certain amount?

The President pledged $30 billion "to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need", but then added a proposal to "eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment". Great, another tax loophole for the investor class that the rest of us can't use.

Mr. Obama used the phrase "clean energy" ten times, reminding me of Paul's grandfather in the Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night ("he's very clean"). However, just as I was smiling over visions of electric cars, solar cells, and wind turbines, he talks about "building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants". Once again, we're off in search of that mythical creature whose existence, like that of the Yeti, has long been rumored but has never been proven - the safe, clean nuclear power plant. Next he'll be promising that electricity will be too cheap to meter...

I jumped up from the couch when he called out the Supreme Court for their disastrous "Corporations Are People, Too" decision in Citizens United v. FEC, saying "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests." His solution? "Pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems." I would have hoped this former constitutional law professor might have at least mentioned the possibility of amending the Constitution to destroy once and for all the absurd notion of corporate personhood.

President Obama "embraced the vision" of a world without nuclear weapons, but never called on the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. President Clinton signed the CTBT in 1996, but it's languished since then in the U.S. Senate while 151 other countries have ratified it.

The President's strong words about "nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of nuclear weapons" were followed up with specific criticism of North Korea and Iran, but no mention was made of Israel, which has nuclear weapons but refuses IAEA inspections and has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Saying that "America must always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity", Mr. Obama talked about supporting the rights of girls in Afghanistan, women in Iran, and job-seekers in Guinea. That's all well and good, but what about the rights of voters in Honduras to be governed by the people they elected? Wasn't this right violated in June 2009 when democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya was removed by the military, and "Interim President" Roberto Micheletti suspended civil liberties? The Obama administration never took a strong stand against this coup, ignoring its impact on respect for the rule of law and democratic elections in a region with a history of too many US-supported coups. I'd love to see the U.S. "always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity"; when do we start?

The real lesson, I guess, from this year's State of the Union address is a reminder about the nature of our democracy. Electing an intelligent President with good intentions may open up more space for progressive change, but we can't just wait for it to come from him or her; we the people have to do the work ourselves.

Later this same week, we heard the sad news that historian Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, had passed away. In an interview on Bill Moyers' Journal last month, Zinn reminded us of this important concept:

"You know, democracy doesn't come from the top. It comes from the bottom. Democracy is not what governments do. It's what people do."

Thank you, Howard, for that important reminder.