thenation--2020-12-09--The Past and Future of the Left in the Democratic Party

“ We need to not ever use the word socialist or socialism ever again , ” argued Representative Abigail Spanberger during a now-infamous House Democratic caucus call just two days after the 2020 general election .
Spanberger , who just won a close reelection in Virginia , is one of several prominent moderates within the party who are blaming progressives and the left for why Democrats lost seats in the House of Representatives and failed to gain a majority in the Senate .
Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb , who also survived a close race , is another .
He concluded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward , we can ’ t be talking about socialism and defunding the police .
We need to talk about things people like the sound of , things we can get done.
” After several years of leftist grassroots mobilization , including a historic summer of unprecedented racial justice protests ( ones that saw liberals marching alongside leftists ) , moderates are pushing hard to move the party away from the left .
But in trying to distance itself from slogans such as “ Defund the police , ” Democratic centrists ( and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the left that distorts more than reveals the reasons for the party ’ s minority status and for its losses down-ballot .
This is because the Democratic Party ’ s past electoral and legislative successes were largely achieved by members who expanded the coalitional boundaries and political imagination of the party because of their identification with the left .
The Democratic Party has achieved electoral success because of , while remaining internally hostile to , the left—and left-wing activists—for much of its history since the New Deal .
Looking for holiday gifts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nation Shop and help support The Nation ’ s journalism while you complete your gift list .
Many of the Democratic Party ’ s historic victories—on civil rights , women ’ s rights , and economic justice—are due to the leftward shift after the Great Depression of many of its members who entered the party as liberals and embraced leftist ideas or who eschewed ( or left ) the Democratic Party as self-identified leftists but continued to work alongside liberal Democrats .
From W.E.B .
Du Bois to Henry Wallace to Shirley Chisolm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indebted to those progressive leaders—particularly progressives of color—who , when faced with growing inequality in a time of unprecedented prosperity , transformed their personal politics , and the United States in the process .
Their demands were often labeled extreme by centrist or “ moderate ” members of their own party , but they continued to push the ideological boundaries of liberalism .
Democrats should not turn away from their collective legacy .
The Democratic Party Will Keep Betraying Labor .
It ’ s Time to Launch a Workers ’ Party .
Don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Over More in this series This history of the left within the Democratic Party is presently obscured by moderates immobilized by visions of appealing to a well-defined bloc of center-leaning voters—dreaming that a cadre of virtue-minded crossover GOP voters will save the party on Election Day .
This isn ’ t a new fiction ; Democrats have long sought to attract voters with bipartisan rhetoric that simultaneously distanced the party from the left while appealing to the “ center.
” In 1992 , then-candidate Bill Clinton told voters , “ The choice we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in many ways it ’ s not even Republican or Democratic .
It ’ s different .
It ’ s new .
And it will work.
” These moderates campaign and govern the way they do because they are haunted by the ghosts of George McGovern and Ronald Reagan .
They implicitly accommodate and impart the conservative notion predominant since the 1960s that Americans dislike “ big government.
” The Democratic Party has resisted forming a meaningful alliance with politicians and activists on the left ; and it has ceded ground to moderates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to build coalitions within their ranks .
The results of the 2020 election prove that this strategy is a failure .
It fails to capitalize on left-wing sentiments expressed by liberals in the electorate who do not yet identify as leftists but echo left positions on issues like policing .
For just as in the 1950s and ’ 60s , prolonged periods of racial and economic inequality over the past 20 years have pushed liberals leftward , which has forced the party to reckon with America ’ s inadequacies on issues of class @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capitalism , and the party ’ s inability to deliver economic rights and social justice to Black Americans , women , and immigrants .
The Democratic Party will fail to produce meaningful change for its most vital constituents if it continues to reinforce rigid intraparty boundaries and static notions of the left that excludes figures willing to join and lead multiracial movements for social justice .
Its claims to inclusion will be gestural and moot , setting the party up for long-term failures beyond 2020 .
The liberal-to-left lineage in the Democratic Party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Industrial Revolution .
Du Bois , for instance , first sought to redress racial inequality through racial uplift , mobilizing an educated class of Blacks to lead the movement for racial justice .
In 1912 , Du Bois encouraged his readers to back Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson because of his campaign ’ s promise to support the cause of Black people in the United States .
“ Under Wilson came the worst attempt at Jim Crow legislation and discrimination in civil service that we had experienced since the Civil War , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ essay “ I Won ’ t Vote.
” Looking back at his history of voting , Du Bois concluded that “ there is but one evil party with two names , and it will be elected despite all I can do or say.
” Du Bois ’ s path led him to join the Communist Party in 1961 , and made him a leading figure in the fight for racial justice in the 20th century .
But his ideological trajectory reflects the challenges and decisions faced by other progressive leaders who were either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big tent or attempted to redefine it .
Eugene V. Debs , a former Democrat who served in Indiana ’ s state Senate during the 1880s , became an avowed socialist after the Pullman Strike and formed the Socialist Party of America , running for president as the Socialist Party nominee four times—in 1904 , 1908 , 1912 , and 1920 .
Believing that both political parties ultimately represented the capitalist class , Debs fought for socialism outside the Democratic Party for the rest of his life .
Subsequent liberals were radicalized by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FDR ’ s New Deal , sought change within the party , not outside of it .
Once a supporter of the progressive wing of the Republican Party , Henry Wallace moved left in response to rampant inequality in the 1920s and embraced FDR ’ s efforts to “ save capitalism ” through the New Deal as his secretary of agriculture .
Wallace initially resisted some of the New Deal ’ s most ambitious economic reforms , but shifted to the left in the mid-1930s , combining an agrarian populism with a robust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Progressive Party candidate for president in 1948 , Wallace championed the end of Jim Crow segregation , outflanking Democrats on matters of racial inequality .
This is turn encouraged liberal Democrat Hubert Humphrey to denounce racial segregation on behalf of his party at the Democratic National Convention that year .
Indeed , activists like Du Bois supported Franklin D. Roosevelt ’ s ability to give Black Americans “ a kind of recognition in political life which the Negro had never before received , ” all while maintaining fierce criticism of the New Deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights ( and federal relief ) for them .
The shift in the party ’ s positions on racial—and economic—equality opened avenues for liberals ’ engagement in the rights revolutions of the 1960s .
Figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Betty Friedan ( a Wallace supporter who first worked within Democratic Party politics as a journalist in the labor movement ) forced liberals to buckle to demands for an end to discrimination in employment , with figures like King actively working with Democrats and moderate liberals like Lyndon Johnson on civil rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a golden age of capitalism—an “ age of compression ” caused by the postwar economic boom—forces on the left mobilized on behalf of distributive policies that achieved racial justice and gender equity .
Progressives , Get Ready to Push Biden and Harris The Democratic Party ’ s confrontation with the rights revolutions continued into the 1970s , with liberals moving to the left wing of the party in response to the center ’ s continued dependence on Southern Democrats and structural resistance to empowering women and Black people .
In the wake of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chisolm was cited as a pathbreaker ; her 1972 presidential candidacy was the first ever by a Black woman .
But at the time , Chisolm ’ s politics ( “ Welfare Not Warfare , ” support for LGBTQ rights ) were eschewed by party leaders , and her candidacy and vision of a multiracial , working-class party viewed as too radical by many Democrats .
Chisolm expressed frustration with the party ’ s hesitance to embrace Black women leaders ( and more progressive policies ) , leading her to abandon any liberal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1972 .
“ I have already moved away from being a moderate , a liberal .
My frustrations at trying to operate through channels and following the prescribed procedures , and failing to get any action , have radicalized me.
” As she took her campaign throughout the country in 1972 , she encountered resistance from moderate Black Democrats who claimed that “ a vote for Shirley Chisholm is a vote for George Wallace.
” Yet Chisolm ’ s candidacy , and her politics , laid the groundwork for liberal to left movements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jackson ’ s presidential campaigns .
Sixteen years after Martin Luther King Jr. ’ s Poor People ’ s Campaign , Jesse Jackson sought to carry the multiracial progressive tradition into a new era with his 1984 and ’ 88 presidential campaigns .
Operating in the “ Age of Reagan , ” Jackson pleaded with Democrats not to ignore the voters who made up his coalition .
“ My constituency is the desperate , the damned , the disinherited , the disrespected , and the despised .
They are restless and seek relief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a signal that we care , ” said Jackson during his 1984 Democratic convention speech .
This history has shaped modern day liberal-to-left converts who have successfully channeled today ’ s grassroots energy into the Democratic Party .
A year before her stunning upset over establishment stalwart Joe Crowley , Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , a former college intern for Ted Kennedy , cited her distaste for the influence of money in politics and her own economic hardships as reasons she decided to focus on left activism .
After organizing for the Bernie Sanders campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ hopped in a car and began sitting down with everyday people across the country to explore pressing issues facing our communities : we went to Flint , MI ; Standing Rock , South Dakota ; and Puerto Rico , ” she said in an interview with National Hispanic Institute Magazine .
Ocasio-Cortez is not alone ; her experiences echo the growth of progressive politics since 2008 .
Progressives Are an Asset for the Democratic Party .
It Should Treat Them That Way .
At the same time , leftist organizations like the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offer space for liberal-left converts .
With its more than 85,000 members , DSA has actively encouraged young people on the left to focus on local electoral politics and been instrumental in galvanizing the Democratic Party ’ s base .
The organization has experienced another surge in membership this year , as Covid-19 has led more people to question a market-based approach to a global pandemic .
“ If the markets can ’ t even produce hand sanitizer or toilet paper or masks during a plague—what good is this system ?
” asked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even as American inequality ( which shows no signs of receding ) has regularly pushed liberals leftward , contributing to the growth of a liberal-left constituency within the Democratic Party , it has yet to force the party to create a legislative agenda that addresses racial and economic justice for most Americans .
A bloc of left-leaning progressives in Congress , many of them women of color ( Ilhan Omar , Rashida Tlaib , and now Cori Bush ) , have shaped a new generation of social movements , often through their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from moderates and liberals who default to the party ’ s powerlessness as the baseline for electoral strategies .
Given this reality , the post-Trump challenge for the Democratic Party will be to support its constituents across the left-wing spectrum , particularly Democratic candidates who recognize that addressing the issue of inequality gets results at the ballot box , which will build enduring coalitions beyond it .
If the Democratic Party is to significantly expand its political tent—even if that exposes it to charges of “ socialism ” —and roll back a revanchist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historical debt to those individuals who have personally moved left , shaping the collective possibilities for the Democratic Party and all of its members to enact meaningful social change .

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
“We need to not ever use the word socialist or socialism ever again,” argued Representative Abigail Spanberger during a now-infamous House Democratic caucus call just two days after the 2020 general election. Spanberger, who just won a close reelection in Virginia, is one of several prominent moderates within the party who are blaming progressives and the left for why Democrats lost seats in the House of Representatives and failed to gain a majority in the Senate. Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb, who also survived a close race, is another. He concluded in a recent interview, “Moving forward, we can’t be talking about socialism and defunding the police. We need to talk about things people like the sound of, things we can get done.”
After several years of leftist grassroots mobilization, including a historic summer of unprecedented racial justice protests (ones that saw liberals marching alongside leftists), moderates are pushing hard to move the party away from the left. But in trying to distance itself from slogans such as “Defund the police,” Democratic centrists (and some liberals) are conjuring a caricature of the left that distorts more than reveals the reasons for the party’s minority status and for its losses down-ballot. This is because the Democratic Party’s past electoral and legislative successes were largely achieved by members who expanded the coalitional boundaries and political imagination of the party because of their identification with the left. The Democratic Party has achieved electoral success because of, while remaining internally hostile to, the left—and left-wing activists—for much of its history since the New Deal. Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
Many of the Democratic Party’s historic victories—on civil rights, women’s rights, and economic justice—are due to the leftward shift after the Great Depression of many of its members who entered the party as liberals and embraced leftist ideas or who eschewed (or left) the Democratic Party as self-identified leftists but continued to work alongside liberal Democrats. From W.E.B. Du Bois to Henry Wallace to Shirley Chisholm to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the party is indebted to those progressive leaders—particularly progressives of color—who, when faced with growing inequality in a time of unprecedented prosperity, transformed their personal politics, and the United States in the process. Their demands were often labeled extreme by centrist or “moderate” members of their own party, but they continued to push the ideological boundaries of liberalism. Democrats should not turn away from their collective legacy. The Left What Might Eugene Debs and Donald Trump Share? Richard Lingeman The Catholic Women Priests Fighting for Reproductive Justice Molly Morrow Mexico’s Tren Maya: Megaproject of Death—or Hope? Étienne von Bertrab
This history of the left within the Democratic Party is presently obscured by moderates immobilized by visions of appealing to a well-defined bloc of center-leaning voters—dreaming that a cadre of virtue-minded crossover GOP voters will save the party on Election Day. This isn’t a new fiction; Democrats have long sought to attract voters with bipartisan rhetoric that simultaneously distanced the party from the left while appealing to the “center.” In 1992, then-candidate Bill Clinton told voters, “The choice we offer is not conservative or liberal; in many ways it’s not even Republican or Democratic. It’s different. It’s new. And it will work.” These moderates campaign and govern the way they do because they are haunted by the ghosts of George McGovern and Ronald Reagan. They implicitly accommodate and impart the conservative notion predominant since the 1960s that Americans dislike “big government.” The Democratic Party has resisted forming a meaningful alliance with politicians and activists on the left; and it has ceded ground to moderates reluctant to grant institutional space to leftists to build coalitions within their ranks. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung
The results of the 2020 election prove that this strategy is a failure. It fails to capitalize on left-wing sentiments expressed by liberals in the electorate who do not yet identify as leftists but echo left positions on issues like policing. For just as in the 1950s and ’60s, prolonged periods of racial and economic inequality over the past 20 years have pushed liberals leftward, which has forced the party to reckon with America’s inadequacies on issues of class and race, the limits of unfettered capitalism, and the party’s inability to deliver economic rights and social justice to Black Americans, women, and immigrants. The Democratic Party will fail to produce meaningful change for its most vital constituents if it continues to reinforce rigid intraparty boundaries and static notions of the left that excludes figures willing to join and lead multiracial movements for social justice. Its claims to inclusion will be gestural and moot, setting the party up for long-term failures beyond 2020.
The liberal-to-left lineage in the Democratic Party has a long history that dates back to the Industrial Revolution. Du Bois, for instance, first sought to redress racial inequality through racial uplift, mobilizing an educated class of Blacks to lead the movement for racial justice. In 1912, Du Bois encouraged his readers to back Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson because of his campaign’s promise to support the cause of Black people in the United States. “Under Wilson came the worst attempt at Jim Crow legislation and discrimination in civil service that we had experienced since the Civil War,” wrote Du Bois in his 1956 essay “I Won’t Vote.” Looking back at his history of voting, Du Bois concluded that “there is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say.”
Du Bois’s path led him to join the Communist Party in 1961, and made him a leading figure in the fight for racial justice in the 20th century. But his ideological trajectory reflects the challenges and decisions faced by other progressive leaders who were either kept outside of the party’s big tent or attempted to redefine it. Eugene V. Debs, a former Democrat who served in Indiana’s state Senate during the 1880s, became an avowed socialist after the Pullman Strike and formed the Socialist Party of America, running for president as the Socialist Party nominee four times—in 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. Believing that both political parties ultimately represented the capitalist class, Debs fought for socialism outside the Democratic Party for the rest of his life. Current Issue View our current issue
Subsequent liberals were radicalized by the Great Depression and, inspired by FDR’s New Deal, sought change within the party, not outside of it. Once a supporter of the progressive wing of the Republican Party, Henry Wallace moved left in response to rampant inequality in the 1920s and embraced FDR’s efforts to “save capitalism” through the New Deal as his secretary of agriculture. Wallace initially resisted some of the New Deal’s most ambitious economic reforms, but shifted to the left in the mid-1930s, combining an agrarian populism with a robust progressive internationalism. As a Democrat turned Progressive Party candidate for president in 1948, Wallace championed the end of Jim Crow segregation, outflanking Democrats on matters of racial inequality. This is turn encouraged liberal Democrat Hubert Humphrey to denounce racial segregation on behalf of his party at the Democratic National Convention that year. Indeed, activists like Du Bois supported Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ability to give Black Americans “a kind of recognition in political life which the Negro had never before received,” all while maintaining fierce criticism of the New Deal’s lack of interest in civil rights (and federal relief) for them.
The shift in the party’s positions on racial—and economic—equality opened avenues for liberals’ engagement in the rights revolutions of the 1960s. Figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Betty Friedan (a Wallace supporter who first worked within Democratic Party politics as a journalist in the labor movement) forced liberals to buckle to demands for an end to discrimination in employment, with figures like King actively working with Democrats and moderate liberals like Lyndon Johnson on civil rights legislation. As the United States experienced a golden age of capitalism—an “age of compression” caused by the postwar economic boom—forces on the left mobilized on behalf of distributive policies that achieved racial justice and gender equity. Biden and the Left Progressives, Get Ready to Push Biden and Harris Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Democratic Party’s confrontation with the rights revolutions continued into the 1970s, with liberals moving to the left wing of the party in response to the center’s continued dependence on Southern Democrats and structural resistance to empowering women and Black people. In the wake of Kamala Harris’s victory, Shirley Chisholm was cited as a pathbreaker; her 1972 presidential candidacy was the first ever by a Black woman. But at the time, Chisholm’s politics (“Welfare Not Warfare,” support for LGBTQ rights) were eschewed by party leaders, and her candidacy and vision of a multiracial, working-class party viewed as too radical by many Democrats. Chisholm expressed frustration with the party’s hesitance to embrace Black women leaders (and more progressive policies), leading her to abandon any liberal bona fides before her presidential run in 1972. “I have already moved away from being a moderate, a liberal. My frustrations at trying to operate through channels and following the prescribed procedures, and failing to get any action, have radicalized me.” As she took her campaign throughout the country in 1972, she encountered resistance from moderate Black Democrats who claimed that “a vote for Shirley Chisholm is a vote for George Wallace.”
Yet Chisholm’s candidacy, and her politics, laid the groundwork for liberal to left movements in the Democratic Party, including Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns. Sixteen years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, Jesse Jackson sought to carry the multiracial progressive tradition into a new era with his 1984 and ’88 presidential campaigns. Operating in the “Age of Reagan,” Jackson pleaded with Democrats not to ignore the voters who made up his coalition. “My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised. They are restless and seek relief. The Democratic Party must send them a signal that we care,” said Jackson during his 1984 Democratic convention speech.
This history has shaped modern day liberal-to-left converts who have successfully channeled today’s grassroots energy into the Democratic Party. A year before her stunning upset over establishment stalwart Joe Crowley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former college intern for Ted Kennedy, cited her distaste for the influence of money in politics and her own economic hardships as reasons she decided to focus on left activism. After organizing for the Bernie Sanders campaign in the Bronx in 2016, she “hopped in a car and began sitting down with everyday people across the country to explore pressing issues facing our communities: we went to Flint, MI; Standing Rock, South Dakota; and Puerto Rico,” she said in an interview with National Hispanic Institute Magazine. Ocasio-Cortez is not alone; her experiences echo the growth of progressive politics since 2008. The Party Progressives Are an Asset for the Democratic Party. It Should Treat Them That Way. Katrina vanden Heuvel
At the same time, leftist organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) offer space for liberal-left converts. With its more than 85,000 members, DSA has actively encouraged young people on the left to focus on local electoral politics and been instrumental in galvanizing the Democratic Party’s base. The organization has experienced another surge in membership this year, as Covid-19 has led more people to question a market-based approach to a global pandemic. “If the markets can’t even produce hand sanitizer or toilet paper or masks during a plague—what good is this system?” asked one DSA cochair in Detroit.
But even as American inequality (which shows no signs of receding) has regularly pushed liberals leftward, contributing to the growth of a liberal-left constituency within the Democratic Party, it has yet to force the party to create a legislative agenda that addresses racial and economic justice for most Americans. A bloc of left-leaning progressives in Congress, many of them women of color (Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and now Cori Bush), have shaped a new generation of social movements, often through their own grassroots activism. They regularly encounter intransigence from moderates and liberals who default to the party’s powerlessness as the baseline for electoral strategies.
Given this reality, the post-Trump challenge for the Democratic Party will be to support its constituents across the left-wing spectrum, particularly Democratic candidates who recognize that addressing the issue of inequality gets results at the ballot box, which will build enduring coalitions beyond it. If the Democratic Party is to significantly expand its political tent—even if that exposes it to charges of “socialism”—and roll back a revanchist right-wing movement, it must recognize its historical debt to those individuals who have personally moved left, shaping the collective possibilities for the Democratic Party and all of its members to enact meaningful social change.


thenation--2020-12-09--Biden Must Block Trump’s Arms Sale to the UAE

The Senate is expected to vote this week on whether to block the Trump administration ’ s proposed $ 23 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates .
Congressional action is unlikely to stop the deal , but it will bring the issue to the forefront for the incoming administration .
Indeed , the UAE arms deal will pose the first major test of the new administration ’ s commitment to end military support for abusive governments in the Persian Gulf .
The Biden administration must seize the opportunity to roll back a deal that would cause devastating harm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ East and America ’ s standing in the region .
The proposed arms sale , involving 50 stealth F-35 strike fighter jets , 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones , and $ 10 billion worth of bombs and other munitions , violates the principle of “ first , do no harm ” that is championed by both liberal and conservative foreign policy makers .
That principle derives from a recognition that policy-makers have too often , under the guise of protecting national security or promoting democracy , inflicted devastating damage upon the world and our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the case of the UAE arms deal is wholly foreseeable .
Just as you can predict the consequence of selling a loaded pistol to a serial murderer , you can anticipate the damage that will be wrought by this arms deal .
The UAE has a well-documented track record of using its advanced weaponry to launch aggressive and unlawful incursions into other countries , engaging in systematic human rights violations and war crimes along the way .
In Yemen , where the UAE and Saudi Arabia have led a pretend nine-state coalition of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries in the coalition have lent their names , but have mostly stood on the sidelines of the conflict ) , air strikes have decimated the country , causing thousands of civilian casualties , hitting , according to the UN ’ s Human Rights Council , “ residential areas , markets , funerals , weddings , detention facilities , civilian boats and even medical facilities.
” The UAE was directly implicated in one particularly heinous strike on a boat carrying Somali refugees , killing 32 .
To control south Yemen , the UAE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Al Qaeda that operate prisons where torture , rape , and murder have been rampant .
What ’ s come of the UAE ’ s interference in this country ?
Nothing but destruction and brutality , likely to sow generations of Yemeni hatred and resentment .
The UAE military has remained true to form in Libya , deciding to use its advanced weapons to intervene in a conflict thousands of miles away on another continent .
It has armed warlord Khalifa Haftar ( in total disregard of the UN arms embargo ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Libya , and carried out drone and air strikes against numerous civilian targets .
The upshot ?
An endless quagmire where a UAE despot spoils any possible peace .
Both Saudi Arabia and the United States Are Probably Guilty of War Crimes in Yemen Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rather incredibly stated that the arms deal would enable the UAE to defend itself against Iran .
The truth is that in a war with Iran without US support , the UAE , a country with a mere 1 million citizens , would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iranian military , which would relish the chance for some target practice at the gleaming skyscrapers of Dubai .
Moreover , the UAE ’ s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed , or MBZ as he is commonly known , has no coherent or discernible military strategy .
His military adventures in Yemen and Libya certainly have not made Iran weaker , and despite its efforts , the UAE has made no real advances in either country , only sowing destruction and suffering and prolonging the conflicts .
MBZ ’ s military interventions have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exacerbated regional instability and lashed out at neighbors near and far—from Iran , Qatar , and Yemen to Syria , Libya , and Turkey .
He has also tethered the United States to guilt by association in the eyes of the region ’ s people , given America ’ s role in aiding and abetting the UAE ’ s military horrors .
If the past serves as prologue , the introduction of more sophisticated weapons will only expand the scale of the UAE ’ s destruction and further undermine US national security .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ become the site of other humanitarian catastrophes , as MBZ , emboldened by the added firepower , searches for fresh targets .
Indeed , not long ago , MBZ and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came close to invading Qatar before being dissuaded by then–Secretary of State Rex Tillerson .
The proposed arms deal would also escalate the regional arms race , as other countries—in particular , Iran—seek to counter the UAE ’ s arsenal upgrade .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly agreed to the arms deal with the understanding that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel to ensure that it maintains its “ qualitative military edge.
” An arms race will in turn increase the risk of strategic miscalculation and regional military conflict , which could well draw US soldiers back into the fray .
The vote this week on four separate Joint Resolutions of Disapproval , introduced by a bipartisan group of senators , would block the arms deal .
Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has expressed support for the resolutions , according to HuffPost , signaling a potential consensus among Democratic senators against the deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ efforts will likely be more symbolic than effectual .
The resolutions must pass both houses of Congress and then withstand a presidential veto in order to become law .
Fortunately , despite efforts by the Trump administration to expedite the sale , delivery of the F-35s and the other weapons will likely take several years , providing ample opportunity for the incoming Biden administration to creatively undo the arms deal on national security grounds .
Twenty-nine NGOs—including our group , DAWN—have signed a letter calling upon the incoming administration to do just that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the incoming Biden administration must do everything in its power to quash the proposed UAE arms deal .

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
The Senate is expected to vote this week on whether to block the Trump administration’s proposed $23 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates. Congressional action is unlikely to stop the deal, but it will bring the issue to the forefront for the incoming administration. Indeed, the UAE arms deal will pose the first major test of the new administration’s commitment to end military support for abusive governments in the Persian Gulf. The Biden administration must seize the opportunity to roll back a deal that would cause devastating harm to both the people in the Middle East and America’s standing in the region.
The proposed arms sale, involving 50 stealth F-35 strike fighter jets, 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones, and $10 billion worth of bombs and other munitions, violates the principle of “first, do no harm” that is championed by both liberal and conservative foreign policy makers. That principle derives from a recognition that policy-makers have too often, under the guise of protecting national security or promoting democracy, inflicted devastating damage upon the world and our own national interest. The harm in the case of the UAE arms deal is wholly foreseeable. Just as you can predict the consequence of selling a loaded pistol to a serial murderer, you can anticipate the damage that will be wrought by this arms deal. The UAE has a well-documented track record of using its advanced weaponry to launch aggressive and unlawful incursions into other countries, engaging in systematic human rights violations and war crimes along the way.
In Yemen, where the UAE and Saudi Arabia have led a pretend nine-state coalition of Arab states (the other seven Arab countries in the coalition have lent their names, but have mostly stood on the sidelines of the conflict), air strikes have decimated the country, causing thousands of civilian casualties, hitting, according to the UN’s Human Rights Council, “residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities.” The UAE was directly implicated in one particularly heinous strike on a boat carrying Somali refugees, killing 32. To control south Yemen, the UAE has relied on extremist armed groups linked to Al Qaeda that operate prisons where torture, rape, and murder have been rampant. What’s come of the UAE’s interference in this country? Nothing but destruction and brutality, likely to sow generations of Yemeni hatred and resentment. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung
The UAE military has remained true to form in Libya, deciding to use its advanced weapons to intervene in a conflict thousands of miles away on another continent. It has armed warlord Khalifa Haftar (in total disregard of the UN arms embargo), built a military base in eastern Libya, and carried out drone and air strikes against numerous civilian targets. The upshot? An endless quagmire where a UAE despot spoils any possible peace. Related Articles Both Saudi Arabia and the United States Are Probably Guilty of War Crimes in Yemen Mohamad Bazzi How Lobbying Firms Helped Destroy Yemen Mashal Hashem and James Allen
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rather incredibly stated that the arms deal would enable the UAE to defend itself against Iran. The truth is that in a war with Iran without US support, the UAE, a country with a mere 1 million citizens, would be overrun within days by the battle-hardened Iranian military, which would relish the chance for some target practice at the gleaming skyscrapers of Dubai. Moreover, the UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, or MBZ as he is commonly known, has no coherent or discernible military strategy. His military adventures in Yemen and Libya certainly have not made Iran weaker, and despite its efforts, the UAE has made no real advances in either country, only sowing destruction and suffering and prolonging the conflicts.
MBZ’s military interventions have also damaged US interests. He has exacerbated regional instability and lashed out at neighbors near and far—from Iran, Qatar, and Yemen to Syria, Libya, and Turkey. He has also tethered the United States to guilt by association in the eyes of the region’s people, given America’s role in aiding and abetting the UAE’s military horrors.
If the past serves as prologue, the introduction of more sophisticated weapons will only expand the scale of the UAE’s destruction and further undermine US national security. The UAE’s neighbors might well become the site of other humanitarian catastrophes, as MBZ, emboldened by the added firepower, searches for fresh targets. Indeed, not long ago, MBZ and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came close to invading Qatar before being dissuaded by then–Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Current Issue View our current issue
The proposed arms deal would also escalate the regional arms race, as other countries—in particular, Iran—seek to counter the UAE’s arsenal upgrade. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly agreed to the arms deal with the understanding that Washington would provide more advanced weapons to Israel to ensure that it maintains its “qualitative military edge.” An arms race will in turn increase the risk of strategic miscalculation and regional military conflict, which could well draw US soldiers back into the fray.
The vote this week on four separate Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, would block the arms deal. Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has expressed support for the resolutions, according to HuffPost, signaling a potential consensus among Democratic senators against the deal. Even so, the senators’ efforts will likely be more symbolic than effectual. The resolutions must pass both houses of Congress and then withstand a presidential veto in order to become law.
Fortunately, despite efforts by the Trump administration to expedite the sale, delivery of the F-35s and the other weapons will likely take several years, providing ample opportunity for the incoming Biden administration to creatively undo the arms deal on national security grounds. Twenty-nine NGOs—including our group, DAWN—have signed a letter calling upon the incoming administration to do just that. To first, do no harm, the incoming Biden administration must do everything in its power to quash the proposed UAE arms deal.


thenation--2020-12-09--What I Learned Moving Cross-Country Twice in 4 Months

n the road , and home again—It was June , three months into the pandemic , and I was stranded on Interstate 80 a few hours outside of Salt Lake City when I started to think that all of this was maybe a bad idea .
Something had happened miles ahead , and both lanes of westbound traffic were at a standstill .
Ten minutes ticked by .
Then 20 .
People turned off their engines , climbed out of their cars , and started stretching .
I ’ d been in rapid , manic motion for weeks .
Stillness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The plan , to the extent that one existed , went something like this : I was on a mission to save my mother , who at the time was withering away all alone on the third story of a Victorian apartment building in San Francisco .
Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience ?
Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation ’ s journalism while you complete your gift list .
Her physical health had been in decline , but her mental health was what worried me the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isolated , with only her ghosts and bottles of Hennessy to keep her company .
In May , her calls had begun to become more frequent , more desperate .
They were monologues of regret .
I should ’ ve bought a house , she ’ d say , with an unmistakable lisp that always lets me know when she has been drinking .
On especially bad days , she would call and berate me for being so far away .
I would never do to my mother what you… 9 Months Into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Good Times and End Times on 26th and Folsom ‘ If You Want to Make the Gods Laugh , Tell Them Your Plans ’ More in this series In two weeks ’ time , I did what no sane New Yorker would ever do : I broke the lease on my rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment , and I bought a car .
The stretch of Crown Heights between Schenectady and Utica Avenues became ground zero for a biblical flood of my belongings .
Clothes , bedding , shoes went to men ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , magazines , pamphlets went to park benches and the fronts of stoops .
I was on a mission .
To do what ?
I didn ’ t know yet .
I pictured myself back in the Bay Area , surrounded by family members who ’ d put aside their decades-long feuds to come together in Covid-safe normalcy .
I thought that the ruptures between my mother and me could be paved over with proximity .
I ’ d forgive her for her not-so-subtle guilt-tripping and periodic slide into narcissism , and she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ divorced lesbian daughter who preferred life a continent away .
I ’ d have my own apartment , but we ’ d order a delicious Christmas dinner and do something hopelessly normal , like watch A Christmas Story on TV .
I ’ d have proof that my sacrifice , the great burden of inconvenience for which I ’ d given up everything and driven across the country , was worth it .
People all around me were making similar , life-altering decisions .
Certainly , there was a reason for it all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instead : I tried to force-feed my own brand of healing onto my mother .
I did so pompously , outrageously , endlessly .
Every phone call was a check-in about progress : Did she make that doctor ’ s appointment ?
Would she be okay with me calling her doctor ?
Maybe she should drink more water .
Every visit was a chance for me to say what was wrong and offer , unprompted , ideas for making it my definition of right .
I was the prototype of the know-it-all millennial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were the parent , pushing her closer to a casket than any virus ever could .
I ’ m back in New York City now .
My mother and I both agree , on some level , that it ’ s for the best .
The Christmas thing is definitely not going to happen .
I ’ m in a new apartment with new roommates and a car that ’ s already earned me two parking tickets and a speeding violation in rural Illinois that I can ’ t figure out how to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debt from the summer ’ s excursions , and as I write this , I ’ m still trying to figure out how to get a studio apartment ’ s worth of brand new furniture shipped from San Francisco to Brooklyn at a rate that ’ s less than my monthly salary .
My mother and I are both physically healthy , no better or worse than we were in June .
We talk several times a week , and though they ’ re superficial conversations about the weather or the election , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small joys .
My mother still drinks too much and tells me that she doesn ’ t .
I still offer unsolicited advice , sometimes based on dumb inspirational quotes I ’ ve favorited on Instagram .
And you know what ?
That ’ s okay .
Because the summer taught me this : Sometimes the world is falling apart and all you want is your mom , and you better take what you can get while she ’ s still around .
And sometimes you can make big , costly decisions during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bit more alive .
Sometimes I wish I could go back to that gridlocked road outside of Salt Lake City and warn myself of what was to come , of the tens of thousands of dollars that I did not have but somehow spent , of the arguments my mother and I would have , of the sheer hubris in thinking I knew better than a woman who ’ s lived twice my age .
I would take a moment to think about the fact that two hastily arranged cross-country moves in four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crazy and definitely not a good look on my credit score .
And then I would do it all over again .
Scenes From a Pandemic is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind , a living memorial to radical journalist Andrew Kopkind , who from 1982–94 was the magazine ’ s chief political writer and analyst .
This series of dispatches from Kopkind ’ s far-flung network of participants , advisers , guests , and friends is edited by Nation contributor and Kopkind program director JoAnn Wypijewski , and appears weekly on @ @ @ @

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
O n the road, and home again—It was June, three months into the pandemic, and I was stranded on Interstate 80 a few hours outside of Salt Lake City when I started to think that all of this was maybe a bad idea. Something had happened miles ahead, and both lanes of westbound traffic were at a standstill. Ten minutes ticked by. Then 20. People turned off their engines, climbed out of their cars, and started stretching. I’d been in rapid, manic motion for weeks.
Stillness was not part of the plan.
The plan, to the extent that one existed, went something like this: I was on a mission to save my mother, who at the time was withering away all alone on the third story of a Victorian apartment building in San Francisco. Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
Her physical health had been in decline, but her mental health was what worried me the most. So much time spent alone, isolated, with only her ghosts and bottles of Hennessy to keep her company. In May, her calls had begun to become more frequent, more desperate. They were monologues of regret. I should’ve bought a house, she’d say, with an unmistakable lisp that always lets me know when she has been drinking. On especially bad days, she would call and berate me for being so far away. I would never do to my mother what you… Scenes From a Pandemic Untethered, or The Year of Living Virtually Patricia J. Williams The Art of the Meal Mary Lewis Maybe We Shouldn’t Go Back to Normal Bri M.
In two weeks’ time, I did what no sane New Yorker would ever do: I broke the lease on my rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment, and I bought a car. The stretch of Crown Heights between Schenectady and Utica Avenues became ground zero for a biblical flood of my belongings. Clothes, bedding, shoes went to men’s and women’s shelters. Books, magazines, pamphlets went to park benches and the fronts of stoops. I was on a mission. To do what? I didn’t know yet.
I pictured myself back in the Bay Area, surrounded by family members who’d put aside their decades-long feuds to come together in Covid-safe normalcy. I thought that the ruptures between my mother and me could be paved over with proximity. I’d forgive her for her not-so-subtle guilt-tripping and periodic slide into narcissism, and she’d make peace with having a divorced lesbian daughter who preferred life a continent away. I’d have my own apartment, but we’d order a delicious Christmas dinner and do something hopelessly normal, like watch A Christmas Story on TV. I’d have proof that my sacrifice, the great burden of inconvenience for which I’d given up everything and driven across the country, was worth it. People all around me were making similar, life-altering decisions. Certainly, there was a reason for it all.
Here’s what I did instead: I tried to force-feed my own brand of healing onto my mother. I did so pompously, outrageously, endlessly. Every phone call was a check-in about progress: Did she make that doctor’s appointment? Would she be okay with me calling her doctor? Maybe she should drink more water. Every visit was a chance for me to say what was wrong and offer, unprompted, ideas for making it my definition of right. I was the prototype of the know-it-all millennial, badgering my mother as if I were the parent, pushing her closer to a casket than any virus ever could. Current Issue View our current issue
I’m back in New York City now. My mother and I both agree, on some level, that it’s for the best. The Christmas thing is definitely not going to happen. I’m in a new apartment with new roommates and a car that’s already earned me two parking tickets and a speeding violation in rural Illinois that I can’t figure out how to pay online. I am deeply in debt from the summer’s excursions, and as I write this, I’m still trying to figure out how to get a studio apartment’s worth of brand new furniture shipped from San Francisco to Brooklyn at a rate that’s less than my monthly salary.
My mother and I are both physically healthy, no better or worse than we were in June. We talk several times a week, and though they’re superficial conversations about the weather or the election, I’ve found them to be small joys. My mother still drinks too much and tells me that she doesn’t. I still offer unsolicited advice, sometimes based on dumb inspirational quotes I’ve favorited on Instagram. And you know what? That’s okay. Because the summer taught me this: Sometimes the world is falling apart and all you want is your mom, and you better take what you can get while she’s still around. And sometimes you can make big, costly decisions during global pandemics just to feel a little bit more alive.
Sometimes I wish I could go back to that gridlocked road outside of Salt Lake City and warn myself of what was to come, of the tens of thousands of dollars that I did not have but somehow spent, of the arguments my mother and I would have, of the sheer hubris in thinking I knew better than a woman who’s lived twice my age. I would take a moment to think about the fact that two hastily arranged cross-country moves in four months is, in fact, batshit crazy and definitely not a good look on my credit score.
And then I would do it all over again.
Scenes From a Pandemic is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind, a living memorial to radical journalist Andrew Kopkind, who from 1982–94 was the magazine’s chief political writer and analyst. This series of dispatches from Kopkind’s far-flung network of participants, advisers, guests, and friends is edited by Nation contributor and Kopkind program director JoAnn Wypijewski, and appears weekly on thenation.com and kopkind.org.


thenation--2020-12-09--We Can’t Message Our Way Out of a Public Health Crisis

Days after his election to the presidency , Joe Biden and his transition team released a plan outlining how they would tackle the coronavirus pandemic .
In addition to calls to increase production of protective equipment , expand testing and tracing , and distribute vaccines was a recognition that the government had to provide “ clear and consistent guidance ” to people and communities on how to navigate the pandemic .
This is welcome news , as the country appears increasingly divided over the pandemic .
While one person may be isolating themselves , going out only for essential goods @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neighbor may be taking no precautions whatsoever , shunning masks , and ignoring social distancing .
Most Americans report wearing a mask in polling , but certain states , including Ohio , Wyoming , and North Dakota , report low compliance .
There are also intense debates about mask ordinances—as of this writing , at least 13 states do not have an ordinance and some officials have rejected calls to enact one .
With more than 280,000 dead and rising , public health officials across the country are struggling with how to communicate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ why to stay safe .
Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience ?
Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation ’ s journalism while you complete your gift list .
Research has been done on how to appeal to people ’ s sense of personal safety to get them to wear masks ; articles have been written about ensuring we don ’ t shame people while we try to get them to adopt the best practices .
In the midst of all this discussion , we may be missing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s failure to communicate clear , evidence-based guidelines and a sense of solidarity in fighting the pandemic is part of the problem .
But that ’ s not all that ’ s missing .
What if it is not the type of messaging but the concept of public health messaging itself that is falling short ?
Around the 1970s and ’ 80s , a new field emerged within public health that sought to use the power of communications to change people ’ s individual behaviors by convincing them to make healthier choices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communications .
It aims to do this by making people aware of the risks of certain conditions , promoting positive health behaviors , and encouraging people to take control of their own health .
Over the past 40 years , health communications has been employed to address drug use , smoking , safe sex , and nutrition , among other topics .
From Nancy Reagan ’ s “ Just Say No to Drugs ” campaign , to the Truth Initiative ’ s anti-smoking ads , to Michelle Obama ’ s “ Let ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most high-profile public health campaigns in America have relied on the power of persuasion to improve population health behaviors .
Messaging for public health campaigns is a key part of any public health strategy , but in America , it often forms the core pillar .
It is a cost-effective strategy that puts the onus on the individual to take care of their own health care and avoids meaningful government investment in addressing structural factors that contribute to ill-health .
The “ Let ’ s Move !
” initiative had an ambitious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent by 2030 .
It aimed to increase the amount of daily physical activity students got and increase Americans ’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables , while decreasing consumption of packaged goods and sugary snacks .
A massive media campaign followed—talk show hosts like Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon were frequently involved in skits about getting more physical activity .
However , the campaign was criticized for failing to pursue a real legislative agenda , such as forcing companies to change advertising practices or reduce the amount of sugar and fat in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on establishing private-public partnerships , for instance , working with Walgreens to introduce fresh food into drugstores .
( Some companies the campaign partnered with , including Walgreens , ended up reneging on some of their commitments . )
At the same time , the Obama administration cut food stamps by nearly $ 9 billion in 2014 .
The campaign was also criticized for perpetuating weight stigma through its messaging and metrics , focusing on children ’ s body size as a problem .
A better , alternative campaign could have focused on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , rather than focusing on obesity .
The former , however , can not be “ messaged ” as easily .
For public messaging campaigns to have their intended effects , people need to be provided with resources to follow the guidance .
The Let ’ s Move campaign didn ’ t significantly increase the ability of Americans to access food directly through vouchers or increased SNAP amounts .
The campaign did have some success—from 2010 to 2016 , the share of Americans who lived in an area with limited supermarket access declined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , racial disparities persist , with 30 % more non-white people living in these areas than white people .
It also not clear if access increased in areas or if the population living in those areas decreased .
In terms of the campaign ’ s own criticized metric of lowering childhood obesity , the results are more mixed—with decreases in obesity recorded amongst children age 2-5 , but an overall increase for children aged 2-19 .
Campaigns like Let ’ s Move can have some success , but it is often incremental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The same limitations of health communications apply during the pandemic .
As the coronavirus has spread , public officials have spent a lot of time urging people to wear a mask and socially distance , when they can ’ t stay home—and offered not much else .
While some Americans were able to shift to working from home and found new quarantine hobbies , others were deemed essential workers and had to go to work .
The coronavirus relief packages passed by Congress provided support for industries , state governments and provided extended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paid sick leave , many workers were left out as the legislation did not apply to companies with 500 workers or more .
A study released last month showed that limited sick leave provision may have prevented some cases ; an expanded sick leave provision may have done more .
The package also only provided one payment of $ 1200—which many did not end up receiving .
In the first month of the pandemic—before masks were widely accepted—this especially had disastrous consequences as people had no way of mitigating the spread of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This essentially forced people to go back to work in unsafe conditions when states reopened prematurely .
Things were further made worse when Congress refused to extend the enhanced unemployment benefit and stalled on providing a second stimulus .
Besides health care workers , especially impacted were workers in grocery stores , meatpacking plants , and warehouses .
Amazon , for instance , has reported that nearly 20,000 of its workers have tested positive for Covid-19 .
Rather than provide a steady source of government income and force employers to limit hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ willfully ignored employer violations reported to OSHA .
Instead of instituting strict safety protocols , the CDC often suggested flimsy guidelines that did not force employers to take any protective measures or accurately reflect the conditions workers faced .
You can not socially distance in a cramped meatpacking facility ; you can not take paid sick leave if it is not offered to you .
All the while , workers face retaliation for demanding better protections and are afraid of repercussions if they test positive .
People who have tested positive have told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jobs .
Last month , In These Times reported that workers at meatpacking plants were still going to work because of a punitive points system that penalizes missing work .
Looking to the future , unfortunately , Biden ’ s plan also does not mention providing cash payments to all Americans or mandating paid sick leave—instead , it calls for funds to be provided to businesses to reopen safely .
It ’ s also not enough to tell people to use PPE without making it widely accessible .
For health care workers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the virus , the first few months were filled with shortages on much-needed protective equipment—with workers improvising with garbage bags and reusing masks ; at one point the CDC suggested they use bandanas as a “ last resort.
” When masks were finally acknowledged as a way of preventing the virus , the government killed a plan by the USPS to provide five free reusable masks to every household in the country .
President-elect Biden ’ s plan calls for the ramp up in production of protective equipment , but it says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In addition to providing resources , a public health campaign can be successful only if lawmakers do not take steps to diametrically contradict the point of the campaign .
In the current pandemic , the president and his administration have undermined their public health experts by downplaying the seriousness of the virus , ignoring social distancing protocols , and making fun of those who wear masks .
Of course , beyond this obvious contradiction , leaders both Democratic and Republican undermined their own advice when they set guidelines that prioritized business ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health risk .
As a result , when businesses were allowed to reopen again , people also took it as a sign that the pandemic was less serious now .
Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of indoor dining .
The CDC found that those who tested positive for the virus and were not knowingly in contact with someone who tested positive were more than twice as likely to have dined indoors than those who did not test positive .
In California , the state government told diners to wear a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promptly ridiculed by those on the right .
When people flock to restaurants and bars and the cases go up , officials blame members of the public for letting their guard down and letting the situation spiral out of control .
We ’ ve seen these contradictions again and again .
Over the last few years as the overdose crisis killed thousands in the United States , the government began to shift its tone on drug use .
Long past were the days of “ just say no ” ; now campaigns were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by carrying naloxone .
Surgeon General Jerome Adams has repeatedly urged all Americans to carry naloxone and the Trump administration has at least paid lip service to extending our empathy toward drug users and their families .
At the Republican National Convention this past summer , Melania Trump implored people to show support for people struggling with addiction .
This rhetoric hasn ’ t been backed up with action .
And despite some positive steps , the US drug war continues .
For every development like Oregon ’ s decriminalizing small amounts of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ negative examples to point to : people who use drugs are being prosecuted with murder for the overdoses of friends ; police departments across the country have seized naloxone and have used it as evidence to prosecute a drug charge ; and people have been denied access to treatment medication in jail , to name a few .
For its part , the Trump administration has tried to stop the opening of a safe consumption site and vigorously opposes its opening .
All of these policies have the effect of continuing to stigmatize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harder for them to stay safe and avoid overdosing .
Relying on narratives of personal responsibility to carry public health messaging has its limits in a pandemic .
While people are admonished for behaving irresponsibly , the right has also weaponized the language of personal responsibility to justify not wearing a mask .
Right-wingers simultaneously argue that those who want to protect themselves can wear a mask if they ’ d like ; never mind the fact that masks prevent you from spreading the virus to others .
To that end , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it no longer protects you ?
The language of personal responsibility is ill-equipped to deal with questions of collective responsibility and obligation to others .
The emphasis on personal behavior is also why we haven ’ t heard much in the way of messaging as it pertains to racial disparities .
Black , Latinx , and Asian people have all been impacted heavily , facing higher rates of death than white people .
These disparities are caused by racism and would require significant structural interventions addressing workplace safety , housing conditions , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things .
These problems can not be addressed through behavioral messaging—when the surgeon general attempted to address racial disparities , he came off as patronizing and seeking to place blame on affected communities ’ behaviors .
“ Do it for your abuela , do it for your granddaddy , do it for your big momma , do it for your pop-pop , ” he said .
For messages to be effective , they have to be understandable .
Anyone who has read messages from local health departments during the pandemic can also attest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In October 2010 , the Plain Language Act was passed in Congress , which stipulated that federal agencies must use guidelines for clarity of expression to ensure that the information they are providing to the public is accessible .
A study published earlier this year in JAMA Open Network found that in addition to the CDC ’ s pages , pages about Covid-19 from each state exceeded an eighth-grade reading level ; other countries ’ webpages also fell above the recommended reading level .
Language also serves as a barrier—not only for contact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not being translated into commonly spoken languages .
We ’ re Now Facing Both a Public Health and a Poverty Catastrophe Despite the CDC ’ s Eviction Ban , Thousands of Tenants Are Losing Their Homes More in this series How do we bridge this gap between public health messaging and the realities of peoples ’ lives ?
Imagine if at the beginning of this pandemic the government established a “ Health Progress Administration ” modeled after the Works Progress Administration .
This agency would employ and train a public health corps ready @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and community outreach .
Factories would be repurposed to make masks and other protective equipment , distributed free to the population .
Artists , writers , and performers—hard-hit by the pandemic—would be hired to work on creative projects that communicate critical public health information .
Of course , everyone would get an amount deposited into their account every month to provide necessary relief .
Our government has waited far too long to do anything , but it is never too late to start implementing bold solutions like this .
Indeed , Biden ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corps for contact tracing and reaching communities ; this is a promising start .
A pandemic of these proportions demands an imaginative response .
We have gotten so caught up in trying to get messaging to work in what seems like an impossible situation that we have forgotten what it takes to build a society in which the messaging can work .

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
Days after his election to the presidency, Joe Biden and his transition team released a plan outlining how they would tackle the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to calls to increase production of protective equipment, expand testing and tracing, and distribute vaccines was a recognition that the government had to provide “clear and consistent guidance” to people and communities on how to navigate the pandemic.
This is welcome news, as the country appears increasingly divided over the pandemic. While one person may be isolating themselves, going out only for essential goods, and wearing a mask, their neighbor may be taking no precautions whatsoever, shunning masks, and ignoring social distancing. Most Americans report wearing a mask in polling, but certain states, including Ohio, Wyoming, and North Dakota, report low compliance. There are also intense debates about mask ordinances—as of this writing, at least 13 states do not have an ordinance and some officials have rejected calls to enact one. With more than 280,000 dead and rising, public health officials across the country are struggling with how to communicate with the public about the how and why to stay safe. Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
Research has been done on how to appeal to people’s sense of personal safety to get them to wear masks; articles have been written about ensuring we don’t shame people while we try to get them to adopt the best practices. In the midst of all this discussion, we may be missing the bigger picture. Surely the Trump administration’s failure to communicate clear, evidence-based guidelines and a sense of solidarity in fighting the pandemic is part of the problem. But that’s not all that’s missing. What if it is not the type of messaging but the concept of public health messaging itself that is falling short?
Around the 1970s and ’80s, a new field emerged within public health that sought to use the power of communications to change people’s individual behaviors by convincing them to make healthier choices; it would become known as health communications. It aims to do this by making people aware of the risks of certain conditions, promoting positive health behaviors, and encouraging people to take control of their own health. Over the past 40 years, health communications has been employed to address drug use, smoking, safe sex, and nutrition, among other topics. From Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No to Drugs” campaign, to the Truth Initiative’s anti-smoking ads, to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, many of the most high-profile public health campaigns in America have relied on the power of persuasion to improve population health behaviors. Messaging for public health campaigns is a key part of any public health strategy, but in America, it often forms the core pillar. It is a cost-effective strategy that puts the onus on the individual to take care of their own health care and avoids meaningful government investment in addressing structural factors that contribute to ill-health. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung
The “Let’s Move!” initiative had an ambitious goal to cut childhood obesity to 5 percent by 2030. It aimed to increase the amount of daily physical activity students got and increase Americans’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables, while decreasing consumption of packaged goods and sugary snacks. A massive media campaign followed—talk show hosts like Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon were frequently involved in skits about getting more physical activity. However, the campaign was criticized for failing to pursue a real legislative agenda, such as forcing companies to change advertising practices or reduce the amount of sugar and fat in processed food. Instead, it focused on establishing private-public partnerships, for instance, working with Walgreens to introduce fresh food into drugstores. (Some companies the campaign partnered with, including Walgreens, ended up reneging on some of their commitments.) At the same time, the Obama administration cut food stamps by nearly $9 billion in 2014. The campaign was also criticized for perpetuating weight stigma through its messaging and metrics, focusing on children’s body size as a problem. A better, alternative campaign could have focused on ending childhood hunger by improving food access, rather than focusing on obesity. The former, however, cannot be “messaged” as easily.
For public messaging campaigns to have their intended effects, people need to be provided with resources to follow the guidance. The Let’s Move campaign didn’t significantly increase the ability of Americans to access food directly through vouchers or increased SNAP amounts. The campaign did have some success—from 2010 to 2016, the share of Americans who lived in an area with limited supermarket access declined from 6.8 percent to 5.6 percent. However, racial disparities persist, with 30% more non-white people living in these areas than white people. It also not clear if access increased in areas or if the population living in those areas decreased. In terms of the campaign’s own criticized metric of lowering childhood obesity, the results are more mixed—with decreases in obesity recorded amongst children age 2-5, but an overall increase for children aged 2-19. Campaigns like Let’s Move can have some success, but it is often incremental and limited without significant legislative action.
The same limitations of health communications apply during the pandemic. As the coronavirus has spread, public officials have spent a lot of time urging people to wear a mask and socially distance, when they can’t stay home—and offered not much else. While some Americans were able to shift to working from home and found new quarantine hobbies, others were deemed essential workers and had to go to work. The coronavirus relief packages passed by Congress provided support for industries, state governments and provided extended unemployment relief. While it did provide paid sick leave, many workers were left out as the legislation did not apply to companies with 500 workers or more. A study released last month showed that limited sick leave provision may have prevented some cases; an expanded sick leave provision may have done more. The package also only provided one payment of $1200—which many did not end up receiving. In the first month of the pandemic—before masks were widely accepted—this especially had disastrous consequences as people had no way of mitigating the spread of the virus short of not gathering at all. This essentially forced people to go back to work in unsafe conditions when states reopened prematurely. Things were further made worse when Congress refused to extend the enhanced unemployment benefit and stalled on providing a second stimulus. Current Issue View our current issue
Besides health care workers, especially impacted were workers in grocery stores, meatpacking plants, and warehouses. Amazon, for instance, has reported that nearly 20,000 of its workers have tested positive for Covid-19. Rather than provide a steady source of government income and force employers to limit hours and provide hazard pay, the government willfully ignored employer violations reported to OSHA. Instead of instituting strict safety protocols, the CDC often suggested flimsy guidelines that did not force employers to take any protective measures or accurately reflect the conditions workers faced. You cannot socially distance in a cramped meatpacking facility; you cannot take paid sick leave if it is not offered to you. All the while, workers face retaliation for demanding better protections and are afraid of repercussions if they test positive. People who have tested positive have told contact tracers that they fear losing their jobs. Last month, In These Times reported that workers at meatpacking plants were still going to work because of a punitive points system that penalizes missing work. Looking to the future, unfortunately, Biden’s plan also does not mention providing cash payments to all Americans or mandating paid sick leave—instead, it calls for funds to be provided to businesses to reopen safely.
It’s also not enough to tell people to use PPE without making it widely accessible. For health care workers, more than 1,700 of whom have died from the virus, the first few months were filled with shortages on much-needed protective equipment—with workers improvising with garbage bags and reusing masks; at one point the CDC suggested they use bandanas as a “last resort.” When masks were finally acknowledged as a way of preventing the virus, the government killed a plan by the USPS to provide five free reusable masks to every household in the country. President-elect Biden’s plan calls for the ramp up in production of protective equipment, but it says nothing about distributing it for free.
In addition to providing resources, a public health campaign can be successful only if lawmakers do not take steps to diametrically contradict the point of the campaign. In the current pandemic, the president and his administration have undermined their public health experts by downplaying the seriousness of the virus, ignoring social distancing protocols, and making fun of those who wear masks. Of course, beyond this obvious contradiction, leaders both Democratic and Republican undermined their own advice when they set guidelines that prioritized business’s needs for reopening, rather than public health risk. As a result, when businesses were allowed to reopen again, people also took it as a sign that the pandemic was less serious now.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of indoor dining. The CDC found that those who tested positive for the virus and were not knowingly in contact with someone who tested positive were more than twice as likely to have dined indoors than those who did not test positive. In California, the state government told diners to wear a mask “between bites”—which was promptly ridiculed by those on the right. When people flock to restaurants and bars and the cases go up, officials blame members of the public for letting their guard down and letting the situation spiral out of control.
We’ve seen these contradictions again and again. Over the last few years as the overdose crisis killed thousands in the United States, the government began to shift its tone on drug use. Long past were the days of “just say no”; now campaigns were urging people to intervene in an overdose by carrying naloxone. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has repeatedly urged all Americans to carry naloxone and the Trump administration has at least paid lip service to extending our empathy toward drug users and their families. At the Republican National Convention this past summer, Melania Trump implored people to show support for people struggling with addiction. This rhetoric hasn’t been backed up with action. And despite some positive steps, the US drug war continues. For every development like Oregon’s decriminalizing small amounts of drugs, there are plenty of other negative examples to point to: people who use drugs are being prosecuted with murder for the overdoses of friends; police departments across the country have seized naloxone and have used it as evidence to prosecute a drug charge; and people have been denied access to treatment medication in jail, to name a few. For its part, the Trump administration has tried to stop the opening of a safe consumption site and vigorously opposes its opening. All of these policies have the effect of continuing to stigmatize people who use drugs, making it harder for them to stay safe and avoid overdosing.
Relying on narratives of personal responsibility to carry public health messaging has its limits in a pandemic. While people are admonished for behaving irresponsibly, the right has also weaponized the language of personal responsibility to justify not wearing a mask. Right-wingers simultaneously argue that those who want to protect themselves can wear a mask if they’d like; never mind the fact that masks prevent you from spreading the virus to others. To that end, they argue, why wear a mask if it no longer protects you? The language of personal responsibility is ill-equipped to deal with questions of collective responsibility and obligation to others.
The emphasis on personal behavior is also why we haven’t heard much in the way of messaging as it pertains to racial disparities. Black, Latinx, and Asian people have all been impacted heavily, facing higher rates of death than white people. These disparities are caused by racism and would require significant structural interventions addressing workplace safety, housing conditions, and exposure to pollutants, among many other things. These problems cannot be addressed through behavioral messaging—when the surgeon general attempted to address racial disparities, he came off as patronizing and seeking to place blame on affected communities’ behaviors. “Do it for your abuela, do it for your granddaddy, do it for your big momma, do it for your pop-pop,” he said.
For messages to be effective, they have to be understandable. Anyone who has read messages from local health departments during the pandemic can also attest to how confusing information can be. In October 2010, the Plain Language Act was passed in Congress, which stipulated that federal agencies must use guidelines for clarity of expression to ensure that the information they are providing to the public is accessible. A study published earlier this year in JAMA Open Network found that in addition to the CDC’s pages, pages about Covid-19 from each state exceeded an eighth-grade reading level; other countries’ webpages also fell above the recommended reading level. Language also serves as a barrier—not only for contact tracing; in some cases resources are not being translated into commonly spoken languages. The Coronavirus Crisis We’re Now Facing Both a Public Health and a Poverty Catastrophe Sasha Abramsky Create a Coronavirus Commission With Sharp Teeth Mike Davis Despite the CDC’s Eviction Ban, Thousands of Tenants Are Losing Their Homes Bryce Covert
How do we bridge this gap between public health messaging and the realities of peoples’ lives? Imagine if at the beginning of this pandemic the government established a “Health Progress Administration” modeled after the Works Progress Administration. This agency would employ and train a public health corps ready to do testing, contact tracing, and community outreach. Factories would be repurposed to make masks and other protective equipment, distributed free to the population. Artists, writers, and performers—hard-hit by the pandemic—would be hired to work on creative projects that communicate critical public health information. Of course, everyone would get an amount deposited into their account every month to provide necessary relief. Our government has waited far too long to do anything, but it is never too late to start implementing bold solutions like this. Indeed, Biden’s plan does propose creating a jobs corps for contact tracing and reaching communities; this is a promising start.
A pandemic of these proportions demands an imaginative response. We have gotten so caught up in trying to get messaging to work in what seems like an impossible situation that we have forgotten what it takes to build a society in which the messaging can work.