With the election over, there is no question we have entered the age of the new demography in which the changing internal populations of countries are remaking their politics. HispanicLatinos, millennials, African Americans, independent women, gays and lesbians and a host of fair-minded voters not blinded by religious fervor or abject racism came together and delivered a good win for President Barack Obama. The uncertainty is whether the United States will give itself the chance to take advantage of its demographic transformation to secure its future. In that sense, we have entered a new age of opportunity. But it is also clear we have entered the age of climate change. The assertion of the new demography came simultaneously with Hurricane Sandy that should have blasted smugness for all time.
If I may, a personal, self-serving note: If Florida, as expected, is finally given to Obama, it will confirm the call I made on October 29 that nailed the election’s outcome on the button in the Electoral College. On the popular vote, I was also very close. I said the spread between Obama and Mitt Romney would be three million votes. The spread currently stands at about 2.7 million. You can read that blog at:
http://www.hispaniclatino.com/2012/10/29/channeling-harry-truman-an-obama-win/
Now, after the election, what? The first few days are important for President Obama and will determine if the nation does push forward.
The predictable media will talk breezily about legacy as if it is some kind of woolen quilt to be woven and embroidered for the Smithsonian. Instead of worrying about the history books, the President should be bold – hard, even – in working with Congress to make sure the country sets the right direction for the future. For starters, he must take the lead on how the nation confronts its fiscal abyss – with all segments of society contributing their part. The rich will have to give up undeserved tax breaks, the elderly part of the benefits that the Republicans used to buy their votes, homeowners part of their mortgage deductions and industries the subsidies that they no longer merit. A national sales tax not to exceed one percent that exempts food and medicine with a sunset period of ten years should be considered.
Beyond moving to put the nation’s fiscal house in order, the President needs to push initiatives to remake the basic equation of the American economy which has been distorted by low wages abroad that have robbed the manufacturing sector of millions of jobs. In my view, the President must think about how the nation can replace the high-wage cost component in the American economy with a low-cost energy component. Innovation is important but in and of itself does not create the number of jobs we need. Under the President’s very feet is a vast concentration of natural gas, and he must push the country to develop it safely and cleanly in innovative ways to begin converting the economy quickly to it. We need innovation that produces – and I will use a phrase here that seems pejorative and not intended as pun – crude jobs. It is all fine and good that the young millennial generation is enveloped in and by the electronic, new media, and many are creating companies that do create some jobs. But not enough.
President Obama is on the right track on green technology and developing alternative energy resources. But that will not be enough – either in creating jobs or meeting the nation’s energy demand. The process of developing natural gas and the transformation of the economy to its use can begin to create jobs for millions of Americans who need simpler jobs than those that require knowing the difference between a pixel and a node.
Before our nation is challenged by the next level of human development – spurred, to be sure, by high technology – it needs a transitional, soft-landing phase in which millions of workers can get better than jobs at a retail counter. And those can come with innovation in natural gas. Converting the economy to natural gas is an exciting proposition, and current low gas prices will adjust over time to the growth curve of the economy.
Only if we are able to turn around the country’s eroding economic position through a recalibrated economic equation can we then begin to take full advantage of developing more of the country’s new, youthful demography so that they can set up in time for the next transition sure to come. And part of recalibrating the potential of the country calls for immigration reform that legalizes those here to eliminate a social sore point and to have enough workers to power the country’s conversion to natural gas.
As a logical extension of enacting immigration reform, the country should be ready to adapt to and profit from the economic integration taking place across the hemisphere. Economic hemispheric integration will help the nation geopolitically counterbalance other regions and nations of the world. And a stronger, more unified and democratic hemisphere led by Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States can help the world address climate change.
These are grand aspirations, but we now live in a big world full of bigger problems than yesterday. And for the country to be effective in meeting its aspirations, it must remain united. Elections free of vast amounts of special-interest money that curdles the public interest and elections free of racist attempts to suppress the vote of the new demography are absolutely vital. Left in place, the Supreme Court decision that enables corporations to try to buy elections and the willingness of public officials to subvert the vote will incite third parties – or worse – and increasingly pit Americans against each other, dooming the country, and it shall pass surely into history as other nations have.
Now there’s a legacy for you.
Jesse Treviño is the former editorial page editor of The Austin American-Statesman.