Does Everyone Matter Equally?

From the superdelegate process to the farm bill to the recent raid on immigrants in Postville, Iowa, elitism is rearing its nipped-and-tucked head all across America.

How else can you explain anointing a handful of Democratic party officials to have more power in the nominating process than millions of average American voters? According to CNN, each Democratic superdelegate has more power than 13,000 primary voters. So just like George Bush was able to ignore millions of people marching in the streets against the Iraq War, the superdelegates are free to replace the will of the voters with their own whims. The idea that, like father, superdelegates know best, is anti-democratic and elitist.

The farm bill passed by Congress last week is no different. The New York Times notes that Safia Ali, a 25-year-old mother of five in Somalia, can no longer afford rice or wheat or powdered milk. The price of food commodities has skyrocketed in recent months, setting off a global food crisis. Safi Ali has not eaten in a week and her family is starving. The response of the richest nation in the world? Pass a food bill that increases cash subsidies to the very same large, corporate-owned farms that are manipulating crop prices in the first place. Between 1998 and 2007, profits of the agribusiness giant Cargill increased nearly 1000% -- from $280 million to a whopping $2.3 billion -- extorting from rising crop prices on the one hand and from taxpayer-funded farm subsidies on the other. Small family farmers in the United States and poor people here and oversees like Safia Ali are the victim's of our government policies, not the beneficiaries. Politicians in Washington side with big business elites.

Also last week, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency raided a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, and arrested and detained at least 300 undocumented immigrants but as many as 700. Workers at the Agriprocessor meatpacking plant were slaving away under extremely oppressive conditions -- in March 2008, the plant was cited with 39 violations of workplace health and safety laws. But rather than step in and twist the hand of the corporation to clean up its act, raise and enforce a minimum wage and provide good public schools and affordable healthcare -- the kinds of things Agriprocessor's workers and everyone in the struggling town of Postville really needs -- government agents came with guns and handcuffs to terrorize the workers. (Any close-minded nativists who would argue that undocumented immigrants are the real criminals in Postville should kindly explain when pursuing the American dream became a crime.)

As a nation, we are more concerned with the few at the top than the many struggling at the bottom. It's not just politicians who are guilty here. The majority of Americans are more concerned about Angelina Jolie's shrinking waistline than Safia Ali starving in Somalia. Does Angelina Jolie matter more? Do the superdelegates? The corporate titans?

While donor-driven politics and celebrity-driven culture have always privileged the elite few over the many, it's getting worse. It's no longer simply that the rich and famous are worthier than everyone else. Increasingly, everyone else is worthless. The rise in reality television shows can be attributed to a growing sense, thank you Madison Avenue, that you only matter if you're famous so now everyone wants to be. The staggering rise in CEO salaries, while real wages for most Americans have been stagnant or even decreased, is the direct result of the belief that the rich deserve to get richer at the expense of shared prosperity.

The plight of Safia Ali and the undocumented immigrants in Postville and even the discounted Democratic primary voters is not the result of a lack of hard work or personal responsibility, fingers we often point at those who are poor or disenfranchised in the United States. The plight of those at the bottom, a group growing bigger by the day as the economy tumbles and the middle class evaporates, comes because we think the people at the top are inherently superior -- and that elitism is cemented in our culture and in our policies.

Elitism is anti-American. When the colonists revolted against England, they were revolting against the idea that one person -- the King -- mattered more than the rest of them. And while we have stumbled gravely in our pursuit of egalitarianism -- from the very early mistreatment of American Indians to slavery to the examples above today -- the idea that we are all equally valuable and should be treated as such is emblazoned in the American story, our entrepreneurial independence alongside our deep moral commitment to be our brothers and sisters' keeper. In the America we aspire to be, everyone matters as much as everyone else. We are all equal, interdependent and interconnected.

Undocumented immigrants have every much of a right to be in the United States as I do. That I was born on one side of the border does not make me fundamentally more deserving of the opportunities of this nation than anyone else. (In fact, arguably the fact that many immigrants have been forced to flee their home countries because of the disastrous economic and foreign policies of the United States, may argue for an even stronger claim than mine; having only ever benefited from America, I should be giving back not benefiting more.) Safia Ali, who has nowhere to which to flee, is no less deserving of food and shelter than I am, nor for that matter less deserving of a good job, a college education, or even designer clothes. And the superdelegates votes shouldn't count more than yours or mine.

Those who are on top are not more worthy of being on top. Those who are on the bottom are not more deserving of being on the bottom. But until we really embrace the idea of inherent and equal human worth, in our hearts and our souls -- and not just among the people we know personally but for everyone, worldwide, no matter their situation -- the community values that America represents will remain a good idea on paper but warped and elusive in practice.

Sally Kohn is the Director of the Movement Vision Lab at the Center for Community Change. On Sunday, May 18, 2008, there will be a rally in Postville, Iowa, for the immigrants detained in last week's raid and events across the country showing support for the Postville community. For more information, visit http://fairimmigration.wordpress.com/.

Follow Sally Kohn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sallykohn

Comments

[Rescisco]

The nomination is settled and it will be Senator Obama. He has earned it fair and square. That said, I have grown less and less enchanted with the present nomination process over the past few elections precisely because it weakens the political parties. I am not sure I agree with everything I am about to say, but let me try it on for size. Prior to 1972, all nominees were selected by delegates who were, in a sense super delegates i.e. controlled by party elites. The parties SHOULD exert influence in choosing their best repesenative . It is their partisan banner if you will. Opening the process up (seemed like a great idea once upon a time) has increased the expense and the time required and destroyed the political parties. It has empowered Iowa and New Hampshire (and money) to set the tone for all that follows, it has eliminated the dark horse candidates, it has given the nomination process over to ill informed voters who are hard put to even understand the process, it has diluted the recruitment and selection of quality candidates for the presidency as it has discouraged many capable individuals from running, and it has seen loyalty to an individual replace loyalty to a party or a philosophy it represents. The politics of personality has not been an improvement on "party politics" in my view.

[MelloY]

I can't agree with most of this article. This statement is especially foolish:

"Undocumented immigrants have every much of a right to be in the United States as I do. "

Last I checked, the laws and our Constitution say otherwise. If your going to complain about superdelegates, I'm right there with you. Let the peoples' votes decide. I'll go further and say caucuses need to be eliminated so that everyone has more of an equal chance to vote. But illegals have no more right to be here than a murderer that hasn't been caught yet have the right to be free.

Finding out about companies that take advantage of their employees would be much easier if the workers were legal in the first place. I'm not blaming the illegals for the problems. The fact is that they cannot (or at least they don't think they can) complain about these conditions because they are illegal.

This isn't an "either, or" issue. The illegals should be deported to wherever they came from and the company should be forced to clean up. We need to get our economy back to being based on what our country can do with its own citizens. Place harsh regulations on companies to ensure they can't hire illegals. Place tariffs of foreign goods and services so the companies effected cannot simply move their companies overseas. Let our economy adjust so American citizens that do not have a job can get one, even if it's not as good.

[DavidHealy]

I always find it amusing that it's okay to spend a fortune for real estate, or for automobiles, or clothes, or God knows to see an opera, but let the price of farm products rise for the first time in 40 years and the sky is falling in. I'm tired of selling $2 wheat and look forward very, very much to a $9 crop.

[burnt]

Partisan politics have many drawbacks. It is designed elitism. It is one of the reasons we don't have more than two "real" parties. A great deal of systemic exclusion, obstruction and protectionism exists, which tends to prevent a wider range of political alternatives.

Those are the facts. As to how the parties select their candidates... that is even less democratic. They have successfully argued before the courts that it is "their party", and the they can create whatever system they wish for candidate selection. They "own" the parties. Democracy is reserved for the general election and has federal rules, controls and guarantees.

I don't have too many complaints, as long as the parties state the rules they intend to employ before starting the process, provide the details and first get everyone to agree... and enforce them fairly. So far, they have pretty much done that during this cycle.

If you want to affect any change to the way they conduct selection... you have 4+ years to submit ideas to the national committees. Otherwise, you are pretty much stuck with what was formulated a long while back.

We'll find out more after May 31. I will not be happy if they don't enforce rules that were initially agreed upon by all concerns. That might lead to some pretty dark conclusions that I would rather not even consider at the moment. The consequences for failing to abide, might be disastrous for is all.

[altohone]

Sally-

I didn't see anything that substantiates your rant against the superdelegates.
If they were overturning the will of the voters, including them in your list would make sense.

But they aren't.

The rise of the small donor in this year's Democratic nomination process suggests things aren't "getting worse" either. The corporatist DLC candidate has lost!

As for Angelina, her waistline is doing anything but shrinking. It's twins!
Attacking one of the few celebrities who is actively working on the plight of the poor is a little twisted. She's a UN goodwill ambassador and has raised millions for Katrina victims.

I'm with you on the corporate guys and big money though!
A little research... a little more focus in your next post please.

[23000Days]

The point regarding the superdelegates was not that they were overturning the will of the people, but that they have that ability.

The fact that you know about Angelina's waistline, only makes sally's point. It's more important to most Americans than Safia Ali's plight.

The rise of the small donor is due to political desperation among the populus. It's the last desperate attempt to change politics without revolution.

[altohone]

That's not what she said...

... and it's because of Angelina a lot of people know a lot about women like Safia Ali.
As someone who pays attention, I have other sources too.

Making the point would require a direct corrolation, meaning those who know about her pregnancy couldn't possibly also know other things too. It isn't logical... nor is the "gotcha" clever.

[fedupcitizen]

Thank you for your informative writing.

[egal]

Unfortunately, even the term "elitist" has been coopted by those who are most elite as a way of denigrating the intelligent, the intellectuals, or anyone who doesn't agree with them.

Even when those throwing stones were born into wealth and those they attack worked for everything they have. We (as a nation) deride education so that we don't have to help students more, we diminish science so that we don't have to change to suit reality, and we laugh at informed discussion because that would force us to show how uninformed we are.

Those at the top have succumbed to the standard royalist trope that the poor and the not-haves deserve what they have, because, true to cognitive dissonance, then the royalists can believe that THEY deserve what they have. And it's easier for them to remain in power when they encourage such thinking and insist that their progeny get quality educations and leading positions and the rest get lesser education and jobs so they can't revolt or take the top themselves.

[23000Days]

Well said, egal.

[Gma11]

Important reminder - we need not just to READ it but to ACT on it!