On April 24, 2018 Jonah Goldberg, of the National Review, decided to go on Morning Joe and promote his new book the Suicide of the West.

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Let me just say at the outside, as someone who has owned businesses and been a capitalist, the capitalism hand wringing that went on in the discussion of his book was frightening and completely out of touch.
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In the segment on Morning Joe, his summation of his book was simple. We modern people are simply not grateful enough for what capitalism has done. According to him, mankind has lived on an average of $3 a day for most of recorded history and about 300 years ago, with the break up of feudalism and rise of the middle class, that began to change. Now that the global economy is based on business and with capitalism, everyone’s life has gotten better.

Arguing with him on this is difficult, because he is not wrong, factually, life today is measurably better than it was 100 years ago and even more so than 300 years ago. We don’t have to bucket water every day and our houses are not burning down from lamps and candles. Our streets aren’t covered in animal excrement and women aren’t dying in large numbers in child birth. Things are better and life is far easier.

However, I don’t think anyone sitting at the table on Morning Joe had any idea why populism and nationalism are so important. While Mr. Goldberg preaches against tribalism and identity politics in his book, he fails to understand that part of the reason politics is where it is is due to discriminatory policies that are only just now being remedied. Sean Hannity recently let it slip that “the country is diversifying too fast.” As much as I’m not a huge fan of Sean Hannity, I’m glad that he finally articulated the popular rage that elected Donald Trump.

That is what is happening right now. Over the past 10 years, the US has seen discussion on universal healthcare re-open, gay marriage has finally become the law of the land and people of color are holding more positions and are more visible than ever before. From the election of Barack Obama to Kerry Washington being the face of one of the most popular shows on television (alongside Viola Davis and others), America is a much more diverse place than ever before and that means that more people are asking for rights and an equal say at the table. When public policy is considered, minority groups are speaking out about how those policies affect them and their community. Imagine if communities of color had been able to resist the dismantling of their neighborhoods to build the interstate system? Highways would have a very different shape and placement. That is the new conversation of the new America. The new American is inclusive of all voices, not just the ones that select people decide are acceptable. This is a radical change.

I agree with Goldberg, the election of Donald Trump isnt the disease, it’s just a symptom. But as I concluded after the 2016 election, white voters have learned to vote as a bloc for what will benefit them as white people (or what least what they think will benefit them) and that will affect elections for the next 50 years. However, he didn’t go that far. He has a rosy view of the republic after Trump but what he doesn’t understand is how diversity is radically changing the landscape and not everyone is on-board with those changes. Enter Donald Trump promising to make it all go away.

When it comes to economics, Mr. Goldberg is just daft. Economic anxiety with capitalism is high because the fruits of the wealth that capitalism produces are increasingly being held at the top. The world has generated billions in wealth since 2008 and it’s gone straight into the pockets of the wealthy.


In Developed countries, the US particularly, the working class economy has been decimated. The factory and production jobs have gone to Canada, Mexico, China, Vietnam, and elsewhere, leaving young people today with fewer jobs available to them without a major investment in skills like college and trade school. For those that choose to not pursue those paths, there are far fewer pathways to the middle class than in years past.

Take my step-dad for example, he was able to turn his military service in a well-paying job on a highschool degree only. Today that’s just not possible. Now, he would need to peruse education to take advantage of the same opportunity.  Conservatives keep trying to placate people with meaningless platitudes. “Don’t go to college for a meaningless degree” or “Why don’t you go to trade school?”.  Either of those paths cost money and young people are living in a world where there is no money for their education outside of costly loans. Sucking all that money from the real economy is already having economic consequences.

Neoliberal economic policies promoted by people like Joe Scarborough and Jonah Goldberg have caused a generation of people to have to make some very tough decisions and solve some very tough problems. People have had to re-skill, go back to school, take on more debt, leave the country, and work dead-end jobs with no fulfillment, decent pay or benefits. Most of the new service jobs don’t offer the benefits of the factory jobs of the past. Many people are in contract employment that offers more taxes and no healthcare or other benefits. The economy has changed, the world has changed, and it’s time this country finally changes with it. Rather than tell Americans why we should be grateful for crushing medical debt and cheap TVs, the GOP and the Democrats need to offer answers and a plan to move forward. So far, Bernie Sanders is the only person who has addressed these problems. Mrs. Clinton did a great job of quickly incorporating many of his policies into her own, but her presentation of them came off as milquetoast.

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Jonah should get about the business of finding ways to incorporate good social public policy into his conservative ideas.
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America has changed and it’s time the government, politics, and dinosaurs like Jonah Goldberg catch up with the times. the sooner people like him realize that people, GOP voters, are deeply and proudly affected by the policies of the party that has systematically gutted social services and has tanked the economy while driving up the debt on unnecessary and costly wars.

People are suffering and its time that we adjust our public policy to address the needs of actual people and not merely corporate donors who demand ever higher tax cuts to fill their pockets at the expense of regular working people. We don’t need more gratitude, we need a national policy that is going to help people. And the best part is that the people it will help most are all devoted GOP voters.

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