The Meritocracy Versus Just America
I recently watched George Packer talk about his new book, Last Best Hope. I agree with most of what I heard in this interview (although there are hints that he is not an ally of progressives). Parker is calling for the return of liberalism. On the positive side, he thinks the goal for the country should be equal citizens governing themselves. He stresses that he doesn’t define equality in the sense of equal outcome, but in the sense of no one being born and dying in a permanently subordinate class. And when he says citizens should govern themselves, he means they should participate in the current democratic system. My main concerns are the rivalry he sets up between liberalism and progressivism, and his belief that we actually have a self-governing system.
The root of our problems, Packer says, is that we’ve been unable to make an equal America across race and class lines. We have to create conditions of equality, mostly through government intervention, through breaking up monopolies, by empowering workers, by rebuilding the safety net, by making education more equal.
I agree with all of these proposals. However, I would argue that the attempt to achieve these goals has lead to the divisions he is trying to heal. But Packer believes his policies would allow the temperature to go down so that people could work together again.
Packer does mention progressives. He credits Elizabeth Warren as the leader of progressives who want to rein in monopolies. But progressives are not listed in his four divisions of America, and the category that would seem to include progressives is not invited to participate in the return of liberalism. Below is Packer’s list of four rival Americas which have arisen since the 1970s:
The four Americas are Free America; Real America; Smart America; and Just America. Free America is conservative to the point of libertarianism. Real America is Sarah Palin’s America, and the direct rival of Free America. Smart America is the professional class or meritocracy. Smart America is separate from liberalism. Just America is the chief critic of Smart America. Packer does not think Just America has any benign attributes. It is associated with social intolerance and cancel culture.
According to Packer, Just America sees the United States as nothing but a caste system. For this group everything about American history is white, and whiteness is on trial. He illustrates this by citing Ta-Nehisi Coates’s statement that America is a unitary malignant force. But Packer’s so-called illustration is misleading, because Coates has been criticized by progressives.
Packer also claims that Just America’s focus on race makes them unwilling to talk about class. What is needed, in his opinion, is two people of different races to spend several hours together in a room. He seems unaware that Bernie Sanders and Killer Mike met together in just this way.
Packer also criticizes Just America’s denial of black violence in black communities, as well as its support for defunding the police. On the other hand, he speaks approvingly when he calls Black Lives Matter a movement for oppressed people. This is a contradiction because Black Lives Matter is the most prominent voice for defunding the police.
In case you are not convinced that Just America is on the firing line, I’ll share Packer’s summary of the four divisions of America: Free America lauds the energy of the unencumbered individual; Smart America respects intelligence and welcomes change; Real America commits itself to a place and has a sense of limits; and Just America demands a confrontation with what the others want to avoid.
The Return of Liberalism Needs the Left
If the changes listed by Packer can be accomplished, I won’t object to the dismissal of the progressive movement. But Packer’s false definition of the left makes success unlikely. The accomplishments of progressives have to be acknowledged and appreciated and built upon if we’re going to achieve the equality George Packer is talking about.
A Supporting View
Packer’s misidentification of progressives is summed up by Eric Levitz in a June 15 article for Intelligencer.
There are many problems with Packer’s essay. For one, its characterization of Just America is a tendentious description of one ideological tendency in a single segment of the millennial left. There are no small number of racial-justice advocates whose vision is unabashedly universalist…
But an even bigger problem with Packer’s schema is this: It completely ignores the majority of Democratic voters who are neither professional-class meritocrats nor millennial anti-racists. Packer hasn’t described the central division within Blue America but the generational cleavage within his own professional circle.
The Return of Liberalism and Self-Governance
Packer wants this country to remain self-governing. I share his concern, but it’s important to acknowledge that the system needs improvement. After all, it gave the presidency to Donald Trump in 2016 even though he had 4 million fewer votes than his opponent. More importantly, it has silenced the voices of many generations who have tried to warn us about the climate crisis. We need a system capable of being influenced by the voters, and we need voters who are willing to participate. We can do a better job of self-governance.
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Radical Universalism, on the Jacobin Show
Zero Books: Identity Politics is Right Wing
Gresham College: Food Oppression
Bad Faith: What to do with Inconvenient Truths
Glenn Greenwald: Canceling Comedians While the World Burns