Dana Blankenhorn

The Limits of Tolerance

Think of this as Volume 12, Number 41 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

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The most important task we face, in moving from a Thesis of Conflict to a Thesis of Consensus, is defining and enforcing the limits of tolerance.

In a Thesis of Conflict there are no limits. Spiro Agnew began the development of the  Nixon Thesis under the baton of William Safire  with personal invective. He belittled critics  as "nattering nabobs of negativism" and the insults have only escalated from there.

This achieved its ultimate expression during the George W. Bush Administration, where 9-11 ushered in a second era of McCarthyism, an echo of hate as profound in its way as the Second Rising of the Klan during the first years of the last century.

It's important to remember that the Second Rising succeeded for a generation. It legitimized violence against blacks. It transformed the past, turning the Civil War into the Birth of a Nation. It countenanced lynching of anyone who, like Leo Frank, seemed different or even tolerant. It created Jim Crow, leaving blacks little better than serfs not just in the South, but in the North as well.

The Birth of a Nation premiered 50 years after the Civil War ended. The Bush-inspired Second Era of McCarthyism debuted 50 years after the height of the first McCarthy era, the time of the blacklist.

It's no accident.

Liberal Patriotism

The recessions of the recent past could be "cured" with a variety of conservative nostrums -- lower government spending and tax cuts being among the most common.

The current one will only end with liberal solutions.

The reason can be found in employment, a lagging indicator in any recession. It's high and getting higher. Conservative policies won't bring it down.

The good news is that rising unemployment is defying real economic growth. The economy is on track to grow at a 3% annual rate this quarter and to keep growing. Productivity among all sorts of workers is enormous and growing. Few have suffered pay cuts, which helped keep the Great Recession going so long. We work hard for the money and we earn it.

The problem is a disconnect between what business needs and what the labor market can provide:

• Low-skill businesses want to pay low-end wages only "illegal aliens" can live on, because they're not raising American families but trying to create them. 
• High-skill businesses can't find the skills they need right away, at the point of demand, so they're hiring immigrants on H1-B visas as fast as they can.

The jobs are out there. They're just going to Mexican dishwashers and Indian computer technicians.

The only possible solution is policies that let Americans get these jobs. Kicking the foreigners out at this point only means the jobs don't get done.

• Dirty jobs need to pay a wage Americans will work for, and can live on. And employers can't afford a 40% tax on top of those wages for health insurance. That's a cost that needs to be shared.
• Clean jobs will go to Americans only if Americans are educated and trained to do them. We need to work with business and educators to increase the supply of qualified labor so imports can decline.