Kick Out the Kooks and Bigots

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

27 September 15

’ve often been accused of being too optimistic, but consider:

Following months of a Republican presidential primary filled with racial and ethnic bigotry, abject narcissism, and obscene amounts of campaign money, comes a Pope reminding us America has been a nation of tolerance, humility, and fairness – and all but asking us to reject Trump, Carson, Huckabee, and the rest of the terrible lot.

After years of a growing civil war in the Republican Party between right-wing whackos and big-business conservatives, the GOP begins cracking up. The Speaker of the House resigns, big business Republicans are up in arms, and the rest of America sees just how phony and unprincipled the Republican Party has become.

Bernie Sanders continues to surge. (Yesterday I met with Latino and black students who told me more and more are watching his speeches on YouTube and backing him because he’s the only candidate who will make real change in America.)

The fight for a $15 minimum wage continues to gain ground. The NLRB has decided franchise workers can organize and negotiate with franchise owners. Courts across the land are siding with workers who have been misclassified as "independent contractors." Cooperative businesses and "B" corporations are thriving.

Okay, maybe I am being a bit too upbeat. We have a long way to go before remedying what’s wrong with America. But I've always held to Martin Luther King Jr.'s belief that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” I have enormous confidence in the basic decency of this land. History shows whenever Americans understand what we’re up against, we put ideology aside, roll up our sleeves, kick out the kooks and bigots, and get on with the hard task of making our economy and society work for the betterment of all.

I think the rightward tide that began with Ronald Reagan is now turning. What do you think?