Joe Biden’s new New Deal
America has the capacity to reorient itself in a way that emphasizes community, shared national purpose and inclusion. That’s according to political scientist Robert Putnam, who in his latest book, “The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again,” draws lessons from the a 125-year period of U.S. history spanning from the Gilded Age (characterized by polarization and self-centeredness) to the extended Progressive Era (characterized by diminished polarization and greater concern for the common good) to the post-1960s, which saw the rise again of polarization and self-centeredness.
Putnam dubs this “I-We-I” phenomenon. As he argued in a recent interview with Salon, “America may once again pivot toward a ‘we’ society — more equal, less polarized, more altruistic, less socially fragmented and more attentive to historic, structural inequalities.” In that case, President Joe Biden is the right leader for a potential hinge moment. “Biden is proving to be just what the doctor ordered for a shaken country, focused explicitly on ‘we,’ not ‘I,’” Putnam said. “It’s not just his wellknown empathy for people in pain, nor his equally well-known propensity to work across the aisle, but also his ability to adapt to changed political circumstances.”
Biden’s massive rescue plan aimed at the working and middle class, a plan supported by around 70% of the country, harks back to the New Deal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt entered office in a time of grave economic and political crises. As Europe turned away from democracy, embracing political extremes, Roosevelt preserved capitalism by fundamentally shifting the relationship between Americans and the federal government. Rocked by economic blight, Americans were willing to embrace a much larger role for the federal government than would have otherwise been possible.
Biden’s remarks and tone in last week’s primetime speech, akin to FDR’s fireside chats, aimed squarely at re-establishing trust in government and recognition that we rise or sink together. “Put trust and faith in our government to fulfill its most important function, which is protecting the American people,” Biden said. “We need to remember the government isn’t some foreign force in a distant capital. No, it’s us. All of us. ‘We, the people.’ ”
Biden has only begun to roll out his “Build Back Better” agenda. If that, as promised, builds out from the bottom and the middle with measures such as investment in infrastructure (the 2021 version of the Works Progress Administration and Tennessee Valley Authority), green energy (today’s Civilian Conservation Corps) and expanded access to health care and child care, Biden will usher in the the most dramatic progressive agenda in decades. (The American Rescue Plan was arguably the most ambitious anti-poverty plan since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty.)
Recall that with FDR came decades of Democratic majority rule. The first midterms elections in 1934 saw Democratic gains in the House and Senate, a reversal of the normal pattern in which the party in the White House loses seats. Another Republican did not enter the Oval Office until 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower continued the pattern of “We” governance in what now sounds like a center-left agenda (e.g., the creation of a national highway system, expanded Social Security and an increase in the minimum wage).
History need not repeat itself. If the 2016 election showed anything, it is that our collective choices can steer the country in surprising and dangerous directions. Nevertheless, Biden has the potential to replace not only the Make American Great Again mentality but also decades of devolution into polarization, fragmentation, growing inequality and just plain selfishness. At the very least, the first weeks of his presidency suggests the public is ready for a course correction.
Jennifer Rubin writes for The Washington Post.