The Weight of Ideology

The United States is heading toward its next electoral campaign with three major debates: immigration, health care and climate change. In order to make progress on these issues and overcome national shortsightedness, the U.S. must educate its public.

The world is becoming more and more polarized along ideological, religious, racial and ethnic lines. Ignorance, prejudice and chimeras resist science and evidence. Greece is the most recent example. Its GDP was growing at three percent, but now it has fallen 30 percent, and Tsipras ended up accepting a bailout much worse than the one offered by the EU before the “no” vote. Jubilant Greeks celebrated their refusal in the streets, not realizing what awaited them. The U.S. is no exception, and the three red-hot issues to be discussed in the November presidential election prove it.

The majority of Republicans oppose immigration, claiming that immigrants take jobs from natives. Running counter to all economic evidence, the multimillionaire magnate Donald (like the irate Disney duck) Trump, famous among other things for his toupee and TV show “The Apprentice” (“You’re fired!”), caused a national ruckus when he accused Mexican immigrants of being drug traffickers, rapists and criminals. Trump proclaimed that if elected president, he would build an impassable anti-immigrant fence. The candidate said he would make Mexico pay for what amounts to a reverse Berlin Wall.

I recently returned from a trip through California, where nearly the entire workforce is Mexican. Immigrants harvest 200 different agricultural products, make wine, serve in hotels and restaurants, take out the trash … every job that whites refuse to do. I spoke in Spanish with as many as I could, and they were helpful, accommodating and efficient. They generate California’s wealth and help fund the country with their taxes. California is the largest wine producer in the U.S. It is the leading producer of numerous fruits, vegetables, milk products, olive oil, almonds, walnuts and pistachios. It is also the second-largest producer of livestock, grapes and cotton. On top of that, California is the leading tourist destination in America. These sectors generate some $70 billion annually, and without Mexican workers the state’s economy would collapse. Trump’s plan has backfired: TV Univision, NBC and Televisa have canceled their coverage of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, and dropped “The Apprentice” from their lineups. Macy’s and other corporations have cut commercial ties with the irascible magnate. A number of key Republicans have condemned Trump’s statement, including Speaker of the House John Boehner and presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Both men are afraid of losing even more of the Hispanic electorate. Even more politicians denounced Trump after he slandered John McCain’s Vietnam War record. Lindsey Graham told Trump: “You’re fired!” Still, Trump is ahead of his 16 Republican presidential rivals, which demonstrates many Americans’ ignorance.

Conservative Republicans have voted more than 50 times to reverse the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which covers more than 15 million people who previously lacked healthcare. Two Supreme Court cases have failed to overturn this crucial program. The most recent case rejected a plea — based on six words in the 900-page law — against subsidies received by 6.4 million low-income individuals. Had the plea been successful, those people would not be covered. Initially, it was falsely argued that Obamacare would reduce coverage, increase premiums and health care costs, destroy jobs and increase the budget deficit. Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman refuted these allegations in a recent article. Coverage has increased, and the number of uninsured has been reduced by 80 percent — that number isn’t bigger because 13 states are refusing to let the federal government enroll the poorest in Medicaid. Costs have only increased by two percent — much less than predicted — health spending has decreased, and around 240,000 new jobs have been created each month since the law went into effect. Health spending and the budget deficit have both decreased. Despite the evidence — and numerous failures — Boehner has promised to renew the fight to undermine Obamacare: “Republicans will continue to listen to American families and work to protect them from the consequences of Obamacare.”

Global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions is proven by innumerable scientific studies. Sea levels are rising, threatening important coastal areas like New York, New Orleans and Florida. Glaciers are melting at the North and South Poles, contributing to rising sea levels and endangering fauna. Storms and hurricanes are getting stronger and occurring more often. Droughts, fires and water shortages are threatening desert areas like California and Arizona. Mudslides are destroying entire neighborhoods. Deforestation is causing the hole in the ozone layer to grow. Floods are more common and more devastating. Air pollution in Los Angeles is severe. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol for controlling greenhouse gas emissions has been signed by 192 countries. The U.S., the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, participated in the Protocol, but didn’t ratify it. Nevertheless, it is expected to sign a new U.N. agreement in 2015, and Obama’s recent proposals are a step in the right direction. Despite all this, conservatives like the extreme Republicans in the U.S. reject the evidence and argue that the whole thing is a lie made up by environmental experts and those who support more government regulation. They claim that climate change is part of a natural cycle and that emissions controls would cost industries dearly and create massive unemployment. Pope Francis has joined in the debate with his encyclical: “Praise be to you”. The document blames the current environmental disaster on human activity and those in power. It also calls for a cultural change involving shared sacrifices in order to save the world. Postponing the urgent, necessary measures that must be taken will accelerate the catastrophe and be the end of humanity. However, there is a shortsighted desire to continue reaping profits, even though the economy and the world will go under in the long run.

A key question is whether ideology is the only reason for such irrational activity, or if there are other, hidden reasons. In Trump’s case, it could be that Mexico owes him $12 million for Miss USA 2007, that he opposes Obamacare partly for racist reasons — keeping a black president from creating a legacy of healthcare coverage for millions of Americans — and that he opposes emissions controls because of his ties with industry. In a close decision (5 to 4), the Supreme Court declared the EPA’s regulations on coal-fired plants “unreasonable.” These plants are estimated to cause thousands of deaths and illnesses, and cost between $37 million and $90 million in lost workdays each year. Educating the public is essential to advance on these and other fronts.