At the launch of Setti Warren’s campaign for governor. #TeamSetti #mapoli pic.twitter.com/50osvM9sCx
— Tracey Leger-Hornby (@tlegerhornby) May 20, 2017
I always joke that there are two great seasons in Massachusetts, the month of October, with its crisp days and bright leaves, and that one day in May.
It happens that Mayor Setti Warren was blessed with that one day in May for his gubernatorial announcement. In what was one of the worst-kept secrets in the city, our mayor is running for governor.
You can read the nuts and bolts in the various outlets that are part of the media blitz, including sit-downs Warren did prior to the announcement with both the Associated Press and NECN. You can also find photos
What I found interesting is the images that came across in this carefully crafted display. Here we were in front of Warren’s house, the one that plays prominently in the online video and acts as the stand-in for the American dream, hearing Warren talk about being a 7-year-old in Governor Dukakis’ office as the former governor and his wife stood in the crowd. He was the most well-known state figure in attendance.
But it’s the dream that’s as the center of the campaign. It’s the American dream his father was able to attain after growing up in a very tough neighborhood in New York City, serving in the military (as did his father before him), being educated on the GI Bill, fighting for civil rights in the south and then settling in Newton.
We didn’t hear much about Setti Warren’s own upbringing. We saw his beautiful family, the American flag behind him, set up for the cameras, and kids running up and down the hilly front yard of his neighbor. There was also the image of the local politics that Warren is leaving behind. Local politicians who work with him daily used the crowd as a chance to get the signatures they need to run for office, including those looking to replace him. Few attended without a clipboard.
So there we were, a crowd on a tree-lined street in one of Boston’s best suburbs, with Cabot’s Ice Cream being scooped nearby (because Newton) and the image was clear: this is a slice of what people want. And Warren’s message is that today, they simply can’t have it.
And this brings us to the core issue behind his campaign: bridging the gap of economic inequality. He called it “the defining issue of our generation” and told the crowd that “this is our generational call to service,” a clear callback image to his father and the fight for civil rights.
He laid out a lot of problems along the way, issues that we need to fix, but also offered up two solutions that are catnip for any liberal: free public college and single-payer healthcare. All of this, of course, based on the reality of taxes.
On this beautiful May day, it’s OK to dream a bit, to reach out for the beautiful house on a hill, nestled under a canopy of trees, for the more-equal world where everyone has healthcare coverage and a college education is available to anyone who wants it. But time will tell whether these dreams can become reality.
Does Setti really have any credibility on inequality?
– Supported affordable housing in Waban, but folded like a cheap suit when the wealthy residents protested
– Supports affordable housing in Newton, but insists Golf courses should be considered ‘develop-able land’ and therefore be exempt from 40b
– In his terms in Newton, has inequality actually gotten better or worse for residents? worse…today’s children of Newton will never be able to afford to buy their own home here.. both because of price and supply of affordable homes
again, I’m just thowing out facts…
The fact is that income inequality is the issue of our time and we as a society ignore it at our peril. It’s not an issue that can be solved at the local level. We need to address the issue headon as a state and as a nation and if we don’t, I fear for the country that we leave to our kids and grandkids.
Jane,
I honestly believe the root issue of income inequality is ‘poor’ education in our country, or access to ‘good’ education. All the ‘good’ jobs are now technology focused (computers, biotech), access to quality education was not made a priority so only a select few have been able to learn these skills.
These skills are not ‘easy’ to obtain, reading a book for a few weeks won’t get you there. Its often at least a few years of real pain and not giving up. We have to treat writing code or sciences as a fundamental skill just ‘reading’ and ‘math’
For whatever reason, out education system is not preparing our kids for this new future.. if you live in an affluent neighborhood you get access to good education. Everyone else can only get their through sheer will and this is where the income gap is forming….
The loss of manufacturing jobs to other countries just accelerated this gap, we allowed outsourcing to occur before the education system was good enough to prepare the next generation
Bugek – You’re absolutely on the mark. And we have a Secretary of Education who’s worked her adult life to destroy public education. I do believe there are other tracks to a secure future, but they involve some form of post-HS education. A K-12 education just isn’t enough in this day and age.
To add to the problem, the cost of higher education has become a crisis. Two of my sons graduated from out of state public universities in the 2000’s. The cost of one was $24,000/year when my son began in 2000 and is now $56,000. The other was $29,000/year just 9 years ago and is now $47,500. Something has to give.
@Bugek – You’re right if we’re talking about how an individual should navigate this world of ever widening income inequality. Education is the biggest asset to end up on the right side of that divide.
There is a bigger question that no one has an answer for and few are even asking. In any world we can imagine there will always be lots of people, doing lots of different kinds of non-technology work. Our society can only function with lots of people doing non-glamorous, non-technology work – everything from transporting goods, to retail, to personal care in hospitals, food service, etc, etc.
If our society is organized around the principle that those folks are the new economy losers and aren’t entitled to a living wage, we’re building an unsustainable system.
Clearly the governor of Mass can’t solve that problem on his own but I’m heartened to see someone loudly and clearly that “this is the issue of our time”. The sooner we all come to grip with the fact that the economic trajectory we’re on leads to ruin, the sooner we may be able to deal with the issue politically.
I do get frustrated that people largely talk about the issue of income inequality as if it is the result of some laws of nature rather than a series of political choices involving everything from our tax system, our health system, our education system, our social service system, etc
I couldn’t disagree more with those who are suggesting that Mayor Warren should resign to run for governor. Yes, he won’t be around as much, and yes, he’s not going to give Newton 100 percent of his attention (which won’t be a change from the past several months). But, if he were to resign, the city council would have to elect a temporary mayor. I don’t want to see a situation where any of the current mayoral candidates get an advantage because of a City Council election. In fact, I’d argue that, if the mayor were to resign, he’d be throwing his support to Scott Lennon.
What Jerry said. Four years after World War II ended, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman
unveiled the first serious proposal for integrating the economies of Germany and France to reduce and hopefully eliminate the chances for future wars between the two countries. The new West German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer immediately responded to Schuman’s invitation and the two statesmen collaborated and refined the proposed unification scheme (dubbed the Schuman Plan) that ultimately led to the European Common Market and eventually the European Union.
During the course of their deliberations, Schuman and Adenauer discussed many items and I know that one of the topics was the need to address income inequality, by making certain that every citizen of both nations had dignified and useful employment and a universal health and economic safety net for bad times. They knew from personal experience that tyranny, social upheavals and horrible dictatorships were inevitable byproducts for societies that failed to provide these safeguards. These were conservative political leaders, but they had the foresight to see areas in which the Socialists and Social Democrats were right. They were not political ideologues. FDR also sensed this and I’m one of many who firmly believe that the New Deal, imperfect as it was, still helped to head off something truly terrible in America.
Now an admission. I’ve been trying to find exact language on this Schuman/Adenauer exchange on line, but nothing specifically comes up. Be that as it may. Their subsequent actions demonstrated pretty clearly that this is what they had in mind. You can’t allow bitter alienation to fester. Too many of our leaders avoid this truth at great peril.