Nothing New
Just over two weeks ago, the missus and I took in Hamilton live for the first time.
I've long been a fan of Lin Manuel-Miranda and I began catching onto the rave reviews once the show hit Broadway in 2015. As a former history teacher, I admire and appreciate any way in which we can invite the younger generations into learning about our nation's founding. By using a Ron Chernow biography of Hamilton as his inspiration, Miranda was able to bring our nation's founding fathers to life through a rap opera where the cast was dominated by men and women of color. Not only that, but Miranda knew that the musical presented an opportunity to our nation's teachers and through the work of community partnerships, he helped created a curriculum that teachers could use to help aid their instruction of the historical time period in the classroom. While the actual events of the musical take place 230 years ago, Miranda created an environment where the story felt modern and relatable to today's audience.
The reason for that is the fact that the politics of the musical are very much the same politics we are dealing with today. What initially drew Miranda to Hamilton's story was the fact that he was engaged, and often times tangled with, some of the most revered men in American history. In telling the story this way, Miranda is not only telling Hamilton's story but the story of America itself. Of the competing visions for its founding. Of the conflict over its future. Hamilton essentially is a glimpse into our past to help us better understand our present. The debates of the 1790s may have been centered on a loose affiliation of 13 agrarian states, but they still apply to our modern-day affiliation of 50 industrialized states and a now strong central government. The question then, as is the question now, is how to balance that strong central government while maintaining the autonomy of the individual states.
This, at its core, is what separates the modern political parties in this country. Hamilton's views and those of the Federalists have evolved into today's Democratic Party. Thomas Jefferson's views and those of the Democratic Republicans have evolved into today's Republican Party. There has been an evolution, to be sure. After all, we all know how at one point it was the Republican Party that was progressive and took the lead with it came to abolitionism. But while the names may have changed the fact of the matter is that the conservative party in this country as always been anti-big government, which stems from our earliest days. And while the conservative party throughout our history has always insisted they're in favor of states' rights, the truth of the matter is it's more than that. States' rights is simply a ruse they use to fleece their voters because it sounds much more palpable than their true intent: to maintain power at any and all costs.
That's the crux of 230+ years of political debate in this country. Power. Whether that power should lie in the hands of a strong central government for the welfare of the general population or in the hands of a select few to divvy out as they please. While the modern-day Republican Party's embrace of authoritarianism and fascism should disturb us all, it really shouldn't shock us. This is where the conservative party has been headed for its entire history. Their arguments may have evolved to meet the times, but the underlying desire of the American conservative party has always been for local control. Control of the means of production. Control of regulations. Control of labor. And yes, control of people, especially of those who have never been what the framers of the Constitution were: White, religious men who owned property.
It's important that we understand this lens to understand our current history. Because Republicans today are still arguing against a strong central government. They fought tooth-and-nail against Obamacare which they decried was government-controlled healthcare. They're fighting against the DREAMers, who have been granted temporary asylum by an executive order. They are against climate legislation found in the Inflation Reduction Act. Any legislation that helps the American people is decried as big government overreach. Republicans aren't fearful of big government, they're fearful of bold government. Bold government that shows that policies can be enacted that help the American people. Today's argument is a deflection because Republicans know that if government works when Democrats are in charge then they may finally have to be accountable for why government doesn't work when they're in charge.
That's where we stand today. A party stuck in the past, simply unable to evolve. A party hellbent on maintaining power while its older, Whiter base slowly dies off. It's why they're embracing absurd yet dangerous culture wars on teachers and the transgender community. Their hypocrisy knows no end as it's apparently not government overreach to force a woman to carry a child to birth or to ask high school girls when they're menstruating. But to ask to regulate an 18th-century amendment dedicated to the country's standing militia is a bridge too far. It's our job, as Democrats, to continue to call out this hypocrisy and continue to elevate the Biden-Harris administration's accomplishments, of which there are many. Because the more we can show effective government is in the hands of Democrats, the less Republicans can argue that they deserve power. Our role, like the early Alexander Hamiltons of the world, is to prove that the country is better off with a strong, central government that creates policies that benefit the people.
And we are not throwing away our shot.
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