For U.S. citizens who are also nationals of countries with painful experiences, such as exile and political persecution at the hands of the socialist regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela, it is in bad taste to listen to those in the Republican Party manipulating, for political-electoral purposes, the trauma we have experienced.
Fifteen years ago, while I was serving as a member of congress in Venezuela, my family and I had to make the painful decision to uproot ourselves from our beloved homeland because of the Chavez regime’s persecution of me due to my unwavering opposition to its corruption. As we considered where to put down new roots, we decided on the United States for two important reasons. First, we were certain that the US is a society with solid democratic institutions. Second, we believed there were great opportunities for immigrants, of which the success of the Hispanic community across the nation is proof. Because these uniquely American qualities were so central to our decision to make a home here, it has been disturbing and difficult to process that both elements are being routinely undermined by President Trump and his Republican allies.
In addition to the parallels between the anti-democratic and corrupting nature of Trump’s leadership and what happened in Venezuela under and after Chavez, it is important to highlight the analogies that explain the rise to power of this type of demagogue, whatever their ideological inspiration. In Venezuela, we had a solid democracy from 1958 to 1998, when Hugo Chávez won the election. Despite the fact that it was a society whose oil wealth had enabled it to build a democracy that was exemplary on the continent, Venezuela was in the midst of the collapse of a bipartisan system and the growth of poverty and social inequality. In the first two decades of Venezuelan democracy since 1958, the country became a society of opportunities for nationals and immigrants. At some point (and for various reasons that go beyond the scope and purpose of this column), the failures of the ruling classes and the exhaustion of the oil economic model expanded the opportunity gap even further. Poverty increased at the rate of the advance of corruption and popular frustration with the government turned to angry calls for new political leadership. It was fertile grounds for the Chavez brand of anti-politics. The result is known, Venezuela is a destroyed country. But when we think about the political and socio-economic tragedy of socialism, we often forget the circumstances that led to it.
The United States is a formidable country. But in the last three decades there has been a gradual deterioration in the quality of life of the middle and working classes, expressed in the stagnation of their income, to the point that today they live suffocated between college debt, credit cards, mortgages and cost of living, in which the costs of healthcare and medicine stand out most. The economic recession of 2008, even when overcome by the skillful performance of Barack Obama, rooted a perception of economic insecurity, without completely reversing the stagnation of the middle classes, despite a period of low inflation and sustained economic growth. Legislation, such as Obamacare, promoted positive changes, but others are needed that depend on legislative agreements, still hampered by polarization. Another relevant factor is social tensions, incubated from the vestiges of racism, as a systemic cause of poverty and inequalities. The advances we’ve achieved in the areas of social justice and racial equity , as well as the progress of the immigrant communities, has unfortunately coincide with the deterioration of the quality of life of many white families of the working class, whose well-being is related to a traditional economic platform (industry, for example), that new realities have changed forever, forcing an economic transition that requires cooperation between the government and the private sector. In this environment, Trump’s irresponsible xenophobic and racist preaching has found listening ears.
The promise of the American dream has lost sustainability and this has generated immense frustrations, with the perception that the political establishment is to blame. In this context, the figure of Donald Trump emerged. With all the differences with the Venezuelan case, which are many, of course, there are two similarities that I want to highlight. First, they are two forms of populist radicalism, with a tendency to undermine and corrupt democratic institutions, causing social division, in order to achieve and retain power. And second, both leaderships, Chávez and Trump, arise before the exhaustion of a basic promise, the country of opportunities that in Venezuela was glossed as “Land of Grace,” in the United States, the “American Dream.”
The Commonwealth of Virginia has been fortunate over the past decade to build amazing progress. Democratic leadership statewide, and more recently in the legislature, has managed to reconcile private sector economic growth with social justice through a fiscally sustainable and incremental commitment to equal opportunities. Virginia’s balanced, thoughtful, and progressive approach is without doubt an example for the rest of the States, and should serve as a reference for a future federal government.
But we have much more to do, particularly now that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit our communities so hard, revealing the inequities that still exist, particularly for communities of color.
We need to increase opportunities for our small business owners through improvements in our diversity procurement programs, and ensure financial inclusion and access to capital to reopen and scale their operations, as well as to assume the added costs that might be needed as we continue to combat the virus. And among other challenges, we need to assess the financial needs of our higher education system, to make sure we deal with the consequences of this crisis ensuring college affordability, and work with our school districts and counties to overcome the digital divide, as well as any other problems affecting equal opportunities in low income or rural communities. And we need to move forward with a strong investment in workforce development, as we continue to transition to a new economy, as well as making sure we have a family friendly economy, that ensures legally paid family and medical leave for our working and middle class.
Virginia is a model of progress, but we have new challenges ahead of us to defend the American Dream. And in this Presidential election we can bring change back to the White House and make it a national purpose.