We begin with a discussion of how Abraham Lincoln’s rise from obscurity to ending slavery was sparked by a national crisis in 1854. We note the striking similarity between that crisis and our present-day situation.
Part One:
LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.
We speak with Kathleen Stein Smith, from Fairleigh Dickinson University and editor of the blog “Language Matters.” We discuss some of the many reasons why it’s important that our children learn one or more foreign languages, especially at a young age.
Languages teach you to think and hear differently. They give you access to foreign media, which open up perspectives that are missing from English-language media. Knowing a foreign language enables you to communicate with people in their own language. You can form relationships with people from other cultures. Dialogues can give you a deeper, more meaningful understanding of what it’s like to live in different countries, what issues people deem important, and the like.
Today, foreign languages are being offered in fewer American public elementary and middle schools, even as the need has become greater. There is a shortage of foreign language teachers. Public school students are thus short-changed personally and grow up as a workforce that lacks some important skills. We agree that public school students should receive the same opportunities that are offered in elite private schools. (After all, inequality is about more than just money.)
Part Two:
DOES AMY KLOBUCHAR HAVE A PATH TO THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION?
We welcome Walter Shapiro, correspondent for the New Republic, Fellow at the Brennan Center, and lecturer at Yale. As he covers his 11th presidential election cycle, Shapiro describes how Sen. Amy Klobuchar could actually win the Democratic nomination for president. She has performed well in all the debates, and after every debate, she has raised a lot more money.
In Shapiro’s view, Democratic voters are hungry to elect a woman president. As the field has narrowed, Klobuchar has been helped by Elizabeth Warren’s stumble six weeks ago. Some voters saw Warren’s support for Medicare for All as too radical, and then, when she backed off that and endorsed a 3-year transition from private health insurance to M4A, voters saw her as just another vacillating politician.
Yet all the European countries that adopted single-payer did so over a multi-year transition period. None made the change overnight. So it is unclear why the public has been unwilling to forgive Warren for this stumble/modification of her health care policy. After all, they have forgiven Biden, Sanders, even Donald Trump despite their mistakes and flaws.
Could the answer be this: Without defending the status quo, we’re living in a world of realism. Even if the Democrats do well, even if they win a one-vote majority in the Senate, they would be lucky to pass even a public *option*. So why are the Democrats even fighting so mightily over a proposal (M4A) which simply has zero chance of passing even under the best of circumstances?
Amy Klobuchar could well be the beneficiary of all these fortuitous events. But she also can rely on her own strengths and qualifications. She can point to the impressive job she did when questioning Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court. She was authentic, knowledgeable, and articulate. Perhaps more importantly, when Kavanaugh turned around and attacked her, Klobuchar responded calmly and forthrightly, displaying a gravitas that any president will need in order to govern in this chaotic and unpredictable world.
