The COVID 19 pandemic has torn away the veneer of a political narrative that has dominated our country for the past 45 years. This narrative is best described by Ronald Reagan when he said in 1980, “Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.”  The flip side of that expression is “Let the free market rule.”  We see the results of living and dying by this narrative in the 800,000+ dead from the virus over the past two years, and millions of Americans thrown out of work and displaced from their homes…unprecedented in U.S. history.

While politicians and media pundits desperately seek ways we can get back to the “prosperity” we were enjoying before the pandemic upended all our lives, the ugly truth of our failing institutions and the desperate financial struggles of the middle/working class are exposing the big lie of “prosperity” in news stories every day.

This video by political psychology professor Drew Westen helps explain what has happened to us by following the “Government is the problem,” narrative—and how it has led us to the dysfunctional democracy we are living in today. The question of the moment is: “Will the leadership of the Democratic party adopt a new vision and narrative that finds its roots in the Four Freedoms articulated by Franklin Roosevelt?”  As Westen points out at the end of his talk, changing the political narrative in America will depend on the vision and courage we display in articulating and organizing our efforts to save our communities and our democracy.