Sixty-five years ago, in the summer of 1959, I met a music student in Chautauqua whose name was Gail Zimmermann. I completely lost touch with her after that summer. She told me that she was planning to marry her accompanist at the Eastman School where she studied most of the year. So our relationship was completely platonic – we never so much as kissed. But Gail became a very close friend.
One evening I took her to a discussion group at the Chautauqua College Club. Frankly, most people my age thought of me as an arrogant kid from Brooklyn who thought I knew everything. But walking back from that meeting she said something I will never forget – I can’t quote her but what struck her was my passion and concern about the ways that public policy affects people. I kept my lips to myself but fell in love instantly. Finally, someone, Gail, had understood my feelings and not just my social awkwardness.
I think much of the country has been mistaking the care and concern of Democrats for arrogance. I remember people describing Hillary Clinton as cold. The one time I saw Hillary in the flesh was when she came to Albany to deliver a eulogy for my friend Kermit Hall. Kermit and I had been friends for decades before he became President of the University at Albany. Knowing how busy presidents are, I asked my dean how one deals with an old friend who comes to town in a major position like that. Tom Guernsey said you invite him and he’ll do what works for him. In the year and a half before he died, we spent a lot of time with Kermit and his wife, Phyllis. His passing was a shock no one expected.
I hadn’t recognized Hillary – she wasn’t glad-handing people and waited quietly for her turn. But what she said left me in tears. She clearly had known him well, understood the significance of what he was doing and trying to do, felt the impact of his loss, and missed him as a human being. I have never, ever, thought of Hillary as cold after that.
Lawyers like me are familiar with the fact that people frequently misunderstand others. They misunderstand efforts to remember accurately for lying, and misunderstand sure, positive statements for having a clear, strong memory.
Democrats are and have been deeply invested in getting it right for ordinary people since the Progressive Movement hit this country 150 years ago. Studying and talking with experts is not an indication of sticking one’s nose in the air but of trying to figure out what will work for people of ordinary incomes in this country. Refusing to study and consult experts is not an indication of sincerity but of lack of care and concern.
Elitism is passing tax bills and other legislation that give all the benefits to the wealthy and extracts as much as possible from the pockets of the rest of us. Elitism is using lies to cover self-serving nonsense over the selfishness of a portion of the wealthy. Most Americans are going to pay dearly for not getting that straight.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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