Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2014, during Neel Kashkari’s campaign for governor of California against Jerry Brown, who won that November. Kashkari later became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in 2016.
In one of the best political speeches in history, Tommy Douglas gave a brilliant explanation of why politicians should not rule over people in his famous “Mouseland”: a government of cats cannot govern a nation of mice.
Politicians in half the world do not understand the needs of ordinary people, because they have never been part of them. They have not lived like the poor, nor do they know their needs, so their mouths, often thoroughly corrupted, can only address a nation to solve problems they have never lived through (even if they have been told about them), or simply to protect the interests of a minority, including themselves and those closest to them. At times, as accomplices to corruption.
Despite their degrees and the supposed advice of prestigious economists (who are sometimes politicised themselves), they can fall into the mistake of thinking that pulling a nation out of recession is the same as pulling its population out of depression. Nothing could be further from the truth. And precisely because of all the speeches about economic prosperity and optimistic forecasts for job creation, Neel Kashkari, a candidate for Governor of California, wanted to see for himself how much truth there is in that prosperity for poor people and small businesses.
To do so, Kashkari came up with the idea of passing himself off as a homeless person trying to escape his situation by finding a job. His adventure consisted of setting off by train with 40 dollars and a change of clothes to live at the bottom of society for a week, a feat that was reported by the Wall Street Journal.
When he arrived in California, a land of opportunity and constant growth, he started looking for work. He found that not a single company was hiring, even though he was looking for dead-end jobs paying the minimum wage.
He offered to do anything: wash dishes, sweep floors, cook, wait tables… and nothing. He went all over the city and could not find a single job opening. He saw how packed the queue at the food bank was. With only 40 dollars he could not afford a hotel, so he decided to sleep on the street in places where he would not bother anyone.
But on half of those 7 nights he was not allowed to sleep in peace, because the police themselves woke him up to warn him that he could not sleep there.
Kashkari lived in the world of poverty, a world where many, many people do not have a single opportunity, and that is what motivates him to unseat Governor Jerry Brown, who says that California is doing fine and everything is going perfectly.
Kashkari blames extreme poverty on excessive regulation and excessive taxes, as well as on poor schools that do not properly prepare students to be competent in skilled jobs.
He says that now that he has seen the problem up close and lived in it, he realises that as a politician you have the power to tackle poverty if you take smart economic measures.
Conclusion
It may well be a ploy by this would-be governor to get some publicity and show voters that he is interested in solving the problem. Either way, the truth is that he has done something innovative here.
But I am sure that in those 7 days this man learned much more about political management than other politicians do in their whole lives, because most of them just talk and talk as if they understood the problems: as if a rise in electricity prices were a sacrifice a family can afford when it has long had to scrutinise every cent it spends on food. As if dressing up the word “cuts” as “structural reforms” made people take it better when there is nothing left to cut.
That is why I still think that until there are politicians who do not come from the world of politics, there will be no real solutions for ordinary people. As long as there are no politicians with motivating stories of effort, of overcoming hardship, of real contact with society, it is impossible for anyone up there to identify with anyone down here.
Featured image: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
