“If there is any echo to the past of the conditions that we’re living in today, versus the past, it is the turn of the 20th century. There was such change then. There was people’s nostalgia for an earlier America. There were a lot of immigrants coming into America from abroad. There was a populist feeling. People in the country felt cut off from people in the city. There was a big rise in the income gap, which had never happened before because of the Industrial Revolution, and there was a lot of anarchism and turmoil and luckily, a leader arose — Teddy Roosevelt — who was able to grab the center with the Square Deal. He was a progressive but not an extremist and he was part of the Republican Party. He was conservative but he brought them along.”
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Citizens were active during TR’s time. How does that compare with today?
“I think that’s what was encouraging about the 2016 elections. More people voting than ever before, more women getting into office than ever before, more veterans than in recent years. Veterans know how to have a common purpose to argue for instead of just whatever their background is. There is not a coincidence that we had bipartisanship in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s — more than now — because three out of four congressmen and senators were veterans. They had been in World War II or the Korean War so they were able to transcend sectional or religious lines — even racial lines. I think things are moving in a direction of citizen activism. There is more interest politics than for some time and we have got to hope that that’s a good thing for the citizens having some role in shaping what happens in 2020.”
Do you think Donald Trump will be re-elected?
She said it depends on what facts come out and how they are used to frame a story to shape public sentiment — which is more difficult to do now with social media, breaking news and multiple channels.
“I think (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi is right to be moving slowly and trying to figure out how to best get the story out to the American people. What (Abraham) Lincoln said, which I really believe in, is that ‘With public sentiment, anything is possible and without it, nothing is possible.’ Unless public sentiment really begins to feel that Donald Trump should not be in office, I worry about impeachment making it go in the opposite direction.”
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What are the chances a woman will be elected President of the United States?
“It’s just crazy that we’re so far behind other countries in this regard. I really do think we’re ready for it. More women are getting into office, more women are graduating college, more women are going to med school, more women are everywhere now. I have real faith in the future – I just hope it happens while I’m still alive.”
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