The Morning Meeting with Al Tompkins is a daily Poynter briefing of story ideas worth considering and other timely context for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins.
When Americans are worried about their own economy, we tend not to pay much attention to the rest of the world’s problems. And then we seem surprised when their problems also become our problems. The pandemic certainly taught us a lesson that countries are interdependent, not independent. And the inflation rates of countries around the globe are causing havoc afar, how many times are U.S. House and Senate candidates even talking about global issues? How often are journalists asking? It is tempting for candidates to embrace an “America First” agenda when voters demand lower inflation. But foreign policy also includes how much aid to send to Ukraine and how to help the economies of Central and South America. The next Congress, for example, will deal with foreign policy issues including:
- Energy and environmental policy, whether to maintain the Paris Accord agreements or shift back toward fossil fuel production and dependance.
- Immigration, including whether to address what the Biden administration calls the “root causes” of migration away from crumbling economies in Central and South America. Candidates too often are getting off the hook by saying they want to stop the border crisis. Beyond building a wall, what would stop desperate people from risking their lives to come to America? What would give them a better alternative than leaving their families and homes?
- International organizations: To what extent will the United States stay connected to the World Health Organization and NATO? The current administration has attempted to patch up those relationships, but backing off again might feel like the relationship is unreliable long-term.
- The Middle East: what should our policies be toward Saudi Arabia and Iran? The drones used to bombard Ukraine this week came from Iran. The Saudis pump a lot of oil and influence with OPEC+, but do we look past human rights atrocities to maintain the oil supply?
- China appears to be getting chummy with Russia while at the same time remaining a huge global economic and military influence. There will be a time, maybe not so far away, when China will make a play for Taiwan. What will America’s position be?
- A global food crisis: The drumbeat is getting louder warning against a potential global food crisis. Russia was a global supplier of fertilizer before Russia invaded Ukraine. European fertilizer plants have been closed because of the high price of natural gas. Yesterday, I told you about millions of chickens and turkeys that have been destroyed because of the avian flu. The UN World Food Program says we are heading for another year of record hunger.” Foreign food importers can’t afford American products because of the high price of the U.S. dollar.
Journalists could ask candidates:
- If China takes military action to control Taiwan, what American response would you support? What would you unconditionally oppose?
- Under what conditions would you support direct American military action to support Ukraine against Russia?
- What are three Congressional actions that you would support to control the flow of immigrants seeking to enter the southern U.S. border?
This week, I taught journalists from a couple of dozen countries who told me about the astonishing rates of inflation in their home countries of Venezuela, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Iran and Turkey. How can people survive in an economy that is running 300%-plus annual inflation?
(International Monetary Fund)
The implications are that such a crisis will force people to flee and will destabilize governments. And as history tells us, when economies crash, there are always people with radical ideas who emerge offering simplistic solutions blaming one group for the problems.
You know what is happening to food costs in the U.S. They are worse in Europe, a direct reflection of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bread prices rose 20% in the last year and will increase even more as we enter winter.
The New York Times reported:
The squeeze has been sharpest in countries nearest to the conflict zone, especially Hungary, where the cost of a basic loaf surged in September by 77 percent from a year ago, according to Eurostat. In Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, bread prices are up over 30 percent.
The whirlwind has come as a shock in Germany, where the cost of bread has shot up over 18 percent in a year, as overall inflation has zoomed into the double digits, too, reaching 10.9 percent in September.
Look over this map and you can see the current inflation rates posted by Eurostat. Ukraine’s inflation rate is 24%. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are not far behind. The Netherlands’ inflation is 17%, and Romania and Serbia are running around 14%. It is going to be a rough and, for some, desperate winter.
The most recent Pew polling on this issue found 45 percent of registered U.S. voters ranking foreign policy as critical compared to the 77 percent who identified the economy as critical. And yet, in so many ways, the two are connected.
I heard a candidate for a Florida state representative seat promise this week that she would stop the fentanyl crisis. Respectfully, no she won’t. Another state house candidate said she would fight inflation. I doubt she will have a lot to say that would affect inflation. Maybe a state rep could make specific promises about specific measures that could give people a break on sales tax or gasoline tax or increase a property tax exemption.
My point is that I am frustrated that journalists are allowing the candidates to set the agenda of what we are covering. The journalists’ job is to press candidates to state positions on important issues that they will likely vote on in the coming term. Campaign coverage is largely about documenting what candidates promise to do so we can hold them accountable when they are in office.
Here are some other questions journalists could ask a midterm candidate:
- What would you support to lessen, prevent and/or reverse the effects of climate change?
- A 55% American majority opposes phasing out the production of new gasoline cars and trucks by 2035, while 43% are in favor. Where do you stand? Background from Pew: “Americans lean against the idea of phasing out gas-powered vehicles by 2035: 55% say they oppose phasing out the production of new gasoline cars and trucks by 2035, compared with 43% who support this proposal. The Biden administration has proposed regulatory efforts on emission standards that would increase the sale of electric vehicles so that half of all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. are electric by 2030. The European Parliament supported a proposal to effectively ban new gas cars and trucks by 2035. Support for phasing out gas-powered vehicles in the U.S. is down slightly from last year, when 47% of Americans favored this idea and 51% were opposed. Democrats and Republicans continue to be deeply divided over whether to end the production of cars and trucks with internal combustion engines. About two-thirds of Democrats favor phasing out gasoline-powered cars and trucks by 2035 (65%). In contrast, just 17% of Republicans support this idea, while an overwhelming majority (82%) oppose it.”
(Pew Research Center)
- 42% of U.S. adults say they are very or somewhat likely to seriously consider purchasing an electric vehicle. What role should the U.S. government have in encouraging the move away from gasoline powered vehicles?
- A majority (63%) says the federal government is doing too little to protect the water quality of rivers, lakes and streams. What should we be doing to protect waterways that we are not doing?
- By a 53% to 45% margin, Pew Research finds Americans are more likely to view stricter environmental laws as worth the cost than to say such laws cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. How will you weigh these competing pressures?
- Lower-income adults, as well as Black and Hispanic adults, are especially likely to report environmental problems in their communities. What will you support to address the environmental issues in those communities? Background from Pew: “Black and Hispanic Americans continue to be more likely than White Americans to report each of these environmental problems in their communities. For example, 63% of Black Americans and 57% of Hispanic Americans say safety of drinking water is at least a moderate problem in their local community, compared with only 33% of non-Hispanic White Americans. There are significant gaps by race and ethnicity when it comes to other environmental problems, including air pollution.”
(Pew Research Center)
