Older Vera
Older Vera is a skilled data analyst and experienced teacher with a passion for making education systems work for all students. He joined the MPA program to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to create policy research that will bring real changes in education policy. His summer internship taught him how to overcome the negativity of the current news cycle and find hope in the inspiring work of the advocates at Public Citizen.
I arrived in Washington D.C. a week before my internship start date, giving me time to reflect on myself and my life. Having just finished another intense semester as a student while working as an instructor and doing a research internship, I found myself burnt out. But it wasn’t really school or work that made me so drained; it was the news.
“Don’t panic! The media thrives on bad news,” I told myself. But this felt different. The media did not need to sensationalize the conduct of Trump and his team of appointees. These people claim that global warming is a hoax and that Wall Street is too regulated but are put in charge of agencies that oversee those exact regulations. Every consumer protection agency has been under attack. Thousands of public servants are quitting their jobs.
As someone who cares deeply about the public good, I was in despair. I tried to relax and vent all the negativity. I let myself enjoy the nice setup provided by the MPA program, five blocks away from the White House in a modern university dorm. Little did I expect that my internship at Public Citizen would do a one-eighty on my outlook for the future.
My first week at my internship felt average compared to other times when I was the new guy on new job. But starting on the second Wednesday, I knew I would look forward to every Wednesday to come. You see, on Wednesdays, interns at Public Citizen gathered for “Lunch and Learn” events in which one of the organization’s project leaders would talk about their work. I was basically meeting top-notch, normal-people superheroes who have been fighting for decades against Big Pharma, Wall Street, Big Oil, and all other supervillains looking to enrich themselves while destroying our environment, putting our lives and health at risk, and taking away our liberties.
My favorite talk was by the director of the Global Trade Watch division, Lori Wallach. Her talk resonated with everyone. I was fascinated by her accounts of beating back corporate influence in politics in the 1970’s and winning many rulings in favor of consumer protection.
However, the excitement of these victories was short-lived. Over the following decades, she discovered that corporations had outsmarted the advocates by injecting protection clauses into trade agreements that made them invulnerable to lawsuits by people and countries. They even designed the court under which they could be sued, so basically no claim against the corporation would stand a chance.
“How do you remain hopeful?” an intern asked.
“You can only make it this far if you remain super positive and accept that fighting for social justice is a long-term battle where any victory can potentially save and better the lives of millions of people,” said Wallach. After a smile and a moment of contemplation, she continued: “We might not always win, but when we win, we win big.”
Thanks to the heroes at Public Citizen, we enjoy safer products; for example, every car now comes equipped with a seatbelt and airbag and many other safety standards the automakers would not have voluntarily included. Public Citizen’s projects have removed dangerous drugs from the marketplace, helped get big money out of politics, championed cleaner energy and fair trade, and slowed the dismantling of consumer protection agencies. More recently, they have exposed the Trump administration’s conflicts of interest and connections to industries they are supposed to regulate.
For the next two years at least, the forecast for democracy and social justice is ominous. Nevertheless, my internship at Public Citizen has helped me create a new frame of mind where negative news is turned into motivation to work harder and learn with more conviction, so one day I can also play a prominent role in shaping a fair society.
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