Stay on this road, progressives!
If you’re like me you are still somewhere in the denial phase of your grieving over this week’s results, and wandering from task to task and place to place in a virtual fog of disbelief mixed with sorrow and maybe a bit of rage. But you might also be starting to have a few stray clear thoughts, just a couple, and some of them may be along the lines of: How the hell did this happen? and: What can we do to prevent it from happening again?
My social media feeds are full of earnest soul-searching and there is one theme that I see popping up with distressing frequency: we need to a better job of understanding the frustrations of white working class (WWC) men, and cater to their wounded sense of dignity. Hey, they were the ones who voted for Trump, right? So, our solution is to get them to vote our way next time.
My answer: Bullshit.
Our vision of a pluralistic, just America got more votes. Our vision of a competent candidate got more votes. Our vision of a president who is not another white dude got more votes. And we will get more votes in every presidential election for a long time — at least, as long as the other side aligns itself with either hate (Trump) or eliminating programs that help vast numbers of Americans (Ryan) — and as long as we represent an inclusive and equitable future. We represent what the vast majority of Americans take to be NORMAL. We represent the real America. We do not take help from the Russians. Unlike our opponents we do not secretly — and now overtly — wish for an American version of authoritarianism. We manage the economy equitably and successfully.
These things are true, and a narrow loss in a structurally disadvantageous Electoral College does not change them.
Yes, our candidate was not as much of a vote getter as we hoped. In the popularity contest that is a U.S. presidential election it’s not the most qualified person who wins, it’s the most charismatic. We need to get that right next time. But our coalition was the right one and if we get the charismatic thing right will be even more so the next time around. So hold tight, Democrats, STAY THE COURSE. We lost this one, but this is a temporary setback; they are going to vandalize a lot of our government, and it will suck, but we will have our chance to set this right really soon, and in more or less the same way we have been doing it.
