So… Red America wanted to shake up Washington to get something done. Problem is they decided to go about it without understanding what was going on.
If you listen to many Trump supporters you will hear a common refrain, “government isn’t working”. So they decided to drain the swamp! Problem is, they only wound up feeding the beast that made the swamp so dysfunctional in the first place. They wound up supporting the very same folks who ground government for working people to a screeching halt. The same folks who told them that there government was being ruined by a “Kenyan Muslim Socialist”. And they still don’t understand just how wrong they got it.
When the Republican administration of George W. Bush went plunging off the rails in late 2007, in the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression did the Republicans in Congress pitch right in to try to save it? No… they did just the opposite. They decided to oppose any attempts by the newly elected president to pull the US and World economies back from the abyss.
Were they for saving the auto industry and the thousand of jobs it sustains. Nope, they advocated letting the whole industry die.
Did they support the proposed infrastructure initiative and the thousands of new jobs it would bring. Nope… they opposed the spending, because taxes.
With some 20+ million Americans without health insurance and millions more under insured and in danger of medical induced bankruptcy, did they pitch in to come up with a viable plan to insure the uninsured or support the plan concocted by a Republican Govenor? Nope… they tried to kill it and then spent years denigrating it and trying to end it. Did they have a viable alternative for the tens of millions of Americans in need? Nope… just promises to “repeal and replace”.
Time after time Republicans in Congress have opposed any solution that was not initiated by themselves. Time after time they have injected danger into our economic system by refusing to raise the debt limit and/or shutting down the government.
They have tried to cripple efficient government by refusing to confirm nominees to the agencies that protect regular working folks from the excesses of business greed.
They have refuted the widely held scientific consensus on climate change, opposed funding government services, and pandered to the folks who brought you the incredibly shrinking 401K plan and the housing-mortgage collapse. Millions of Americans lost homes, did they act to help them. Nope!
But the whole time, they have raged against Obama and his Socialist government. Oh and they have investigated, at taxpayer expense anything that moved and looked Clinton. What they didn’t do was work to improve the admittedly imperfect solutions that were offered.
They didn’t pitch in and try to help those “blue collar” folks in the rust belt, or anywhere else for that matter. Instead they blamed unions for making it hard for employers. The very same unions that spent decades fighting for fair wages and working conditions for the blue collar folks they profess to love. They tried to disenfranchise voters, especially poor and minority voters. There’s more, but Red America has been told already to ignored it and blame the immigrants.
But Red America did have a solution - they elected a ton of Tea Party supporters who think that compromise when legislating for a big diverse country of over 300 million citizens with a multiplicity of needs and views is a bad thing. (They seem to like one size fits all – if that size is Republican)
Now, in an effort to clear the log jam and drain the swamp, Red America has elected as president a man who thought the campaign was a reality show and has not a clue about how the government works, or doesn’t work. And to help him they have turned a blind eye to his KKK, Neo-Nazi and conspiracy-crazed supporters, like his newly proposed chief strategist Mr. Bannon.
Instead of draining the swamp they have decided to feed the Alligators. And even before they get the keys to the door to the White House they are already proposing to “help” their blue collar supporters by turning Medicare, the primary medical system for old folks to Medi-Stamps… where you can shop wherever you want, but you have to pay for it. Oh, and they are going to bring back jobs by increasing the tax subsidies to the big business billionaires, cutting off your access to cheap overseas goods and deporting millions of your neighbors.
Of course this will bring those low wage jobs right back home – at low wages. But hey, don’t we want to work for the same wages the Chinese and Mexican workers get?
A lot of us are confused and fearful about what happens next, as we see the line-up of Trump nominees for government jobs. Many of us have lived through the bad old days of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, witnessed the strife and turmoil and buried far too many allies who struggled to make America great. Now we are filled with despair and looking for direction, afraid that we will be subsumed in a tidal wave of Misogyny, racism, homophobia and other such threats. But I urge you, do not give into despair. We are legion! Hillary got 61+ million votes. Almost 2 million more that Trump. That ain’t nothing. We are not alone. If we stand and fight, if we refuse to concede to the forces of hate, fear and division, we can save our country! (Imagine 61 million people descending on Washington, or even 5 million!)
WE ARE LEGION! We can and must stand together against violence directed at our neighbors and ourselves. We must not be cowed into accepting racists in the White House. Raise your voice! Write a letter to Ryan, McConnell and your Senator and Congressperson. Support each other. Get Active. Write, shout, stomp your feet! But whatever you do, don’t just sit there and wring your hands and weep.
As Dylan Thomas wrote … “Do not Go Gently into that Goodnight… Rage, rage against the dying of the light!”