There is fear, pain and anger on all sides of the political divide in our nation right now. I know I am afraid, I am pained, particularly for my friends that are members of historically marginalized populations. I am angry that the state of our politics have come to this disheartening point.
The root of this divide comes down to an inability to comprehend truth any longer. No, not the truth or lies contained within a politicians political rhetoric, not the truth of the basis of a parties political ideology. We no longer have the ability to comprehend the truth of the lived experience of those on the other side of the political divide.
Most Trump voters do not comprehend the truth of black and brown people in this country regarding the limited opportunities enforced by our system, they do not comprehend the truth of the fear for physical safety for themselves, for their friends, for their loved ones. They do not feel the truth of how hurtful disregard of these deep seated fears are. I know my heart aches for my friends facing this pain and fear. Know that I am with you
That said, I refuse to believe that all the voters that voted for Trump are hopeless racists. Certainly far too many of them are. that said, far too many of us refuse to see the truth of their pain. Men in white rural areas are suffering from shortening lifespans for the first time in American History since the decline at the start of the industrial era and the initial rural to urban migration. That is one truth of their pain. They have lost a great deal of stability economically (I know it is galling to hear that if you are a member of a historically oppressed population who still suffer from less opportunity in our society to this day, but it is their truth). They are, as members of oppressed communities always have been, being forced to bear the costs of our corporatist capitalist society, while others derive almost all of the profit from their labor, that is not only their truth, it is actually all of our truths.
To bridge the divide we need to try and understand each others truths and try to become united. The Trump and Brexit vote was mostly a repudiation of the economic order established by the elections of Reagan and Thatcher. Let us take this opportunity to stop hating each other, stop fearing each other and come together to beat back an amoral economic system depriving far too many of us of economic stability in an era of the most economic plenty in the history of the world.
Don't rage against the Trump voter, rage against a system that DISMANTLED fixed benefit pension systems that provided stability for millions of white middle class workers. That is what many Trump voters were doing. Politicians facilitated that process of dismantling that system rather than defending it and trying to make that old hallmark of economic stability to a more diverse range of people.
Don't rage against the Trump voter, rage against a system that has turned HUMAN BEINGS into disposable machine parts, categorized as "cost centers", to be cast aside to boost short term stock prices. Politicians remained silent as that amoral business culture has infiltrated all business practice, even the non-profit universe. Stand up, demand better for everyone, do not remain silent to please the donor class. It is sick that invariably stock prices go up for a company just because they announce layoffs, it is a perverse incentive system and reflects upon our sick system. Rage against that sick system. I certainly feel this pain having been disposed of myself.
Don't rage against the Trump voter, rage against a system where we have gone from non-executive wages making up 28% of GDP in the late 1970s to a meager 15% today. Politicians have remained silent on this radical shift in share of GDP. We should come together with the Trump supporter and demand we return value to labor and end the wealth extracting business model our economic policy framework favors. It is no longer the british redcoat enforcing a practice of wealth extraction from their colonies, it is big box stores like Walmart that have colonized and gutted small businesses across much of rural America. It is Amazon.com and Uber transforming that wealth extraction model. We should join together to overturn that system. We in our cities provide enough scale to counter the big box stores and retain a certain amount of our wealth. Rural america just becomes decimated under this system.
Look, i get the pain, I get the anger, we need to end the madness of this failed oppressive system to open opportunity for a broader spectrum of people. I fear deeply for my friends. We must stand vigilant in defense of those we love. These are troubling times, we must fight to protect ourselves, but we must try to understand each sides truths as well, we must, or we are doomed to more pain and suffering and fear and those seeking to divide us all will only continue to prosper.