I read an interesting article by Arlie Russell Hochschild from the September/October Mother Jones Magazine on the differences between Tea Party and Trump fans. As a progressive I yearn to better understand these groups, even if I disagree with them. In it there is the following “deep story” that seems to motivate both groups:
What the people I interviewed were drawn to was not necessarily the particulars of these theories. It was the deep story underlying them—an account of life as it feels to them. Some such account underlies all beliefs, right or left, I think. The deep story of the right goes like this:
You are patiently standing in the middle of a long line stretching toward the horizon, where the American Dream awaits. But as you wait, you see people cutting in line ahead of you. Many of these line-cutters are black—beneficiaries of affirmative action or welfare. Some are career-driven women pushing into jobs they never had before. Then you see immigrants, Mexicans, Somalis, the Syrian refugees yet to come. As you wait in this unmoving line, you're being asked to feel sorry for them all. You have a good heart. But who is deciding who you should feel compassion for? Then you see President Barack Hussein Obama waving the line-cutters forward. He's on their side. In fact, isn't he a line-cutter too? How did this fatherless black guy pay for Harvard? As you wait your turn, Obama is using the money in your pocket to help the line-cutters. He and his liberal backers have removed the shame from taking. The government has become an instrument for redistributing your money to the undeserving. It's not your government anymore; it's theirs.
I checked this distillation with those I interviewed to see if this version of the deep story rang true. Some altered it a bit ("the line-waiters form a new line") or emphasized a particular point (those in back are paying for the line-cutters). But all of them agreed it was their story. One man said, "I live your analogy." Another said, "You read my mind."
Here is the link to the complete article.
Let me add a different "deep story" that which motivates me, and possibly the reader:
Private Industry, with substantial assistance from government and our nation’s infrastructure, has created a miraculous money machine with economic growth as well as improved productivity etc. Money rains from the sky ... but none of it ever seems to reach the ground, where the "ordinary" people (a wide swath of lower/middle class/multi ethnic/racial/country-of-origin etc) live. This is because the rich have constructed giant upside-down umbrellas to capture this money and divert it. But these umbrellas block the rain and sun too, making self-sufficiency impossible for these “ordinary” people. The rich live in their penthouses above the umbrellas in the light. They demand the government continue to contribute to keeping the money machines alive using tax money, but also demand ever lower taxes for themselves.
In the meanwhile, the country is withering away. It isn't clear if the rich can see below the umbrellas, or just don't have the interest to look down. On the other hand, a substantial portion of the “ordinary folks” are blind to the umbrellas, suspecting each other as the cause of our implacable problems. Many do not vote, but those that do are somehow hoodwinked into voting for candidates opening advocating the status quo and worse.
This is my deep story. I am lucky enough to be male, white and college educated. At $12/hr I am beginning to wonder if food stamps or medicaid could help me survive. I have some 401k money set aside but I am terrified I won't make it to retirement. I suspect the recently reported white malaise (excess deaths due to drugs, alcohol, and suicide) among non-college-educated white males will soon spread to those who have college degrees.
I can't afford Obamacare. So I am one medical emergency from losing those 401ks and then bankruptcy.
So how different is this deep story from that shared in this article?