For many of us, the election is more baffling than calculus in sanskrit. The one thing you can say about Trump is, while he lies to make himself look better, he always tells the truth when telling us how he’s going to implement his dystopian vision of America. I, personally, cannot fathom how anyone who reads, who has a modicum of intelligence and who considers him or herself even nominal Christian can elect Trump.
I’ve been fighting my battle on Facebook, for better or worse. It’s been the only platform I have. A few people have unfriended me. A few more have horribly disappointed me. I’ve been called a cop killer, a traitor and a heretic and I’m sure I’ve given more offense than I’ve gotten. All I’ve learned was the depth and the width of the divide in this country.
Then, in the midst of a fairly bitter debate over healthcare (with an old friend who supports repeal despite the fact it means he won’t be able to get health insurance), I got a message from another old friend, one who is deeply, sincerely religious and for whom I have a great deal of respect and affection.
She was an “abused, divorced woman with no job and two children” and she was denied the help she needed. Over an eight-month period of time her benefits totaled $1,000.
“Thank you. Thank you that the system is so screwed up that the person who has paid into the system since I was 15 could not get the help needed because of my puny level of education, BFA only, the color of my skin, which is white; I was shown the door. Oh you’ll be fine. I’m here to tell you all that the entire system, EVERYTHING is screwed up and I’m an angry, educated, middle class, single, working mom and my government failed me. FAILED ME. I would have BEEN ON THE STREETS with two little girls if not for my family who IS wealthy. Overhaul it all. Count yourselves blessed. You argue over something that doesn’t truly affect you in your station in life. Lose your job, your home, your second bread winner and ALL of your money because of an abusive relationship or whatever and then I might listen to your arguments. I’ve been there. Scared, helpless, thrown away. Where was MY help … Sorry, but I needed help and y’all don’t and you are arguing. Poor and uneducated got it made kid. Not me. I suffered. The mentally ill suffer. Poor and rich are doing great … I’m pissed.”
The Democratic failure is the failure to realize visceral fears sometimes outweigh ideals. When you feel survival is at stake, when you need help to feed your kids and protect yourself, Jefferson’s words don’t mean shit. Survival is the first order. And when you come through it, you’re going to remember who helped you and who didn’t. Even if that memory isn’t rationale. It doesn’t matter that the fear is irrational, especially if you do nothing rationale to address that fear. “My government failed me.” The Ds utterly ignored that and the nation is jeopardy because of it.
People need help. Even those who don’t are scared they might and that it won’t be there. That’s why we see the political commons breaking down. We see a great many officials bragging about the number of people who have gained insurance under the ACA. But we see very little about the people who had insurance and saw their rates rise. Or the people who didn’t and were forced to buy it but didn’t qualify for subsidies. That they are better off with insurance, that the cost of insurance has nothing to do with Obamacare means nothing to people who feel they are in jeopardy. And being told it’s for society in general does nothing but make it worse. No one wants to be sacrificed for the greater good. The Ds need to explain why it’s better for them. They need to explain why healthcare costs are going up. And they need to quit pussyfooting around single-payer.
My friend’s problems weren’t caused by other people who got benefits. She wasn’t the victim of disparate treatment from the government. She was just failed by the government. The reasons why don’t matter. When the Democrats insist in that system is working, when they simply blow her off as racist, when they ignore her concerns, real or not, they lose. They allow Trump to swoop in and tap that anger (I don’t know who my friend voted for, for the record) and offer an outlet for that anger. Trump, more than anything else, is the candidate of rage. And the D’s allow that rage to flow unabated.
If we’re not going to drown in a wave of anger, ideals have to be communicated and rage has to be addressed. That doesn’t mean pandered to, but explained. The anger needs to be met head on, not dismissed as a mere character flaw. Most importantly, the Democrats have to listen, not, as the Facebook meme goes, to reply, but listen to understand. You need to see what people are really scared of. It’s not government’s job to give us what we want, but to protect us from what we fear.
There are people who are just never going to get it. There are people who support the racism and xenophobia that is the mother’s milk of Trump’s electoral success. They are a lost cause. But my friend isn’t. Her anger needs to be listened to. She needs to hear a party talking to her and when she’s pissed and no one wants to deal with her, she’s going to listen to the guy who’s pissed too.
“My government failed me.” Nothing the GOP is doing will make that better. That makes it more important than ever for the Democrats to meet that head on. The GOP wants government to fail. That anger will not away. That anger is what will lead to revolution.
Oran Today 