After the "surprise" 2016 sweep by Republicans nationwide, including the Presidency of the United States of America, by Donald John Trump, I can say at least that I am relieved not to be occupied with passage of TTP/TTIP/TISA trade agreements, war with Russia or the invasion of Syria.
I'm loving the comeuppance in the media. Telling us what we are supposed to believe doesn't work as well anymore.
I've been holding my breath, only pointing out on social media, the success of Republicans has less to do with any virtue in them, than the failure of Dems to stand for the middle class, working poor or poor, abandoning them to globalist/monopoly market forces.
What is a Democrat anymore? What is a Liberal? Whatever they are, we are all about to get a big dose of Republican, whatever that is (retro-grade moneygrubbing and warmongering?)
I didn't vote for Trump; nor did I vote for Hillary. Good conscience, you've got to be kidding me. Democrats are in denial, wanting to shame people like me, because I am clearly a misogynist, racist bigoted stupid idiot, not to vote for Hillary. "Not ready for a woman president," despite that I voted for a woman who wasn't a war-loving economic elitist.
I think one of the biggest problems with America is our inherited Western duality, the indoctrinated tendency to see all things in Absolute good vs evil, black and white, light and dark, not as complementary and necessary to each other, but inherently opposed, ever at war.
Dems still love to mock George W Bush for saying, "you're either with us or you are with the terrorists," But Dems lost this election, in part because Obama and Hillary are not Good, to Trump's Evil, and so Dems did not hold either Obama or Hillary accountable for record income inequality, systemic corruption, a privatized, unchecked, unaccountable military, treating whistleblowers like spies, the total surveillance state, trends toward direct rule by corporation and bank - Dems have no more credibility. What, all this is goood when a Dem presides over it, but evil when a Republican does?
Instead of focusing on issues, Dems reduced the conversation to a gender, ethnic and race one, trying to ride an unenthusiastic coalition of professional women, black folk, Hispanic/Latino and other minorities, Muslim and LGBTQ, focused not on systemic corruption in economics and politics, the war machine, total surveillance, but on white power, white privilege. Not a winning strategy.
A lot of white people suffer in this system too. I want to stand with that coalition, but not if it means I have to hang my head between my knees, for my gender/ethnicity/race.
Dems remain in denial, falling into old divide and conquer patterns, doing it badly. Many are now focusing on the electoral college, as if the electors might flip the vote, give it to Hillary. So that Hillary can preside over a Republican Congress, who only agree on war, and corp, bank and billionaire (monopoly) power? So that you can confirm for all those Bernie and Trump supporters that the system actually is rigged and the establishment will take what it wants no matter what? There is nothing civil about civil war. Hillary didn't lose because everybody who didn't vote for her is a racist bigot woman hater. Acting out of denial is a bad idea, generally.
Grieving takes healing and time. There are many stages. You can't skip or cheat.
So what will Trump do? Not even Trump knows. He said a lot of things on the campaign trail, and I don't necessarily believe he believes half of it, not deeply anyway. There are only two things he said that truly matter to most of his voters, that he will focus on the American economy more than the global, and draining the swamp, cleaning house in Washington.
Hell will have no fury like Trump supporters, if he betrays them by embracing neo-liberal/neo-con principles, embracing the establishment he railed against, reinforcing existing predatory economics favoring monopolies, and the war machine and the total surveillance state continue to expand exponentially.
But then, maybe Trump voters will be like O and H voters, excusing the most heinous because their "good" guy did it.
It's early yet, but it appears Trump is surrounding himself with the ususal characters, who will be incapable of doing anything but reinforcing what is heinous about the status quo, predatory/cannabalistic economics, and incessant warmongering. The sheer momentum of the State will likely overwhelm him, he will simply fall in line, and nothing fundamental will change.
Except that Republicans nation-wide are adept at manipulating the system to entrench themselves. In the next two years they could gerrymander the voter right out of democracy, making America Republican indefinitely. Except that Republican elite are just as dense as Dem elite, and while it remains to be seen whether Dems learn anything from this election, I'm certain elite Republicans won't, offering up nothing but what they have offered up before, over-stepping their "mandate" by about 1000 years.
Pence leading the transition team, a true inside elitist if there ever was one, assures all the same elite actors will be recommended, while the bureaucracies will not be hampered, as much as filled with true believers in the hoax that is climate change, the holy holy market and the sole-sanctity of the fetus.
If there are serious market disruptions in the next two years, part of me expects Trump to go full authoritarian. I'm hoping instead he focuses on cutting the legs out from the Military Industrial Complex, the neo-liberal agenda of direct rule by corp and bank, and rebuilding America's productive capacity.
More, the world needs debt relief. Americans need debt relief. The world needs a reprieve from war. The world needs healing. America needs healing.
I don't hear much of that coming from either party. I don't expect it from a Trump Administration.
~~~ Next post I will focus on some tangible things that could be done, to focus America on healing.
4 comments:
I was listening to Democracy Now a few days ago and according to some reporter Paul Ryan, who is very much for TTP, privatizing Social Security among other NeoLib/NeoCon things is working very closely with Trump so that he can fall in line with the Republican agenda. So, I suspect that all the things that the voters thought they would get from him they won't. I personally don't think that Trump had any intention of helping the working class. I think that, like Edward Bernays, he was a master manipulator. He was able to tap into the anger of the working class in a way that Clinton couldn't. He was ambitious but not sincere. His past of using cheap foreign labor for his products, using Polish workers for construction that he would later stiff out of their money, stealing a Russian immigrant family's home through imminent domain are just some of the things that should have been a red flag for the voters. Granted, Hillary Clinton was of the establishment and was also corrupt, but Trump was seen as something new ( for whatever reason ). He will not keep his promises in the same way that Obama didn't.
Oh, wait. There is one promise that he will keep.
As a climate change denier he won't do a damn thing for the environment.
Oh well. Win some lose some.
Good post. I have been very impressed with Jill Stein, who was interviewed on CBC radio. Quite a few of my most politically savvy USA online friends voted for her. If I lived in the USA, which I am grateful I don't, I would have found it very hard to choose between her and the lesser of two evils. Justin Trudeau has promised electoral reform and an end to first past the post. We shall see. Meanwhile we are looking at a wild card. I am not holding out much hope. Trump may well be the Obama of the Right. A lot of rhetoric about change but when push comes to shove it is the same old neocon crowd. I forsee no follow through on the populist measures, such as pushback on corporate power, but he will still throw the base some meat by curtailing civil rights, first for minorities, then for all. Scary. Watch what happens to comedians. This man does not take well to being joked about.
I lost faith with Obama when he appointed Monsanto man Tom Vilsack to agriculture right at the beginning of his first term, when he was not yet hamstrung by congress. Right now it looks as if the Orange One is surrounding himself with the usual suspects. There are some interesting podcasts out there on the Trump phenomenon. Dan Carlin has an excellent one on populism on Common Sense, and Radio ecoshock did one on the tendency of many working people to veer to the right instead of the left in times of catastrophe. Meanwhile we have gardens to plan and keep us sane. Enjoy your greenhouse!
Thoughtful comments.It's good that people are talking about these things. Chop wood, carry water, life goes on.
This post and the following comments pretty much took the words out of my mouth. Hopefully America emerges from what might be a global initiation, with the U.S. at the center, even stronger in the long run.
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