From part one of the WaPo’s four-part article, The Great Unsettling:
So much anger out there in America.
Anger at Wall Street. Anger at Muslims. Anger at trade deals. Anger at Washington. Anger at police shootings of young black men. Anger at President Obama. Anger at Republican obstructionists. Anger about political correctness. Anger about the role of big money in campaigns. Anger about the poisoned water of Flint, Mich. Anger about deportations. Anger about undocumented immigrants. Anger about a career that didn’t go as expected. Anger about a lost way of life. Mob anger at groups of protesters in their midst. Specific anger and undefined anger and even anger about anger.
And more:
In this season of discontent, there were still as many expressions of hope as of fear. On a larger level, there were as many communities enjoying a sense of revival as there were fighting against deterioration and despair.
We do not really know which party will pay the piper in November; the results are not even close to being knowable. Right now, the middle ground between the two parties has become more permeable than ever before in living memory, in large part due to failed expectations by both parties.
The Democratic Party has a deep fault line between its FDR-inspired branch, and its corporatist branch, represented these days by Hillary Clinton, which uses a surface fealty to social issues to differentiate it from the Republicans.
The country lucked out with FDR. He was a pragmatist, with no love of theory, and a willingness to entertain any idea on the basis of whether it would “work” or not. He was better than most other pols because, more than any other president after Lincoln, he was willing to look objectively at the ideas proposed by the left. Here is FDR on October 31, 1936, reflecting on his first term:
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace–business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me–and I welcome their hatred.
FDR was also willing to look at right wing ideas. In fact, he campaigned in 1932 on the promise of balancing the budget, an idea that could have been catastrophic. He revived the idea in his second term, almost sinking the New Deal, but the better ideas won out.
By contrast, the Republican Party is a collection of “high-minded” people, each with an obsession from which she/he cannot be dissuaded; like believing that tax cuts create massive GNP growth, or as Donald Trump believes, America can have tax cuts, undertake a huge military buildup and balance the budget without any cuts in benefits to Americans over 55.
Republicans continue to think the US is a “Christian” nation, they think only English should be spoken, and that all immigrants should be deported, and some believe that the 16th Amendment (allowing the federal government to levy taxes) should be repealed.
By contrast, the Democratic Party is a coalition of broad-minded people, trying always to stitch together interest groups and their needs with a leader of consequence to deliver change.
There are two schools of political thought when it comes to elections:
- Vote for the person, not the party
- Vote for the party, not the person
Democrats believe in #1, while Republicans believe in #2. This is why R’s will accept Trump as a presidential candidate, and it is why Dems think that is a crazy idea.
But Republicans didn’t count on Donald Trump, or his hostile takeover of their Party.
The question for the rest of 2016 is whether all of the manifest anger expressed by Americans will be put to good use, or if it will be used to give voice to thuggery and racism (Trump) or religious extremism (Cruz).
Public service is a duty and the calling doesn’t come quickly or easily. And that high-mindedness is absent in those that go into politics to gain personal wealth and power, like The Donald, or most of those in Congress.
Wrongo,
That broad brush you use must be pretty heavy. Don’t hurt your hand while you are painting us with it.
Really? All Republicans are against taxes? We all think this is a Christian nation?
Normally I enjoy your posts simply because they can put forth ideas that are thoughtful. This one, honestly, is offensive. You have put forth that all Republican are dolts and all Democrats are geniuses. I find the assertion laughable. Two words – Al Sharpton.
There is plenty of anger out there. That anger stems from the fact that the government has two hands in our pockets. That all levels of government are corrupt. That big businesses are making mad money and moving offshore. Small businesses are getting killed. We can’t control our borders. People want to take my guns. My freedom of speech and my right to call another person a moron.
Get you head out of the sand. This little experiment is in a death spiral. We need to RADICALLY change how our government functions. By that I mean that We The People need to take back the power that we have given over to the so-called protectors of our country. In the beginning the power was with the states and bound by the federal government to guide our common interests. Today the power resides with the fed and it is controlled by purse strings.
We the People are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. Put forth Bernie or Hillary or any other limp wristed, lying socialist. They may win, but in the end we will all lose as this country is driven into the ground on a platform of love, peace and participation trophies for all.
BTW: I did like your closing paragraph. 🙂
Way to go, making an angry comment about where we go with all the anger in politics! The central points are that there has been a hostile takeover of the GOP, that both parties are fracturing and in search of answers, and are not finding a way to channel the anger positivily.
Another point is that both parties now need to look to a person, not to the party, and neither have that person.
If I said “some” before “Repubs continue to think”, would you have backed off of saying Bernie & Hillary are “lying scialists”?
Or, socialists
No…I think Hillary has a proven record of lying and Bernie calls himself a socialist. It was about two people not half of the country. I was using my narrow water colors brush.