I blame Reagan. And then Bill Clinton put a stake in the heart of the middle class, all in an effort to save his job.
The right wing intelligentsia lauded Reagan's "accomplishments" to the point where they cannot be challenged. In a disinformation campaign they slapped highways and buildings with Reagan's name, as if that would cement their hold on the public consciousness. And the left wing intelligentsia pointed to the economic run-up during Clinton's reign as evidence of his "accomplishments."
And in the process our country became bifurcated, the land of haves and have-nots.
And this has all come home to roost with the ascension of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
Sanders has faded because Hillary was reasonable, whereas the Donald's competitors were all paying fealty to an elite that had lost touch with the rank and file. However, Hillary's beliefs are in question, which means that...
Trump could win in the end. Because he's preaching revolution, whereas Clinton wants more of the same. And that same is not working for so many inhabitants of this great country of ours.
It's not about immigration.
It's about jobs. Give someone a good job, allow them to not only pay their bills, but prosper, and they'll embrace change, because it's working for them. But change hasn't worked for the lower class, the middle class, for decades, so they're ready to revolt.
And it's laughable that Democrats are attacking Trump, they just don't get it, the way to win is by appealing to Trump's voters, his constituency, those ignored by the Republican party for far too long as it satiated fat cats, moneyed interests, while ignoring Joe Public.
But Bill Clinton played to these same movers and shakers. And the left wing intelligentsia stood by as unions were eviscerated, education funds were slashed and tax advantages were given to the rich and powerful. The Democrats were like Britain, or France, in the run-up to World War II... They could see what the Republicans were up to but they were reeling in the wake of Reagan and the Bushes, the right wing takeover of the debate on Fox News and talk radio, and wanted to cocoon as opposed to fight battles, losing all the while.
Germany and Italy were in dire straits after World War I. What did Hitler and Mussolini do? Give the public jobs! Building infrastructure, putting food on the plate and currency in the pocket. Obama refused to ask for more stimulus money, listening too long to Larry Summers, and the Republicans felt there should be pain, that you needed to earn success, knowing nothing about economics, talking about the imminent rise of interest rates when they fell and stayed low to the point where if you have money in the bank you're falling behind.
Both parties lost touch with their constituencies. The little people, who make this country work.
Mark Zuckerberg does not make this country work. Neither does Lloyd Blankfein. You need people to not only do jobs, but to consume, to put money into the system, but in the veneration of the fat cats anybody working for a living wage is viewed as a chump, their only option of getting ahead being the lottery or reality TV.
And you wonder why our country is in trouble.
Hillary may lose to Trump because her message is unclear. Four more years of the same? That's not what the disadvantaged want. As for Trump's insane economic policies, trade barriers and the renegotiation of debts, speaking to the idiocy of these elements misses the point, he's saying he's gonna fix the problem, whereas the Democrats just say to be afraid of him. Huh?
Manufacturing isn't coming back to America. Running to the left on this is missing the point. People need to be given jobs, retrained for today's work force, earn a living wage.
And sure, some of Trump's followers may decry the safety net, because they're working so hard and are not sacrificing. You know who isn't sacrificing? Wall Street. Hedge funders who pay capital gains rates on ordinary income. Trump's followers do want Social Security, they do want health care, but they want to believe their interests are acknowledged, that they have a seat at the table, and right now they don't.
Everybody's making fun of them. Listen to the holier-than-thou left wing, from Hillary to the "New York Times" on down. Telling people they're stupid for supporting Trump. But maybe they're smart, maybe they're sick and tired of being paid lip service when they end up with nothing.
The game is rigged. And when it is, you turn over the table. And that's Trump's play, not Hillary's, and you wonder why he's got traction. Who cares if George Will abandons the party, the party abandoned the voters years ago. And this happened on the left too, I'd like some of that Hillary speech money.
We're going down a bad path folks. The people in Washington have achieved their goal, which is to have us fighting amongst ourselves and missing out on the real issues, the primary benefits. Whether it be online hate or anti-immigrant sentiment, the have-nots are hating those they have access to. Hell, you can't even shake Justin Bieber's hand after the concert anymore, reach and have influence on your Congressperson, those do-nothings earning a paycheck far in excess of what they deserve, with a Cadillac health plan to boot? Throw the bums out. That's what the Trump defenders want. That's what the Bernie followers desire. Instead, they're told to lay down their arms and get in line... Who exactly does that appeal to?
America is all about opportunity, that's the essence of its dream. And that opportunity has not only been squandered, it's been decimated. Trump says he wants to make America great again and what his followers hear is a return to prosperity.
And you're laughing at all of them.
When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. Which is why the disadvantaged took the UK out of the EU and their across the ocean brethren are agitating for Trump.
A change has got to come.
What kind of bizarre world do we live in where you overpay for college, unable to discharge the debt in bankruptcy, solely to get in line for a job. That's the dirty little secret of higher education, it's not about learning, it's about getting a leg up. And at the elite colleges making relationships, establishing a network that the rank and file can never penetrate.
So know two hundred plus years after the founding of our country we've hit a crossroads, it is not business as usual, we cannot secede from the world, we cannot go backward.
But we can come together, we can unlock the gates and let everybody in.
We can hug our brothers and sisters and lend them a hand.
The only way out of this is through unity.
And if Hillary wants to win, she's got to start bringing people together.
Otherwise, the Democrats are going to discover the mob rules.
And they're not in control of it.
Happy Holiday.
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