Sunday, April 9, 2017

Why and How America Lost the 2016 Election

A lot of people wonder and have various thoughts on what happened.  Some even think they won the election.
I am however of the opinion that no one acually won, insteads ome people did not lose as badly as others.
Some saw it as a contest between Globalists vs. Nationalists vs. Tribalists
A lot of people have been talking about these things lately and I recently read yet another person who felt Trump won because of the hated he stirred up.
While I do agree the anger and hatred where a major component of  the Trump victory I really dont feel it was mostly so called nationalism, or as the author that inspired this post called it tribalism that was the key.  Certainly it played a part however.

And Hillary Clinton recently came out of seclusion and yet again made it clear the Democrats still have not learned the lesson.
First some definitions....

Terminology: Globalism  Defined by Webster

The idea is that the world is one place and we all need to work together or at least understand and keep others in mind.  Progressives and Liberals tend to favor this ideology as does Christian doctrine. While you may not get along with everyone you do need to be aware of them and should help them. As a pragmatic view it is also important not to isolate yourselves or ignore everyone else as that will weaken you.

Terminology: Nationalism  Defined by Webster

Basically my country right or wrong.  Work for your country first and always and forget about everyone else.  The extreme views of this are isolationism and it is favored by many conservatives.

Terminology: Tribalism  Defined by Webster

My group first and last.  This view is shared by the more extreme conservatives and racial or other bigots.  They often pretend to be nationalists but in reality it is not their country they favor or support but the subsection of their own group.  White males for example.

As you can see going farther up the line from Tribalism to Nationalism, to Globalism is more humanism and higher levels of morality or essentially being a decent human being.
While it may not be the so called humane or "good" thing to do some understanding of the selfishness of the lower tiers is understandable. Self sacrificing or putting others needs before your own may make it harder for you to succeed.  So each of us must find our own balance.

Trump did not win because of Nationalism, it should have been obvious to anyone he was not running for the betterment of ALL of America.  He made that perfectly clear in his speeches, instead he ran on a Tribalism platform and that did indeed attract many racists, misogynists, and other "deplorables".

This leads us to the last of the ever popular labels.

Anti-Establishment

This is really where most of the people who voted for him land.  I think few people believed he was less corrupt than Hillary Clinton, and he never gave specific plans for bringing back jobs or growing the economy so few should have really thought he was going to be better there.
No what he tapped into was the growing anger and resentment of our representatives in office.
He ran on a platform of getting money and corruption out of politics (Drain the swamp) and as an outsider.
I did not believe he ever intended to do anything other than make himself richer but others did.
However ask yourselves why you or people you know voted for him.  
  • Did he get votes because he was racist? Yes. 
  • Did some vote for him because they thought he would "Drain the Swamp"? Yes.
  • Did some vote for him because they thought he would bring back manufacturing, mining and drilling jobs? Yes
  • Did some vote for him because they thought he was a good businessman? yes.
  • Did some vote for him because he would do tax reform? Yes.
Now all or most of those reasons were not rational if you thought about it.  America was founded on immigration so hating that is hating America itself, No rich white elitist is going to get corruption out of politics as its runs against his own self interest, Manufacturing, mining, etc jobs are shrinking not just due to cheap overseas labor but to automation and no one can turn that clock back, He declared Bankruptcy more than 6 times! Obviously he is no good businessman. Tax reform? this is a guy who refused to show his taxes and declared he has been under audit, no reason to believe he would or could make taxes better for the average American.

Now some people believed him on one or more of those points anyhow but I really do not believe the majority of the country was simply that stupid.
So why did he win?  Anti-Establishment.  He ran as an outsider and people hoped even if they did not believe he would be different.  They KNEW Hillary and the Democrats would be more of he same but maybe, just maybe he would be different.
I think they were fools but I do understand and respect that hope for better.  However as time goes on and each new tweet, blame the other guy for my mistake, the distractions, the pending war with North Korea and Syria (possibly Russia and China), putting wealthy bankers (you know the ones we had to bail out that led to the recession under George Bush) in charge of the economy, anti-education or environment and corporation over people judges and other staffers PROVES he is putting America last and far behind his own self interests.
Republicans took his win as a mandate and justification for their activities so they will strip government down, raise taxes for people to help corporations and continue raking in big donor money,
Democrats will continue blaming Russia, the Media and Progressives like Bernie Sanders for their loss.  Instead of realizing they were all attack focused and though they had policies they did not promote them to people.  They will blame everyone else rather than look what they need to change.
Both parties are horribly wrong.
People did not vote for Republicans they voted against the establishment.  Politicians who do not see that will find themselves struggling next election.  Republicans have a plan for that, by decreasing voter turnout and making it harder for people to vote they know they can offset some of that anger,.

Get out and VOTE

However if we really want change we need to make it happen ourselves.  Get out and vote, we have seen massive rallies and protests at town halls and other events.  We must keep the pressure on but it will do little good if we do not have a vast majority of the country get out and vote.
We still have a democracy so we still have a chance but it is up to everyone to act before we lose it forever.
One big change is getting money out of politics.  We must overturn things like Citizens United that lets corporations buy politicians.  Money buys advertising but it does not directly buy votes.  If you can ignore the fancy ads and empty promises and instead do some research (not just one news site either look for opposing sits to help sort through the propaganda).  talk with people openly and figure out plans.  If you stay at home your vote is for things to remain the same.  You have given up.
Even if you do not win each time you must keep fighting and moving forward or surrender and simply take what is coming.

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