The Republican Party is Dead. Long live the Republican Party!

May 4, 2016

With today's news of Donald Trump becoming the "presumptive" Republican candidate for President of the United States, I've thought a lot about how he got to that position.  Everyone I know has different thoughts on this, and I recognize that there are many, many factors that have led to it, but in my opinion there are two main causes.  First, is the environment built over the last generation or so by the Republican Party, and second is that like him or hate him, he is an extremely savvy businessman.

After Reagan, the Republican party began to lose its way.  Reagan was a mediocre President who suffered from Alzheimer during his second term.  If it had not been for a super staff and a very determined wife, he never would have made it to the end.   When Bill Clinton became President, some people saw an opportunity to get rich.  Most notably, Rush Limbaugh.  I have to admit, I listened to him in the early 90's, but through him, the Republican core began their decline into incivility.  Daily, he bashed the President, showing no respect for the President or his office.  Everything the President did was wrong no matter what he did.  This continued with even more incivility with President Obama.   Limbaugh would also mock various groups of people in the US.  I can still hear him mocking the poooor.  Over a few years, it became popular to show no respect for anyone in authority and to mock anyone who disagreed with you.  Limbaugh at one time was considered THE most influential Republican, and gave rise to many copycats such as Hannity and a host of others, including most of the personalities on Fox News.  Incivility began to run rampant and out of control in the media.   When was the last time you heard any talking head refer to "President" Obama or "Secretary" Kerry.  Most so-called "conservative" media personalities have openly mocked the President and almost everyone else in a leadership position.  The Republicans openly supported these personalities and adopted them as their mouthpieces.  Therefore, they created the environment they now live in, and they will now pay the price with the person I think to be the most uncivil of  all:  Donald Trump.

I have to give Mr. Trump a lot of credit for what happened.  He is a savvy business man, who has made billions of dollars.  He's had a lot of failures along the way, but all business people do.  He saw and understood the Republican milieu. He wanted to run for the Presidency, but history had taught him that third party candidates, even those who are independently wealthy, don't get media time, are not invited to debates and don't get very far.  So, he, not known to be a Republican supporter, decided to "attack" the Republican Party and essentially caused a coup.   He did this brilliantly and used the milieu they had created against them.  They didn't think he could do it, but he did.  The Republican party as we knew it since the early '90's is dead and I for one am glad for it.

"Poor White Trailer Trash"

Thomas Jefferson wrote, "...vast accession of strength from their younger recruits, who having nothing in them of the feelings or principles of ’76 now look to a single and splendid government of an Aristocracy, founded on banking institutions and monied in corporations under the guise and cloak of their favored branches of manufactures commerce and navigation, riding and ruling over the plundered ploughman and beggared yeomanry."

(Sometimes interpreted as, "The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.")

I've been pissed off all day over something one of my FB friends shared.  It was an article written by some organization called "liberalamerica.org." with the sarcastic title "SHOCKER! Study Shows Most Trump Supporter Really Are Poor White Trailer Trash."  I'm not pissed off because of the so-called "News" (I still think Mr. Trump is very shallow and not at all presidential material).  I am because this group, whoever they are, can get away with mocking a large part of our American society.  This is typical whacko, elite liberal activity...bashing poor whites.  If the same thing was said about poor blacks, there would be a huge outrage.  The article mocks that these folks consider themselves "Americans."  Not Irish...not Celtic...not Russian...not German...not whatever, but "Americans."  My God, how can these people be so screwed up?!  Everyone is supposed to wear their heritage nationality like some kind of a badge of honor.

My first real "exposure" to these "Real Americans" was many years ago when I worked summers in a furnace production factory in Oneida, NY.  These men and women were some of the hardest working people I've ever known, making small wages with no health insurance or retirement, that got one week of paid vacation a year and basically lived payday to payday, and stopped work when they died.  I thoroughly enjoyed working with them, and felt very comfortable around them.  They knew I wasn't of the same "cloth," but accepted me, and one of the men became a very good, long-time friend. 

Like in many US towns and cities, that factory, along with every other factory in Oneida is long gone.  Why?  Because the same products can be made so much cheaper in China (furnaces, coffins, paper products...you name it), and that means that the corporations can keep raising prices on us (not passing the savings along to us) and make a lot more money for the top 1%.  So, these Americans are really pissed off about losing their jobs to workers abroad and not being able to find work here in the US...and I don't blame them.  I'm pissed off about it too!

A segment on PBS News hour a short time ago was about the groups of Americans with the highest suicide rates.  Yep, lower income and low-middle income white folks, with the unskilled/skilled laborers in those groups being the highest with college educated folks of this "class" being second highest.

So, the next time somebody or some organizations accuses me of being too much American (and not enough Irish, Italian, German or whatever) I'm going to take it as a complement and be proud of it!  And the next time I hear people mock "poor white trailer trash" I'll remember all of my PWTT friends and silently thank them for the contributions they made to my life.  (I'll keep hoping that Thomas Jefferson was wrong in his thinking, but I somewhat doubt it).