Saturday, January 28, 2017

A Critical Dilemma

Are Democrats wasting time trying to understand the Trump voter?

We are hearing a lot these days about the need for the Democratic party to reach out to the disaffected white working class voters, listen to them and understand why the voted as they did. This implies that if we know what's eating them we can craft a message that will show them the D's are the ones actually on their side and ride this to victory in 2018. Is this a waste of time? 

To spoil my own punch line, no, I don't think the understanding part is wasted, as this understanding is needed to help craft a response based on the political landscape as it is. We need a rational clear-eyed view of where we are if there is any chance of building a bridge to where we want to be.

The effort that may, indeed, be wasted is the belief that these renegade voters can be convinced in any way that they have been sold a complete hill of magic beans. This post on Alternet from  blogger Forsetti's Justice does an excellent job of laying out the hermetically closed universe of the fundamentalist mind. 

A rigid system of knowledge based on belief acts as a filter to any information that doesn't fit the approved template or is not from one of the "approved" authorities. When Preacher Rick Joyner says Jesus's Apostles "were all Donald Trump", his flock believes that even when multiple news sources report on his frauds, infidelities and crude language. That must all be wrong - "Fake News", or just doesn't matter because they have been told he is one of the Anointed.

This kind of closed knowledge system, particularly susceptible to the "virus" of dangerous, irrational and unfounded beliefs, is the perfect breeding ground for unpersuadable, uncompromising converts who will never question what they are told. If Dear Leader says it is true, it is true, and if you try and tell me otherwise I will know YOU are not to be trusted!

So, friends, how do we respond to this? It is tempting to simply demonize these folks as ignorant morons, but heating up the war of words further won't help anything. There should be an effort to put out, loudly and strongly, the real, verifiable facts, to clearly express why core Liberal values and world views are fundamentally for the working man as opposed to the power of Big Money. 

The very word "Liberal" needs to be reclaimed and rehabilitated from the Right's propaganda campaign which has dragged the proud name of humanism and enlightened progress through the mud. As is so often the case with the reactionary Right, the ugly assertions against Liberalism that it wants to dominate, is corrupt and scheming to control the world is an almost perfect example of projection.

Let's say that all these steps are carried out, the case is made honestly and clearly, the Liberal idea refurbished - will it swing any Trump voters? Perhaps a few of the more open and aware ones, but I would not expect so in mass. But I think this is not the point, which is that we do these things because they are the right things to do, because only through honestly and clarity can we successfully deal with the world as it is. We do these things because it reflects the America we love, the child of the the 18th century enlightenment which has been a beacon to the world for so long: non-secular, rational, promising (if not always delivering) equality and justice for all.

I think if we follow the "true path" of our core beliefs, do not worry ourselves about converting those who will not be converted, but stick with plain truth and honesty we may have a chance to mobilize all those who agree with us but "don't do politics" or were discouraged or too cynical. I think this is becoming the real "silent majority" in the United States of the 21st century.

What do you think?

Update:

Joan Williams at the Harvard Business Review has some some additional insights. She suggests that voters may be swung by focusing on economic issues. Both D's and R's have become such creatures of Big Money that the white working class (WWC) feels abandoned by both. 

Mr. T promised to bring back jobs for HS graduates that can support a family (which he probably can't deliver) and won the election. Policies that actually help raise the living standard of the WWC will need to place a greater burden on the obscenely rich, but of course this administration is moving in the opposite direction.


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