The Realist's Truth: Right Now We Are Not One America, We Are Three Americas
There are small waves, large waves, and tsunamis. There is a red America, a blue America, and a purple America. There are Trumplicans, Sandercrats, and those who aren't certain what they consider themselves to be. What we do know is that most Americans fall somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. Now this is something that is difficult for a writer like myself to admit to. I have always found myself somewhere out on the far fringe of the mainstream left. What I also know is that I have to be a realist, as part of the political fabric of the society. My role is, and should be, to move the electorate a little to the left of center on issues. I am, and should be, an influencer, not a determiner. But that is not the purpose of this blog. This is about where we are today and why our political system is as broken as it is.
We are a country that has moved from being one nation indivisible, to one nation holding on by poorly attached sutures. We describe ourselves as red America or blue America, or in the rare case purple America. We attach labels, frequently false, to each of those Americas. Red America is clearly rural, undereducated, racist, and xenophobic. Blue America is clearly consisting of the cultural elite, are urban or suburban, are gun-hating, minorities or minority lovers, and want to see our country's exceptionality thrown away. Those purple Americans are confused, ignorant and clearly persuadable through fear and attack ads.
Of course, this isn't true. Every one of us is a combination of all the Americas. What we might have are issues that drive our vote. We might be vehemently pro-life or pro-choice, pro-gun control or pro NRA, racist or non-racist. We might hold any of these views in any section of the country. We could be a red voter in a blue state, a blue voter in a red state, or a purple voter in every state. This has been a long standing tradition in American voting behavior.
What, then, has changed? Rhetoric! No longer can you be a Republican if you disagree with President Trump.....Not only on issues that are traditionally Republican, but even on issues that Trump has established as his own orthodoxy. He has transformed the Republican party from a party of ideas and principles to a cult of personality. What is wrong with this? Just about everything! When you see those who identify as republicans, you tend to see people who are locked into the views of the President whether or not they personally agree with them. Some of this is because the base of the party are committed to the personality of the President and not the issues. Loyalty to the leader is more important than loyalty to the principles of the party. This has forced elected officials to prostitute themselves by blindly following the President and moving toward adopting positions that are not necessarily republican and may not even be American. This is not what Red America used to be.
Unfortunately, as the most radical elements of the Republican Party are hijacking their party, the same is, at least partially true, in the Democratic Party. They are moving left, more rapidly than might be healthy, What am I trying to say here? One of the realities of this is that we are, at heart, a centrist nation, wobbling a bit to the left or the right, but remaining firmly anchored to the center. If our two major parties divert too much from being centrist-right and centrist-left, it forces the largest sector of Americans, moderates, a classic Hobson's choice. Do they vote for a reactionary rightist candidate or do they vote for a radically left candidate? In other words, are you more comfortable with a fascist or a socialist?
The rhetoric rules. The winner is generally who lies more efficiently in the general election, or the candidate who can reshape his or her message from the primaries into the general election. It is the candidate who can fool the most people, more of the time.
Our politics desperately needs a major overhaul. That overhaul isn't going to come internally from those already in power, but through the electorate. We have to go back to being multi-issue voters and not personality voters. We must go back to a system in which ethics and morals count toward a politician's electability. As a nation, we have a responsibility to one another to protect our American sovereignty. We have to look at all the issues and the experience that the candidate has in solving those issues. We have to find ways to make every potential voter active in the process and be certain that they demand honest discussion of the problems facing the nation and the candidate's proposed solutions.
There must be a true vetting of potential candidates. That is not to say that a candidate can't ever have committed a moral or ethical mistake, but a candidate whose history is "fatally flawed" should have the information made public at the outset and not with an endless dribble either pre-or-post election. All candidates should have to make full financial disclosures including the release of at least the last five years of tax returns.
What we need to become once again is a purple nation......one where every vote counts and every citizen has the opportunity to vote. We need non-gerrymandered districts and transparent election laws.
It will only be then that those of us out on the farther ends of the political spectrum can go back to doing what we should be doing. We will then be able to influence the electorate with the power of our ideas and allow our political process to move forward in the manner that has made this country exceptional.
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Do people see that remedies are needed to fix our system? What are they? Do you think that the system is broken? Let's try to play nice and discuss this issue civilly.
I rather have the three Americas. That way when one thinks their role is to move the electorate a little to the left of center on issues they run into a brick wall.
Movement on the pendulum is inevitable. In fact, when we look at the arc of history, every time this nation has taken a step toward conservatism it has responded with two steps toward the left. That's how we got child labor laws, women's right to vote, the civil rights act, social security, medicare, etc. The pendulum is on a right swing now, but the chances are that it will be a short swing. Immigration and health care will probably be the catalysts toward the swing.
Good article. I feel part of the problem is technology is giving the extremists on either end of the spectrum the ability to appear like a larger portion of the population than they really are. In reality the large majority of people are centrists that do not allow the knee jerk reactions to move them. Examples being the NFL protests and the chik fila issue. With people and the media blaring these issues you would think it must be a big issue. Yet the NFL and the fast food place are doing fine. Why? Because the average person doesn't care and it doesn't effect them that much.
We have let the extremists dictate the narrative for too long. unfortunately businesses and corporations are knee jerking responses to groups they are worried are larger than they are because they organize and bombard the businesses with social media posts.
another example... papa John's. If thy didn't do anything they probably would have gotten a negligible drop in sales. The issue with NYT hiring someone with racist tweets themselves will not see a real dip in sales. People are burned out with outrage and just live their lives. They don't care. Not saying that is a bad thing.
Article has much merit.
But through it all the oligarch mindset spearheaded by Putin continues to smile.
Let me start with two quotes from William F. Buckley Jr.
A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.
Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view.
I believe these quotes are two sides of the same coin. They show that neither side will listen to the other side. And therein lies our current quandry. For those willing to “discuss” our political situation, most are not willing to listen to arguments of the other side, if any argument is even given. Most “discussion” consists of authoritarian statements. No facts or statistics are given. It is an either/or discussion. This is not a debate. This is a “because you are not me you are wrong” statement.
Some would say social media is at fault because we can create an 'echo chamber' or 'social bubble' or whatever. We have always had these things, they were just more hidden from public view before the webs. The people who are willing to express certain views on social media are the same types of people who used to write letters to the editor. It isn't the media, it is the users.
So is the system broken? Not in my opinion. It is the users who are broken. It is the users who only want the government to tell them they are safe so they can feel safe. It is the users who want the government to “do something” to make it all better. It is the non-informed users of the system who are to blame for both the rhetoric and the inexorable slide into entropy.
I couldn't agree with you more. Politicians generally reflect their potential constituencies. Governing is a job and you have to satisfy your boss (The voter). I can't count the number of politicians whose views have "evolved" as their voter demographic has changed. The old saying, " I have seen the enemy and it is us" truly applies to our politics. But the reality is that we may have different views, but most of us love our nation equally. We just have to accept that.
I'm going to disagree somewhat here. The best I have been able to tell, a politicians job is to stay in office. He has to satisfy those who are filling his coffers by convincing the voter in some fashion (lie) that he is taking care of them.