Fear, Frustration, Anger and the American Dream

Fear, Frustration, Anger and the American Dream

Three weeks ago I wrote a paper posted on Troy Patch entitled "We Elected a New President and I Lost a Daughter" and I subsequently received an email from an Editor at Patch.com stating that in three short days my blog had received 4,916 views and 372 comments…mostly negative I might add. In the meantime, I have spent five days with my daughter and grandchildren back in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area over Thanksgiving where the subject of politics was never discussed.

I am still struggling to understand why there is so much hate for not only the President-Elect, but for anyone that voted for him. Have we become so tone deaf and obstinate that we cannot show good manners and work together to achieve what is good for America? Why is civil disobedience acceptable? Since when does a wrong make a right?

In order to understand the underlying reason why Trump won is to look back to 2001 when the US Supreme Court ruled corporate and individual political contributions as expressions of free speech and that these donations needn’t be documented. Prior to this admission, contributions were channeled through the prospective political party. As a result, the parties lost control of the money and gave rise to what is termed today as “dark money” where corporate entities and individuals have a direct pipeline into the candidate of their choice. Furthermore, technology has impacted the directional flow of contributions so that anyone with the flick of a key on their smart phones can send $5, $20 or more directly to the candidate and the candidate has a more direct influence on the voter through communication social networks like Tweet or Facebook.

• See Also: We Elected a President and I Lost a Daughter

A further impact was the result of the 2008 election where Obama figuratively stole the nomination out of the hands of the “party anointed candidate”. As a result, the Democratic Party created “super delegates” that virtually assured the nomination for Clinton even though Sanders actually won more traditional state delegates than Clinton. Whereas, the Republican Party, stinging from the defeat, regrouped and formed a position of winning the control of the Senate and House at both the federal and state level and increasing their lead of the governorships. By doing this, they were able to control the reapportioning of districts that would assure them long-term control. Unfortunately, by reapportioning districts that essentially guaranteed the continued re-election of representatives, has caused a shift in both parties from the center to the far right and far left resulting in legislative gridlock.

This election saw over 127 million voters casting their ballots…Clinton won the popular vote by approximately 2.5 million votes for only the second time in our history, but Trump won the Electoral College votes by maintaining those states won by Romney in 2012 and adding the five key states of Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania…this may be a harbinger of future elections. It is important to point out that Trump won these five states by the total of only 330,000 votes. In Michigan, the votes for Clinton and Trump were only separated by 10,700…the closest election in Michigan history. 4.8 million votes were cast in the state; however, 88,000 were left blank on the presidential section of the ballot. Additionally, 442,000 ballots were cast for 3rd party candidates as compared to 43,000 in 2012. Trump won 73 of 83 counties in the state and more voters went to the polls in 2016 vs. 2012.

So what explains the Trump victory? As I mentioned earlier, if you really analyze both Trump and Sanders primary campaigns one can see many similarities. Both appealed to what I refer to the fear, frustration and anger of the American voter. The American people are frustrated with the perpetual gridlock in Washington. While our elected representatives and senators idled away with petty arguments and no desire to come to any compromise, our city’s infrastructure was crumbling; manufacturing jobs were lost; more people went on welfare and the true jobless rate hovered around 15% rather than the manipulated numbers published by the White House…and the national debt keeps rising. The petty give and take with no end game in sight reminds me of the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War!

To compound the frustration, the voters were fearful of their safety and are threatened both inside and outside of the country by criminal elements and terrorists. The events in San Bernardino and Orlando, coupled with the attacks in France, along with a seemingly open warfare on our policemen didn’t promise a future we could look forward. Add to this the fear of our children never getting out from under school debt and the thought of criminal elements entering the country under the veil of immigration without sufficient vetting contributed to the swing in voter appeal.

And ultimately the American voter was angry! Anger at corporations reaping excessive profits and moving manufacturing jobs overseas! Anger over free trade not being fair trade! Anger over promises made for an affordable health care plan that has not materialized! Anger that our children have little chance of living a life better than them if conditions don’t change! And anger that the “American Dream” of every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. My generation and the generation that proceeded (the Greatest Generation) had the opportunities that could assure us an equal chance to reach our dreams. My wife and I worked our way through college attending classes at night when college credit cost was affordable. I actually had a small student loan that I paid and thankfully I was able to cover the college cost for my children, but I cannot say the same for my grandchildren. Without scholarships, they will face a heavy burden in the coming years.

Where did we go wrong that a baseball player can sign a contract for $110 million over a 4-year period, but a major bulk of our population survives on less than $12,000 per year with the help of food stamps? Why does a city like Detroit once known as the “Arsenal of Democracy” can’t provide enough jobs or quality education for its citizens?

I am confident that a Trump Administration will try to address the problems and start us on a path to making America great again, but he cannot do it alone. It’s time that we wipe our tears and put aside our emotions and work together…learn to compromise so as to guarantee a promise for our grandchildren!

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons