On CNN a week or two ago I heard a familiar refrain from a Hillary Clinton supporter. She said in so many words, “its not our fault, we just made some tactical mistakes, Jim Comey screwed everything up, there’s a real problem with sexism and misogyny, we failed to get out some Latinos and African Americans, she won the popular vote, and yes we should look at the electoral college because its not democratic.” Of course these aren’t her exact words, but the gist seems to be the same. This reminds me of 2010 when the Democrats lost and basically said hey, we didn’t misunderstand the electorate, they misunderstood us. Today Chuck Schumer said we need to communicate our message better that we want change and to resolve the economic problems that people are struggling with.
Let me try to make this clear to the Democrats. You lost because you have the wrong message and you put down, disrespect, belittle and take for granted the single largest minority in the country - the white working poor. You also lost because you are insiders who treat outsiders as if they are idiots. It’s pretty easy for the national Democratic Party to win in places like California where you hand out money and perks to various minority groups while the Republicans disrespect them. Essentially the system amounts to legal bribery. It’s a quid pro quo. You vote for us we will continue giving you handouts. Woe betide the Democrats if the Republicans start doling out social justice and create new ways of enhancing the lot of minorities than throwing money at them.
This election had nothing to do with misogyny and very little to do with Donald Trump’s remarks on tape. Don’t get me wrong. Donald Trump is a total sleaze-ball. He always has been. He probably always will. But the electorate basically said Hillary is a dishonest insider and Donald is a piggish and dishonest outsider. Ok, we’ll take the outsider. That’s not a lack of messaging, that’s a complete lack of respect by the insiders inside the beltway for the electorate.
And about the electoral college. Really? You want to disenfranchise everyone between the coasts and say basically you don’t matter? You want to turn back time to the tyranny of the majority? You want elite urban snobs to run the country? You really have lost touch. And what happens when the shoe is on the other foot? What happens when you aren’t in the majority? Will you want it back then? The electoral college is in place to do exactly what the Constitution has done on many issues. It is there to put in place checks on the overly powerful. It is there to make sure the minority in rural areas is not disenfranchised. It is there to protect against the government being too powerful and controlled by too concentrated a segment of the population.
Both political parties have lost sight of the characteristics and values we as Americans share. The values of integrity, reward for hard work, opportunity (not gifts), and an aversion to overly centralized power. Maybe some party, in order to deal with the central problem in this country, should not talk about endless taxation and redistribution of wealth. Maybe instead they should talk about making sure that the rewards that go to successful people are shared by those people with the people who help them get there. No tax, no government involvement, no salary caps. Just say that 40% as an example, of corporate profit that is not reinvested in the Company goes to workers, and that all Companies provide their employees with an ownership stake through stock or phantom stock. Just force corporate executives to provide their workers with some of the profits. Also don’t put a cap on corporate executive rewards, just force them to provide others with benefits. Something they should do voluntarily. Reward them for this with tax breaks and other incentives.
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