Earth shattering

by | Nov 9, 2016 | Editor's Blog | 47 comments

Bad election nights are starting to become the norm for me. The last good one was eight years ago. Last night, though, was bad in a special and scary way.

I don’t trust Donald Trump to do the right thing. I don’t believe that the Republican Party can constrain him. I worry that we’re moving toward authoritarianism by an egomaniac who puts his interests above all else. That said, I still believe we need to recognize the legitimacy of this election and try to better understand the people who supported Trump and his agenda.

Overwhelmingly, Donald Trump was elected by white, non-college educated citizens. These people have been left behind by the political establishments of both parties. They are the victims of trade agreements and economic policies that benefit the wealthy and upper middle class but offer them little in the way of hope.

In the piedmont of North Carolina and the Rust Belt of the Upper Midwest, people have lost a way of life. We sent manufacturing overseas and hollowed out entire industries in just a few short years. While some of these industries may have been in decline, trade policies killed them swiftly with little time and few resources for recovery. The people left behind have lost faith in our institutions to help them and instead see them as forces against them.

For Democrats waiting for demographic shifts to make the country blue, just stop. An increasing number of white voters will reject a party they see as embracing identity politics to their detriment. For Republicans cheering Trump’s victory, remember that he tapped into the ugliest sentiment of your base to get elected. Besides, he’s not a conservative. Last night, he promised a massive government infrastructure program that sounds much more like Hillary Clinton than Paul Ryan.

Our job, as a country, should now be to hold him in check. Democrats and Republicans should unite in opposing his most authoritarian instincts, including increased domestic surveillance and police power. We should encourage policies like his infrastructure program to bring back more prosperity to a larger group of citizens. We should resist the instinct to overreact so that when Trump really starts to overstep, we haven’t cried wolf so often that a majority of Americans don’t believe us.

We’ve had an earth shattering election that may upend the country as we know it. We can only get a positive outcome if we relieve the forces that caused it. We need to restore trust in our institutions. We need ensure that everyone shares more equally in our economic prosperity. And we need to resist authoritarianism for the sake of the ideals that have built this country.

47 Comments

  1. Pam

    Thomas, thank you for running. Please try again. We need people who will call out both sides of the aisle , as we are all to blame for allowing someone like Donald Trump any attention, let alone the highest office.
    Thomas, you have inspired me to be more active in my community. I have talked the talked , donated financially when I can, and I do speak up when I feel someone has been wronged. Time to ” get out there!”
    Best of luck !

  2. Troy

    I guess no one has heard yet. The publishers over at “The Crusader” have a new book on their ‘Book of the Month Club’ list; if they haven’t burned them all.

    “Mein Trumpf.”

  3. The Ghost of Elections Past

    Sadly, for the past year, others and I have been cautioning that you can never underestimate Democrats’ ability to lose elections. The comments expressed by many have parallels which were expressed after the 1980 election between Carter and Reagan. We also had a “spoiler”–it had been Ted Kennedy, and this time, it was Uncle Bernie, who until this race, was not even registered as a Democrat. I am also hearing the worshipful faithful who were then called “liberals” and are now called “progressives,” who just could not bring themselves to vote for a mainstream Democrat who was too moderate and pragmatic. Well, as in 1980, when this resulted in the next 12 years of Republican rule, we are probably in for another 12 years after Herr Dumpf’s 4 years, followed by Mike Pence’s 8 years. Such is the legacy of “purity.” What really bothered me about the 2016 election is how the “progressives” started parroting the 30 years of lies that were put out against the Clinton’s, some even calling Hillary a “murderer.” Vince Foster? Corruption? After 22 investigations and public expenditures of, at the last report which I read, $29 million of our tax money, all that Ken Starr found was consensual oral sex. Bengazi has had 12 investigations and perhaps $5-6 million wasted–as if Hillary personally posted the guards at the Libyan embassy and the “annex” run by the CIA.

    No progressive policies will EVER be implemented unless we can get good mainstream Democrats elected first.

    In this last week of the election, I started to have premonitions of what actually did happen. What I heard in my community in western NC was also reflected in the tending of the polls in the last week. When FBI Director Komey wrote his letter suggesting more damaging Clinton emails, I heard a number of folks basically saying, “That’s enough of Hillary’s email garbage! I can’t take any more!”

    These were people who appeared to be swing voters, or even some registered Democrats, and they’d previously been anti-Trump. The Republicans should award a medal to James Komey. His action may have swung enough critical votes, or at least caused many to not vote for Hillary.

    The Democrats’ best opportunity for control of Congress will come in 2018–depending upon who still has the right to vote. The 1920’s were the last time that the GOP had the presidency and both houses of Congress, and we know what happened then. From what I’ve read of that era, GOP economic policies haven’t changed–it’s still give to the rich and let the crumbs trickle down to the middle class and poor. Unless the Democrats in Congress are able to resist well and often enough, I suspect the national GOP will do what the NC GOP did and go on a spree of ruinous legislation, now to be coupled with extreme executive authority.

    • JC Honeycutt

      I agree re Comey. His “findings” (of nothing) at the 11th hour were too little, too late; and I find it impossible to believe that his actions were in good faith. I wonder if he will be so zealous re Trump’s ties to Putin and other oligarchs. (Actually, I’m reasonable certain the answer to that is “no”, but my parents taught me to be fair, something that Republicans clearly feel no need to do.)

    • Mooser

      Uh – the last time the GOP had total control wasn’t the 1920s – it was the early 2000s! Same result though – they crashed the economy both times! I wish that Democrats could get the concept of “messaging”!

  4. Lee Mortimer

    Thomas — I ,too, commend you for rolling up your sleeves and getting into one of the Congressional races and making the Republican incumbent have to work for his seat. I was proud to be one of your contributors. Thanks to you and the other challengers (from both parties), there was a major-party opponent in all 13 congressional districts.

    The results, which I totaled up this evening, give us an idea of the parties’ support among the state’s voters. The Democrats’ total in the House elections was 2,118,290 votes (46.65%); the Republicans’ total was 2,423,226 votes (53.35%). Due to the Republican gerrymandering, Democrats got only 3 of 13 House seats (23%). Let us hope for and work toward meaningful redistricting reform to rectify this blatant abuse of power.

  5. Morris

    First I missed this one as badly as most. Still I said here, among other places, that Hillary was a seriously flawed candidate. Her flaws have been well-discussed so no need to rehash them. But more importantly the Democratic party ENABLED a seriously flawed candidate to ascend. I said early on the Democrats had a very shallow bench, but as more of the party’s internal workings were exposed it became clear the shallow bench was part of the plan. And it backfired big time.
    The Republicans actually had too deep a bench. That allowed Trump to survive the early primaries when the others were splitting votes. When their money – and therefore their chances – dried up, he was the last one standing.
    One of your statements was very misleading, however. “Overwhelmingly, Donald Trump was elected by white, non-college educated citizens.” That is only party true in that white, non-college educated citizens actually got out and voted this cycle, BUT, according NPR’s exit poll report and I quote, “Meanwhile, college-educated whites appear to have preferred Trump slightly.”
    He also performed better with minorities than predicted as well. Certainly Hillary “won” those groups, but again according to exit polls, she vastly under-performed Obama.
    But here is my usual anecdotal evidence:
    I travel 51 weeks a year for business. I see a lot of rural America, but also some urban areas. My contacts are mostly college-educated business people, but also quite a few EMPLOYED factory workers. Overwhelmingly they supported Trump. Way overwhelmingly – both men and women. And when I was driving to places rather than flying, the Trump yard signs were 100 to 1 to the Hillary signs.
    In addition late in the primary season, I was invited to a Trump rally by a friend with an extra reserved seat up front. At first I declined, citing a full schedule, but also frankly because I was not a Trump supporter and just a little bit embarrassed to be seen there. But I was told, “don’t miss history being made.” I didn’t realize they were right about the history, and how special the reserved seat was. Literally many thousands waited in line for hours and thousands didn’t get in. Standing room only inside a large venue. Frankly the cross-section I saw in there surprised me. Business people I knew, young people, blue-collar workers, and yes even quite a few people of color were there.
    That’s when I realized this was not just an “old uneducated white man’s” thing. It was clearly a vote as much against Washington as it was for Trump.
    Now lets see what he does. He has surprised many, including me, by pulling this off. He may just keep surprising us.

    • Mooser

      It was a vote against Washington? And yet we’ll still have the same old people in charge of both houses of Congress. Wow, what a change!

  6. Dale White

    Thomas, my old friend, allow me to share my analysis of the election with you and your readers. Hillary Clinton is the most toxic political figure this country has seen in a long, long time, so much so that even Donald Trump could beat her (as could have any of the 15 other GOP presidential primary candidates).

    I’ve got no use for Trump (I voted for Gary Johnson so that I wouldn’t have to rush home from the polling place to take a shower). But Trump…isn’t…Hillary.

    Sorry you lost your congressional race. Well, not totally devastated, you understand; I AM a conservative, after all. But I’d have made it a point to never miss seeing you speak on C-span if you had won. Better luck next time.

  7. Jay Ligon

    It has been such a pleasure to read your words these months leading up to the election, Thomas. I appreciate the work you do to keep your readers informed about North Carolina politics. North Carolina would be lucky to have your wisdom, intelligence, and perspective in the legislature. You are clearly an honest, decent man with a desire to contribute to your community. Your opponent ran ads that made no sense to me, but he had an ad budget, and I don’t believe I saw any from you. Campaigns are expensive.

    The Replies from this group of writers are especially thoughtful today. At times, I wonder if you ever get together in person. Most everyone here has something intelligent to contribute and everyone here is interested in improving life in our state even if there is disagreement about how it could be done.

    “Earth shattering” is exactly right. It is incomprehensible to me that Americans would have elected someone so flawed, so conflicted, so unprepared and so completely dishonest. This was not a close call. Every ex-president, ex-first lady, most pundits, nearly every newspaper editor and hundreds of economic scholars agreed that the country would be in serious jeopardy in the incapable hands of the Republican nominee. The gaffes and insults, the rude, crude and impolite things he said, his record of scamming buyers and supplies, his business conflicts, his personal immorality, intellectual laziness and ineptitude were so profound that his election seemed unthinkable, and, therefore, impossible.

    No one imagined the depth and breadth of the white male hatred that has taken control of this country from sea to shining sea. The rural, non-college males expressed a rage against our institutions and our leaders so toxic and venomous, one wonders how pollsters missed it. It was a force of nature. Vile things written on their T-shirts, uttered from their lips. and their violence toward protestors or those thought to be protesters was an under-covered part of the campaign. In Trump, they found a demagogue who validated and channeled their anger at Democrats, Obama, Affordable Care, the news media, government, Hillary, and Washington. Ironically, the man who flew around in his own jet and craps through a golden toilet seat in his penthouse was seen as the saviour of these angry men. How despirate and sad.

    The United States entered a new era last night giving the most important job in the world to a racist, a bigot, a philanderer, and a liar woefully inadequate for the job. The last time Republicans held the White House, the president involved us in two wars, tanked our economy and blew a holes in the budgets that created a massive deficit. He was pig-headed, not easy to teach and cocksure of his own judgement. We have not completely recovered from those mistakes.

    These angry men have read a revised history of that period which assigns all blame to the Democrat who followed him. Setting partisanship aside, it is better to solve a real problem than it is to apply ineffective remedies to a false cause. George Bush, as inept as he was, was a decent man who received some training from his father who was also a decent man. He made terrible errors but he did so with good intentions, I believe.

    We have gambled our future on a man who, on his best days, will not understand what the job requires. He is incapable of learning, and he has personal peccadillos that will haunt the United States. Rule One in the Trump playbook is vengeance. He is not a good and decent man. He stays up nights plotting revenge against his enemies, real or imagined, big or small. He spent a week texting nasty comments about a beauty queen who had been fat 20 years ago.

    This will not turn out well for the country. It was foreseeable when George Bush took office that he might not be the best choice, but there is a neon sign over Donald Trump flashing “Big Mistake.” The people of the United States will suffer and so will the people of the world who depend on us to be a great nation. Donald Trump threatens our institutions, our security, our economy and every non-white, non-Christian in this country. He will be a disaster for us.

  8. The Analyst

    Monkeys threw poo at the Democratic candidate and embraced the very type of candidate that was responsible for most of their woes: The Entitled white CEO who shipped every possible job overseas while retailing all the foreign produced goods to the same folks he’d cheated out of jobs. And don’t tell me none of these unfortunates “too lazy to pursue an education” wouldn’t want to work in a clothing factory for 17 – 20 an hour: Sure would beat 8.00 in the Mickie D’s. And a factory owner came on to the TV and said “Hey, Trump, let ME make your clothing right here in NC!”
    By and large the Opulent Minority / Rentier Class, the ants in our parable, have milked us the aphids for every bit of honeydew possible. AS IF 18 trillion, or about $113,000. in national revenue for every worker bee (158 million), could not POSSIBLY be enough to share or support normal lifestyles for all, perhaps with lower productivity for more jobs. Make work jobs you see, are better than those 60 million that have opted out of the system completely and sit on their ass and collect disability. Even if half of the 60 million are disabled that leaves 30 million Gamers.
    No, clearly the problem is not the wealth of the society, which can apparently afford to pay people to sit on their ass and watch soap operas, but the distribution of wealth and the wages and the attractiveness of those wages . Goods should only be sold here constructed by American labor. That would take care of the whole issue, because in prior times American wages paid in America were the multiplied working capital that made the machine run smoothly. We stand silently hunched over the radiator while we are assraped repeatedly by a Barons / 1% class that has taken far too much in return for its piddling contribution. Waste capital HAS to be put to work in order to grow, and in any case there is little risk in engaging capital that isn’t needed for shelter and security anyway. Like all societies with burgeoning Rentier classes who sit and collect more and more of the wealth created through sweat and toil eventually we must toss off these parasites and create a new order (where because we have little memory and little regard for history the process starts yet again). The oppressors rarely release their victims voluntarily; fortunately they are outnumbered greatly by the oppressed. Unfortunately French Revolutions come with extremism and revenge. This unspoken rage and desire for revenge have propelled the people to vote for this “change” which is unfortunately an expansion of the ability of the 1% to exploit the “proletariat”, which seems like perhaps an extreme term at the moment, but let’s wait until this “longest jobs expansion” of admittedly insufficient /underemployment jobs comes to an end and Trump and his gang of thieves goes yet again to the old GOP playbook, and comes out with the only play they’ve ever known, TAX CUTS FOR MILLIONAIRES. We’ll see how the monkeys pace the narrow confines of their cages and wail and moan. Will they condescend to endure the crumbs from the wealthy, knowing that they were eminently responsible for their fate, or will this be the catalyst for extremism and full societal implosion?
    In other news, I hear there’s lots of nice folks in Canada. Might be a little tough to get a work permit there though. Lots of competition.

  9. Britt Peterson

    You didn’t mention your own campaign loss but if your posts are any indication of your own campaign, I’m just as sad about that.

    I am confident with your honest realism and hopefulness, you can use your personal experience to bring light to the insanity of how the politics of winning elections is usually more corrupting than beneficial to the making of good policy, much as Matt Miller has shared of his own experience in running for Congress. The Trump experience is both a sad expression of and a hopeful opportunity to obliterate the way it is with is with at least closer to what it should be.

  10. Amy Kelso

    Excellent analysis, Thomas. Words to remember. I’m just so sorry you lost your race. Thanks for your willingness to serve; your loss is NC’s loss.

  11. Don

    You people don’t get it at all. The Democrats have been destroying our country and half of the American public that cares that we remain a free country voted in Donald Trump to stop the crooked government establishment of which Hillary is the worst.

    • Thomas Mills

      How, Don? Republicans have controlled at least one House of Congress for 12 of the last 16 years and both Houses for 8 of those years, including now. They’ve also controlled the Presidency for half of the past 16 years and control 33 governorships and 31 legislatures. Democrats haven’t controlled much government since the 1990s when the economy was booming. If you’re not happy with the way things are going, blame Republicans, not Democrats.

      • An Observer

        Thomas,

        Don can’t form a legitimate (nor factual) response because he has none. Don is pissed off. The more Don speaks, the more we become accutely aware that ignorance has, for now, won.

      • TY Thompson

        Passing an unpopular health bill full of flaws and built on lies (“If you like your doctor”…”average family will save $2500/year”) without bipartisan support, which historically doesn’t endure.

        “I have a pen and a phone”. Barack Obama’s way of saying that he doesn’t need to remain within constitutional constraints and that he can be Executive branch AND legislature. Congressional Dems were OK with that. Let’s see if they like that tune when Trump plays it.

    • Jay Ligon

      You got bad intel, Don.

  12. Ellie

    He can’t undo what has been said and done; and we are now supposed to look to him for healing? Give me a break. He has never cared about you and me. It is about the attention and power and only that. I fear a nuclear war during his administration.

  13. Ebrun

    This election exposed many popular tenents of conventional wisdom promoted by the progressive media and their talking heads:

    The Democratic Party has a superior ground game and field organization that will overwhelm Republicans at the state and local level;

    Latinos are becoming more and more of a political force in the U.S and they will come out in droves to vote against a populist conservative like Donald Trump;

    The female vote will result in a huge gender gap and assure that a progressive female candidate will defeat a conservative male candidate in national elections

    The white electorate is shrinking and the GOP cannot win national elections without gearing their political message to black and brown minority voters;

    President Obama is widely popular among the U.S. population and any Democrat who promises to follow his lead will have a strong electoral advantage;

    A campaign based primarily on voter enthusiasm cannot overcome a campaign based on data collection and modern communication strategies.

    No doubt these aren’t the only myths exposed by yesterday’s election results. I am anxious to get a take from progressives like Disgusted, A.D., Apply Liberally, Troy, Jay Ligon and other who usually dominate this blog. I am sure they will provide a much different perspective on why Democrats generally did poorly in yesterday’s voting.

    • Troy

      I’ll respond with something by Robert Reich and add my comments under it.

      …Donald Trump has done incalculable damage to America – eroding the trust and social cohesion the nation depends on.

      But he couldn’t have accomplished this without three sets of enablers. They must be held accountable, too.

      The first enabler was the Republican Party.

      For years the GOP has nurtured the xenophobia, racism, fact-free allegations, and wanton disregard for democratic institutions that Trump has fed on.

      Republican fear-mongering over immigrants predated Trump. It forced Marco Rubio to abandon his immigration legislation, and, in 2012, pushed Mitt Romney to ludicrously recommend “self-deportation.”

      During this year’s Republican primaries, Ben Carson opined that no Muslim should be president of the United States, and Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz suggested Syrian refugees be divided into Christians and Muslims, with only the former allowed entry.

      Trump’s racism is nothing new, either. Republicans have long played the race card – charging Democrats with coddling black “welfare queens” and being soft on black crime (remember “Willie Horton”).

      Trump’s disdain of facts is also preceded by a long Republican tradition – denying, for example, that carbon emissions cause climate change, and tax cuts increase budget deficits.

      And Trump’s threats not to be bound by the outcome of the election are consistent with the GOP’s persistent threats to shut down the government over policy disagreements, and oft-repeated calls for nullification of Supreme Court decisions.

      The second Trump enabler was the media.

      “Trump is arguably the first bona fide media-created presidential nominee,” concluded a study by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy.

      By mid-March, 2016, the New York Times reported that Trump had received almost $1.9 billion of free attention from media of all types – more than twice what Hillary Clinton received and six times that of Ted Cruz, Trump’s nearest Republican rival.

      The explanation for this is easy. Trump was already a media personality, and his outrageousness generated an audience – which, in turn, created big profits for the media.

      Media columnist Jim Rutenberg reported CNN president Jeff Zucker gushing over the Trump-induced ratings. “These numbers are crazy — crazy.” CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves said, “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. The money’s rolling in and this is fun.”

      Not only did the media fawn over Tump but it also failed to subject his assertions, policy proposals, and biography to the scrutiny normal candidates receive.

      Fox News, in particular, became Trump’s amplifier – and Fox host Sean Hannity, Trump’s daily on-air surrogate.

      Trump also used his own unceasing tweets as a direct, unfiltered, unchecked route into the minds of millions of voters. The term “media” comes from “mediate” between the news and the public. Trump removed the mediators.

      The third Trump enabler was the Democratic Party.

      Democrats once represented the working class. But over the last three decades the party has been taken over by Washington-based fundraisers, bundlers, analysts, and pollsters who have focused instead on raising big money from corporate and Wall Street executives, and getting votes from upper middle-class households in “swing” suburbs.

      While Republicans played the race card to get the working class to abandon the Democratic Party, the Democrats simultaneously abandoned the working class – clearing the way for Trump.

      Democrats have occupied the White House for sixteen of the last twenty-four years, and for four of those years had control of both houses of congress. But in that time they failed to reverse the decline in working-class wages and jobs.

      Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama ardently pushed for free trade agreements without providing millions of blue-collar workers who thereby lost their jobs means of getting new ones that paid at least as well.

      They stood by as corporations hammered trade unions, the backbone of the white working class – failing to reform labor laws to impose meaningful penalties on companies that violate them, or help workers form unions with a simple up-or-down votes.

      Partly as a result, union membership sank from 22 percent of all workers when Bill Clinton was elected president to fewer than 12 percent today, and the working class lost bargaining leverage to get a share of the economy’s gains.

      Both Clinton and Obama also allowed antitrust enforcement to ossify – with the result that large corporations have grown far larger, and major industries more concentrated.

      The unsurprisng result has been to shift political and economic power to big corporations and the wealthy, and to shaft the working class. That created an opening for demagoguery, in the form of Trump.

      Donald Trump has poisoned America, but he didn’t do it alone. He had help from the GOP, the media, and the Democratic Party.

      The impetus of my response is contained within enabler number three. Corollary support is provided by enabler two. Based on his (Donald’s) remarks last night, he showed a side of himself that would have been deemed extinct or non-existent a scant week ago. So to a much lesser extent, his victory was affected by enabler one.

      Professor Reich however says what I’ve been espousing for the past thirty-six years. If you doubt that, look at Trump’s primary demographic; white, non-college educated males. In other words and for the most part, a demographic who isn’t self employed, who isn’t busy managing a stock portfolio, or has a preponderance of income from unearned income. These people that used to work in the factories of Piedmont North Carolina making furniture and textiles. The people in the more rural counties of North Carolina who work the land to make a living. Those are the people that once thrived under rule by the Democratic party. They are the ones who feel that no one is representing or speaking for them. And that majority who were adversely affected by global trade deals, who felt abandoned and alone and angry, turned to someone who was telling them all the things they were thinking. Whether he means it or not, he was saying it, they believed it, embraced it, and put Donald Trump in the White House.

      For Edward and An Observer. I don’t think you really understand what happened and has happened across this State. Generations of people worked in those mills since they moved south from New England at around the turn of the last century. The people in them represented generations from the same family working in the same place for decades. Rightly or wrongly, they did it and raised families. Their lives weren’t opulent but apparently they were content. They didn’t need college or even high school to do what they did. In fact many were encouraged to leave school before finishing high school since it was viewed as giving them a leg up in the work place on those that chose to finish high school. As far as training is concerned, have you looked at or reviewed some of the curriculum offerings by some of the community colleges around the State? Some still offer degree programs in furniture and textiles. Where are they going to ply those skills upon completion? Does it take a degree or a high school education even to enter into a no-skills service position? Do understand, even on a remote level, the anger that rose to the top and manifested itself yesterday?

      In case you’re wondering, no, I’m not defending any of it; I’m trying to explain it. Professor Reich sees it too. If Democrats in this State or any State care or wish to win at politics again, then the leadership of the party needs to figure out how to bring those workers together under the Democrat banner. Ostracizing and ignoring that demographic has brought us to where we are and actually let Republicans ‘represent’ the working classes. An entire class of people the Republican party panders to but has no intention of representing. Democrats need to figure out that “working class” is the common bond among races, ethnicities, religious beliefs, and geographical areas.

      That’s what and how I think about it.

      • An Observer

        Troy,

        I’d be careful when using phrases such as “I don’t think you really understand what happened and has happened across this State.”

        By the way, Robert Reich’s piece is old news.

        • Troy

          It was written on Sunday 6 November; two days prior to the election. Certainly not antiquated or irrelevant.

          As far as care being taken, if you would care to further elucidate your views and why you think that the thousands that lost their jobs to off-shoring in this State didn’t have their “…fingers on the pulse…”, I’ll take it under advisement. However, Thomas isn’t wrong in his views, no matter how much issue you take with it.

          • An Observer

            I’ll be more than happy and perhaps even Thomas (who I think would have made an excellent representative and would encourage him to run again) may find interest in what I’m about to say.

            In regard to Reich’s piece, I read it. In the world of instantaneous information (with an emphasis on news) technology, anything older than twelve hours is for me, old news. That was the point I was trying to make. Today, Reich has a piece in the Guardian which was published less than three hours ago; “Democrats once represented the working class. Not any more” (Robert Reich)
            Reich as I’m sure you know, endorsed Sanders over Clinton. Reich also carries a socialistic agenda which would naturally implicate Democrats (and Republicans) for the failings of America and rise of Trump. Reich’s candidate was banished and some of what he writes is nothing more than lashing out in anger and frustration. He (Reich) offers up indisputable facts concerning jobs, wage growth (or lack thereof) etc. that are worthy of analysis though. What he doesn’t offer up is the sociology and mindset of those that who feel left behind. Reich doesn’t offer up an analysis of complacency versus pro-activeness.

            Here’s a little background on me. My ancestors (like most) imigrated from Europe to America. On my father’s side, they settled in Virginia. Eventually, they moved to Orange County, North Carolina. My grandfather was nothing more than a farmer and he died a farmer. On my mother’s side, the move was made to Boston and eventually to Carteret County, North Carolina. After the Civil War, my mother’s grandfather moved his family from Carteret County to Durham where he took a job making small pouch bags to hold tobacco (Bull Durham.) He made a decent living. Historically and until the latter part of the 20th century, North Carolina was a mill, manufacturing and farming state. The greatest concentration of jobs by location in manufacturing were arguably in Durham and Forsyth Counties (tobacco products.) Of course the likes of furniture manufacturing (primarily in the western part of the state) and textiles (Cone Mills, Burlington Industries etc.) in the piedmont and foothills were also abundant. But the concentration of employees who lived in those areas was no where close. They were scattered throughout compared to densly populated. Tobacco products were being made in cities such as Durham and Winston Salem. Fabrics, furniture etc. were being made either in rural areas or in the vicinity of small towns (by comparison) ie. White Furniture Company in Mebane, North Carolina. Today as we know, the manufacturing of tobacco products is almost non-existent in North Carolina and completely in Durham.

            So where am I going with this you might ask.

            In the November 2016 election, Durham and Forsyth Counties went solidly blue. A change in demographics is the most pertinent and obvious reason. Nevertheless, Trump was defeated in two counties that have historically had the greatest concentration of manufacturing jobs in the state and perhaps lost the most (with unemployment) through increased mechanization, NAFTA, and a host of other reasons. In (Republican) Johnston Country (Donald Trump-63.3%
            Hillary Clinton-33%, voters declined an invitation from CSX to build a rail hub. Not only were jobs lost in the railroad industry but jobs such as masons, carpenters, HVAC etc. for home building, restaurant services, road building etc.; and the list is virtually endless.

            Republicans have always supported the notion of capitalism. Apparently in at least North Carolina, so long as that same capitalism doesn’t affect them directly. We can’t argue that North Carolina jobs have been lost for a variety of reasons. What can be argued is why the mindset exists to 1) denounce and or denigrate change 2) support a Republican platform that embodies capitalism (even when it becomes contrary to away of life) and 3) blame others for things that have happened and whereby the powers for self-reliance and direction rests solely within.

            We can blame political parties when our lives go to hell in a hand basket or we can assume more personal responsibilty. We can elect unknowns while keeping incumbents (those in Washington that we despise) in power (which is contrary to any logical thinking.) We can argue political philosophy or we can show curiosity, attempt to foresee, and adapt to change.

            Troy, I realize you don’t know me and I don’t know you. I’m at least twenty or thirty years older than Thomas if that gives you any indication. I’ve also been around for awhile and know a little about North Carolina and politics. I’ve also learned through wisdom, trial and error that you are usually going into uncharted waters when you begin sentences with “I don’t think you really understand.”

          • Troy

            First of all, I appreciate your candor and explanations. I’m not left guessing where you’re coming from. I don’t disagree with many of your views. The area Thomas hails from has helped (I believe) provide his unique perspective and I do agree; he would be an excellent representative of the people; yes, he should run again.

            I supported Bernie Sanders too. Comparatively, he was on the opposite pole from Trump in my regard. The difference between the two is that Bernie was a bit more grounded in his more ‘radical’ views than Trump and had the wisdom to temper his remarks. He won 22 primary races in his bid for the nomination. Much of what Bernie said has resonance with peoples’ struggles in day to day life here in ‘New Normal’ post global economy.

            I don’t see Professor Reich’s argument of the Democrat party abandoning the working class as an implication as much as it is a challenge for the party to take a look at themselves, their positions, and their leadership. I find no fault in his analysis or his conclusions as to why.

            I understand your stance on pro-activeness. But those people disaffected were hardly complacent in my view. Some of the things I eluded to in my commentary when I wrote that piece were lack of education, coupled with a lack of understanding of the business world generally. It’s safe to say that there was a complete lack of understanding of the rank and file factory worker how globalization was going to work and affect their lives. After all, on break these folks didn’t sit and read the “Wall Street Journal” or “The Economist.” I’m not saying they were stupid, but they were perhaps ignorant of what was going and how it was going to hit them. Early in the 21st Century, they found out. But what we see is a generational nexus of values and mores that supported and encouraged each successive generation to do precisely as those prior.

            These people feel that they dedicated themselves to the companies that employed them and their families. I won’t go so far as to say it was modeled on the British feudal system but it wasn’t far off either. So when the employers packed up and left, outsourced, moved off shore, or took advantage of automation and shunned, left, or replaced these semi-skilled laborers. That was the thanks for generations of labor and making those companies what they were. I understand that anger and what Reich is saying. At one time, the Democratic party would have been screaming loud and long about the disparity of the treatment of these workers. That didn’t happen. The legislation that allowed it was signed by a Democratic President. It was negotiated by a Republican, but the party that is supposed to support and represent the working class enabled what happened to the working class. Professor Reich might not understand the mindset because he has no means of gaining that knowledge. I do; it was a branch on my family tree.

            Our backgrounds are similar. The family has been here since the early 17th century. Migrated south in the mid-18th century. Some of the other branches of the family have produced a Harvard professor and a United States Senator; those that remained in New England or went west. Our limb and the branches weren’t as successful. My parents only had an eighth grade education since growing up during the depression, work and eating were more important than education. However, education was stressed in our house. I wish I count for you how many times I heard, “…if you get an education, no one can ever take that from you.” The gist of that was, no matter what you have or possess it can be taken away by someone else; everything but knowledge. That is the house I grew up in, listening to the absolute evil deeds of the Herbert Hoover and the Republican party; what they stood for, who they represented, and who benefited from their associations with them. Long story short, it was not anyone in our house. It even went to the point that during the Nixon administration, hitchhikers were pointed out with the comment, “see, when there is a Republican President, people can’t afford to drive.” Not entirely accurate, but the comment served its purpose. That was my foundational education in politics.

            As far as what we see today, Republicans haven’t changed their philosophy appreciably. They still center on the wealthy and elite. Their policies perpetuate those with money, not those who live hand to fist working every day for someone else. But because poor workers outnumber wealthy elitists, Republicans need votes. How do you do that? Divide and conquer. Simple strategy; happens to work. You look at the working class and you see what bonds them; family, religion, a genuine belief in doing the right thing, and love of Country. Shared values by many people of all demographics, but strong in those lower classes. When you insert change and an innate fear of the unknown, then those same people gravitate to what is known, familiar, comfortable. The psychology of fear. Then you start whisper campaigns. The democrats begin an influx of wealthy, liberal, socially minded activists. A group equally as wealthy as Republican supporters but who have a social agenda to bring everyone together and advocate for social engineering so that all share in the common good. Marx and Engels would be proud. Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan would have collective strokes. In summation, you identify with these people through commonality, then you identify their fears and then you associate those fears and the causality; your ideological rival. You don’t have to show proof, a cursory association will suffice. Then you just keep piling it on. Pretty soon, people forget what you stood for, only what you’re telling them. I think that pretty much sums it up as to how it’s happening.

            Why does it happen? Well, if you listen, you hear both parties talking about creating jobs. Politicians don’t create jobs. They might create favorable conditions for employment, but they don’t create jobs. They don’t set parameters for pay, benefits, or retirement funds. Just to be clear, cutting taxes for the wealthy doesn’t create jobs either. As far as Johnston County is concerned, I have my own theories. None of which have been filtered sufficiently for this venue.

            Republicans support pure capitalism; a complete and whole market economy. An amusing notion that is complete and total fallacy. Ours has never been a system of purity. It has been a melding of capitalism and socialism and perhaps a couple of other –isms. One of the things that helped make us great in my opinion. Republicans rant and rave about the debt. There have been only a few years a couple of centuries ago when there was no national debt. Otherwise, we’ve had debt. Supporting notions to what you’re saying.

            Your right; it isn’t the party, it’s the members of the party. It’s the executive committee that formulates the platform, the rhetoric that portrays and endorses the candidates who, in totality, represent the party. But that is the common identifying factor; the party. Because from the party flows the money, support infrastructure, and indigenous personnel who are like minded and motivated that do the leg work. The party is readily identifiable. When you look at any number of politicians, what is it they have in common? Partisan affiliation. A badge of honor or a brand of shame depending on your perspective.

            But I do hold the leadership of the Democrat party responsible for what it has failed to do. What is has failed to do is champion those who have no voice. To represent people who get up, go to work, and don’t really know the inner workings of politics, or economics, or international trade and interaction. Only that they work hard and want to make a life for themselves and those they hold dear. When you’re invisible long enough, you do something completely and utterly illogical to be seen and heard. And we see and hear him now…as President-elect Trump. Those folks might not be as socially cultured as the ones who champion a majority of causes in the Democrat party; but they are no less relevant. They might not be endangered, a minority, disadvantaged, or in a protected class per some Federal law, but they deserve representation too because generally speaking they are all in the ‘working class’.

            What prompted my retort was reading your initial response, it sounded as if you were blaming those it happened to. Perhaps they could have been more involved. But as I said earlier, these are not complex people. Perhaps they trust too much.

            We’re not that different you and I; as far as I can discern from our writing and expression. Our ages aren’t that different and our experiences and backgrounds plow some of the same ground. Hopefully you are able to understand me a bit better as well.

    • Ebrun

      Oh, wow, D.g., I was beginning to think you had passed away from the shock of Republican election victories in NC and across much of the nation. But it now seems as if you must have gotten a ‘fix’ from some sort of hallucinational substance that requires a little time to take effect.

      The Republican Party “is on the verge of collapse”? Boy, that must be strong stuff you’re sniffing, LOL. You better hope it does’t wear off before Obamacare is repealed, the southern border is secured, sanctuary cities are outlawed, legal access by perverts to women’s locker rooms is quashed, corporate and individual income taxes are reduced, Obama’s illegal executive orders are repealed, American energy companies are encouraged to drill baby drill, the transCanada pipeline is authorized and the hoax of man-made global warming is relegated to the dust bin of history, etc, etc.

      You’re probably gonna need an even stronger hypnotic to deal with what alls coming soon. So hang in there, this should be fun.

  14. JC Honeycutt

    I think a significant portion of lower-income white men w/ no more than a high-school education feel that they have a God-given entitlement to whatever jobs are available, and that if they don’t have those jobs it’s the fault of minorities, women, and liberals who are giving those jobs away to the previously-listed groups. At least, that’s been my experience and observation.

    Years ago, I worked in a machine shop: the assembly line workers were all women. The foremen and supervisors were all men. I started on the assembly line and was promoted to the stock room (because that job involved numbers, and the boss discovered I could do math in my head). There I was one of four employees: two white men (one young, one middle-aged), an older African-American, and myself. The African-American and I literally did all the work in that department: the two white men spent their days hiding in the shelving area to avoid assignments, disappearing to the restroom to read (or something), or hanging around chatting with the foreman, delivery people, etc. But I’m certain that if one of those men had been fired, demoted or assigned to a less attractive or lower-paying job, they would have yelled bloody murder about “reverse discrimination” or “favoritism”–although they wouldn’t have gotten support from the union, because they didn’t think they needed to join a union and pay dues.

    I’m not saying that all working-class men are like this: if they were, there wouldn’t be any unions. However, I think there’s a significant percentage who do hold that attitude, and I can see why Trump would appeal to them (and to women who are married to or financially dependent on them–because Trump is just like those men, except he was born to money. I heard him briefly on the radio this morning, and he sounded even more depressed than I feel–probably because he’s promoted himself into a job that requires more work and more intelligence than he’s prepared (or able) to provide.

    • Michelle D Ogle

      JC-thank you!
      As for Donald Trump..be careful what you wish for! Donald has never worked hard a day in his life and he had no intention of being President. He didn’t actually think Americans were that stupid, boy was he wrong! I think we should all laugh at the GOP, now they will have to prove they can govern. Ha!

  15. Terry Taylor-Allen

    Approval of NAFTA, Bill Clinton. Repeal of Glass Steagal, Bill Clinton. Basket of deplorables, Hillary. Super-predators, Hillary. Over-ruling Democratic primary voters, Democratic Party super-delegates.

    Don’t get me wrong. Trump is bad news. But let’s give a little credit to those who have suffered deeply as our country’s economic doormat, shall we? The whites who came out – and the blacks who did not – must see Trump as an affordable risk. After being walked on for a long time, sending Hill through the glass ceiling just for more status quo simply wasn’t enough of an upside.

    • Michelle D Ogle

      Good points! I still think there is a something wrong when that’s okay? No one is perfect and yes, the Clinton’s made some bad calls. To think that Trump gets a pass is ridiculous! He is an admitted sexual preditor..that’s okay? Let’s not overlook the role Millennial Voters played in this election. Among 18-29 yr. olds, Trump got 37% of the vote and Clinton received 55%. I have 3 Millennial Children, all voted for Hillary and they are terrified but something else is going on and we owe it to democracy to figure it out. Blaming NAFTA, the Dem primary process isn’t going to solve this. I can assure you, older African Americans were not “Feelin’ the Bern.”

    • Jay Ligon

      You should be celebrating your victory now instead of complaining about Democrats. Isn’t there a church that needs burning somewhere, a lynching you need to attend or a cross burning where they need you? You’ve got work to do. You are a winner!

  16. Michelle D Ogle

    Thomas, those are nice mature sentiments but I am not feeling it. I am so damn tired of hearing about the “left behind!” Is it really someone else’s fault that uneducated white people are uneducated? Trump gave voice to the false notion that it is “Their” fault that you are not doing well; you don’t have a job or you live in a trailor. Let’s face it, Obama’s presidency gave new life and acceptance to straight up bigotry. They hated this Black man and his Black Family were living in the White house! The GOP has done an excellent job hood-winking the uneducated white folks for decades, hence the rise of Trump and Birtherism. Let’s also deal with the fact that Bernie supporters were not Democrats! If they really were, they wouldn’t have disengaged or voted for Trump. Last night Bigotry, overturning Roe V. Wade and denial of climate change won. I actually think Mike Pence and his ilk are far scarier than Donald J. Trump. The election results last night said more about this country then it did about Hillary or President Elect Trump (I just threw up a little in my mouth). So guess what, the left behind will still be there 4 years from now because Trump said the minimum wage is too high and he didn’t put forth one concrete policy that would improve their lives. As an African American educated woman, I was taught to make my way; no excuses for failure. My mother taught me that I am responsible for the choices I make. Maybe the uneducated white folks should have been raised by my mother.
    Stay strong in the struggle, I am!

    • TY Thompson

      Bernie supporters were left with a choice….accept Clinton after she and the DNC predetermined that she would take the nomination, the will of the people be damned, and which would have made cheating completely acceptable for future primary contests, or withhold support to purge the DNC as a warning to respect the will of the Party rank-and-file.

      • Michelle

        Well if one wants to protest the process, that is acceptable and I would support that notion. Maybe Bernie supporters and the like will understand that a protest vote doesn’t help their cause. In the end, if Bernie supporters were really intellectually connected to Bernie’s agenda and believed in his platform then there would be no way in hell they could vote for Trump. Bernie was so important in establishing the most progressive platform the Dems have ever had. Sometimes you have to work with and support people you may not like to get what you want. It’s called the Political Process. Well congratulations! The hatred for Mrs. Clinton has delivered Trump, good luck with that.

  17. Smarty'smom

    well said. Sadly, training will not solve the problem of the bottom half being left behind. The present levels of automation result in a world where there simply are not enough jobs to go around. If the haves don’t want to support the have nots, they’ll have to find a way to get rid of them. Ah ha, yes! the Donald’s plan to rent them out as cannon fodder

  18. Daryl

    I see two groups who supported him that made the difference. First are the evangelical Christians who are only interested in opposing abortion and alternate lifestyles; they are still reading the Old Testament . There is no hope for this group; I remain disappointed in the Christian church. Second are the blue collar workers impacted by income inequality. Donald Trump did address this when he said he would do away with the minimum wage. Obviously this will only make matters worse but these folks can’t grasp that Donald only cares about himself! Until the minimum wage becomes a living wage this group will continue to feel left out no matter who is in power.

  19. An Observer

    I agree with most of your post however I’ll take issue with this: “They are the victims of trade agreements and economic policies that benefit the wealthy and upper middle class but offer them little in the way of hope.”

    How many of these same people actually had their fingers on the pulse of their professions, trades or livelihoods? How many (other than being inherently aware of the day they got paid on) actually follow or followed politics, policies, markets, global trade or American and world economics? How many had some sense that the writing was on the wall when there was either talk or rumor that change was in the air?

    While I realize that some might have been in latter years of employment while nearing retirement, how many were in the category of midlife or younger employment? A time when they may have sought a different trade or at best, to further their education? How many were fat and happy beforehand while casting fate to the wind? How many were forward thinking? How many understand American civics? How many voted against Clinton out of hate and hate alone? How many despise the “government” but relinquished personal choices and responsibilites to the mantra so often heard that, “my predicament is something or someone else’s fault?”

    There are always two sides to a coin.

  20. Eric Smith

    As I drove through rural North Carolina before the election, so beautiful in so many locales, I saw the Trump/Pence signs in the tidy yards leading up to sweet little homes. I do not know how stressed the family finances may be, but I thought to myself, why not be grateful for a comfortable abode in a beautiful place, perhaps benefiting from a supportive community of faith. Why the anger? The textile mill is gone. Did you really want your kids to spend their lives working in the mill? Perhaps it is the loss of self worth that may come with unemployment or under employment. That the mill closed is not your fault. Apart from the construction industry, Mexicans do not for the most part do work that you really would like to do at any wage. Why be angry at them? Perhaps if labor laws were properly enforced, construction companies would not be able to exploit undocumented aliens. I don’t get it. I am a retired academic librarian, trying to live on a quite modest retirement account invested in the vagaries of the stock market ….. which has been roiled by Trump’s election. Nevertheless, I try to focus on gratitude every day. I voted for Hillary and the Democrats who offer a hopeful vision with more realistic expectations than the false promises made by the Republican nominee.

  21. Michelle D Ogle

    7312 New Forest Lane

  22. Edward

    Am I right in assuming that these white, non-college educated Americans actually have benefited from cheaper products from overseas. They are buying them at Walmart. They don’t understand that it is their job to get more training for the new jobs. We may have short changed them through lack of programs for the changing workplace.

    • Russell

      I disagree with this take on the working classes as characterized blind to their need to be retrained.
      I was extremely versatile with total diversification front and behind the camera, & on stage. I worked in for another professional field, Aviation as well.
      Said and done it was back again to carpentry as I did in my twenties.
      Rigged, stacked against, and all that to where when Greenspan says I needed to be “retrained” like a robot of metal and wafers, I say I’ll be an economist now!
      I even have “models”.
      The latest is from paintings & wall sculpture sold… an event.
      Take in as well relocations from NY to NYC to Fort Lauderdale & parts east & north.
      No it is that there is no movement from working your way up the ladder, or some say that “Credentialism” has the vested interest in ignoring and pushing down on those who ever believed in experience towards mastery meant merit would set one equal to those of the Institution selling shortcuts to the dollars.
      There is a longer essay or a shorter & better poem to say it, but I see some Big Lies pushed, as all amounts to a nation of people in the grip of a “Pathological System”, some sick system that must be “enforced” as it cannot stand on its own.
      One simply cannot keep up, so they drop out of the race. To fight the System is too hard, and clearly one will be defeated as were those running on before you.

  23. Patrick

    Now I understand how the average German felt in 1932. Here’s hoping we don’t suffer the same consequences. I love my family too much to allow it to come to bear.

  24. Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

    Thomas: Like you, I was a political consultant (in my case for 50 years) and know all too well how you feel when you lose (anger, grief, vengeance, low self-esteem and the like) and that was just me, not the candidate. You got into your congressional race with the highest motivation and ran a campaign that should make you proud.
    I am eating crow today (predicting a Clinton win) along with ALL of my colleagues in the political consulting and polling fields. As you say, the results were “earth shattering” not only for us but the American voters. How do you explain the pent-up demand for change and yet American and North Carolina voters re-elected the very same politicians at the national and state level that have brought these conditions on?
    Your warning about authoritarian tendencies is well taken and should be taken seriously.
    I’m tempted to conclude that Mitt Romney’s “47%” of the 2012 voters have flipped and become Trump’s “50%”.

  25. SandraBabb

    You are right. But I am scared; I feel like a Jew in occupied France.

  26. Donna

    Well said.

    • Thomas W Hill

      Thomas’ comments are well said, but incomplete. Our party is now the total minority party (President and both Houses of Congress), and we must stop being Mr. Nice Guy and begin to give the Repugnants a dose of their own medicine. The first task we face is Trump’s appointment of another Scalia to the Supreme Court. We must fight this tooth and nail, filibustering if necessary. Otherwise, we will face a number of Citizens United types of decisions which will set back our nation’s reforms by 50 years or more.

      We need advocates like Bernie Sanders, who should have been our party’s Presidential candidate. But people who voted against their own interests must not be rewarded with support programs that enable them. A case in point is the inordinate number of unemployed mine workers in West Va, Kentucky, and Pa, who are drawing “disability” insurance under phony claims. It may sound heartless to deny gov’t subsidies to people who depend on them for their financial survival, but this is the only way that we are going to put an end to the madness. It is highly unlikely that Trump will be able to put them back to work, since their product has been replaced by natural gas.

      Trump will also undoubtedly create much more deficit spending if he follows through with his promises to increase military spending and cut taxes for the wealthy. Do we remember the result of this approach under Doofus Bush? There is a lot more that can be said, but in sum, we must toughen up and be ready to pounce in 2018 when the Trump policies hit the fan.

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