In the recent election, I as an Independent voted Libertarian, Johnson. Like many, I regarded Trump as unqualified and believed Clinton to be an even more disastrous choice in spite of her government experience. In the aftermath, I can point to the dissection about why she lost as example A – through infinity to explain why I felt as I did about Hillary. As an independent, I lean conservative because of my roots but actually have also grown to have some things in common with old style Democrats – a party that doesn’t exist anymore. I think there does need to be a healthy check on big business, I think the market will not adequately compensate all poor workers, and I think marijuana should be legalized – but that was never really a true Democrat platform. At the same time, I am for minimal regulation, keeping government out of the bedroom, small government, and fiscal restraint – something that has not happened with the Republicans for a long time.
My parents were a split household, politically. My Mom was a Republican and Dad was a Democrat although he claimed to rarely vote the party. His explanation was that he believed in a “balance of power”. To this, I can whole-heartedly agree. But to have balance of power, it helps if both parties are addressing the ying and yang of certain agreed positions, an agenda. Even this has not been the case for a couple decades now. The Republicans and the nation wanted jobs 8 years ago and we got contentious severely flawed health care instead. We needed strong international leadership and we got weakness-tinged globalism. We needed economic equity for all and leadership on race relations and we got identity politics with in-your-face hate filled contempt for anyone that dared disagree with their ‘enlightenment’.
In the aftermath of the election, the Democrats woke up to the worst ideological hangover from hell. Many but not all began what I’d consider healthy introspection focused on where they departed from the role of taking care of the little man. The sentiments of Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary, in particular, were most apropos. Would that all the Democrats were on the same page.
Half of the Democrat party is ready to move forward, half is stuck in the very ideas that caused them to lose to the despised Trump that they abhor. Just keep it up. While I would hope for that same balance of power that my father envisioned, based on a shared agenda of the widest benefit for all, perhaps we’ll have to settle for flawed Republican dominance. Hillary the finger pointer, Pelosi, the exited Reid, and much of the power center of the past eight years, are all quite prepared to perpetuate their error.
But what I find even more interesting is the rank and file democrats that are following that failed wing of the Democrat party. You know who you are. You’re focused on subverting the Electoral College, fascist intimidation of the electors, blaming Russian spies and just about anything other than addressing what you really need to do. You may still be posting hate filled messages on your Facebook wall, berating Trump, calling him names, calling his appointees names, posting fake news and analysis about their ‘real’ history and sentiments; just about everything except engaging the needs of the people that dumped your candidate in favor of Trump. You’d sooner see a whole town in Appalachia starve or die from black lung than to see an LGBTQ-whatever get called a name. Go for it people, keep it up, and have your way if you like. You’ll be the losing party a long time. For everyone else, there is a lot of work to do to get this train back on the tracks.