Yesterday I wrote about the coalitions that make up America's two major political parties and how they're both fracturing. The media, always looking for an angle to generate page-views and link-clicks, are calling it "rage" or "anger" or some such when really it's just a push back by Blue Collar and young voters against a system that appears to be rigged to their disadvantage.
But it's a little more than that as well. It's the story of a bunch of special interest groups becoming dissatisfied that they are no longer of primary interest to their party of choice and a realization that what is being promised to others runs counter to interests of their own.
For the Democrats I think this is especially bad, because their groups are both disparate in belief and conditioned to receive the party's largesse at historic rates. So far the Democrats have been moderately successful at herding these cats and, as such, seem stronger currently than the dumpster fire that is the GOP.
But I think the GOP has an advantage going forward IF (and only if) they drop patronage and proceed with the right message.
But first, a word to my fellow White folks.
I hear you complain, a lot, about how the current batch of immigrants (primarily from Central and South America) is not "melting" as did the immigrants of old. Ignoring for a minute that this is not true (2nd generation immigrants typically speak English while 1st generation do not [very similar to the Italians FWIW]) There is also the fact that what's already inside the melting pot has to undergo some changes as well when new ingredients are being added.
For example, when iron is melted to be crafted into steel it does not retain the characteristics of iron throughout the entire process. In fact, everything within the melting pot is changed to steel.
In society this is viewed with scorn as an ugly by-product of multi-culturism but, in fact, it's one of the great levelers in the American system. In other words, in order to see change we are all going to need to be willing to change a little bit ourselves.
How? Well, for example. Don't get mad when a robotic answering machine asks you to "Marque nueve por Espanol" (A clearer thinking person would be mad at the robotic answerer) and stop pouring coffee on ladies wearing hijabs. Stop making fun of hip-hop. We get it, you don't like it, but just stop running it down. It might also help, in terms of empathy, to understand that, in America, "Driving while Black" is a thing. You might also want to consider trying to become moderately conversational in Spanish. And no, English, while the language of business, is NOT the language of the US, nor should it be. It might be wise to come to terms with gay marriage as well. It's the law of the land and there's very little chance that it's going to be overturned.
None of this means that the minority groups couldn't use some melting as well. For our Muslim friends, you're going to have to abandon the idea that 'Merica will ever adopt Sharia Law. If you could stop glidering members of the GLBTQ community off of buildings that would be cool as well. Please, don't bring the whole German "rape women for dressing in something less than a hijab" thing to this country and yes, some help with the terrorist issue would be appreciated. To our Hispanic friends I ask this: Just please respect our laws. And stop with the "Make America Mexico again" nonsense. There's a reason you left Mexico in the first place remember? The recent immigrants from Africa and Asia? Actually, y'all are sort-of getting it, continue on.
For everyone else let's stop fixating on "white privilege" and realize that we all benefit (to different degrees obviously) from "American privilege" and that's not a bad thing. Even our poor in America don't fall to the depths of the poor in other countries. If you've ever traveled abroad and seen a truly poor area of the world you understand what I mean. In many cases (not all, but many) our poor are wearing designer label clothes and have a cell phone permanently attached to their ear. In other countries they wear rags and have some fungus permanently attached to them due to deplorable living conditions.
But our poor are hungry, and in need, and we've spent the last 70-odd years thinking that we can expand government to the point that they won't exist any more (Or, if you're Annise Parker, that you can decree them away), or that we don't have to do charitable things to help them out. This is the progressive mind-set, and it's failing. Worse than that it's killing off the middle class whose tax contributions allow America's poor to escape abject poverty (for the most part).
What's needed is a new, expanded GOP that doesn't partake in the politics of division. It needs to understand that the low-skill manufacturing jobs of the 50's and 60's are gone and are never coming back. It needs to focus on freeing up the markets and allowing for the technological innovations that bring jobs and companies that are willing to train workers to perform them and that the best way to accomplish this is to remove burdensome regulatory hurdles that stifle innovation.
Because we're going to need innovation in this world, and soon. Because the climate is changing and, despite what Al Gore and his investors want you to believe, there's going to be very little we can do to stop it. Because of this our best plan of attack is to direct our technology toward helping us live with it. Just like humanity has done throughout history.
The last time backward thinking regimes failed to address climate through technology, a mini-ice age brought about the Dark Ages. A time, ironically, which was also notable for religious prosecution. Substitute Islam for Catholicism* and Warming for Cooling and you can see the parallels.
This can be stopped, but it's going to take a fully reformed GOP to do it.
* And no, I'm not suggesting Religion (specifically Catholicism and Islam) is bad. In fact, I think shared faith and community are, overall, good things. Where I draw the line is Religion as government which, with a couple of notable exceptions, has never worked out all that well.
