So much of the dialog around this election is people, with one point of view, being angry that other’s don’t share that point of view.
My mother raised me to always consider the other sides of issues, and she got that from her father, my grandfather. One of his favorite quotes was “It all depends on whose ox is getting gored.”
With this in mind, I try to understand Trump supporters. I am not one, but I’m tired of hearing them dismissed and insulted, because I suspect, at the root of their politics, they feel their oxen have been gored.
They are called racists, but maybe their kid didn’t get into a good school because of affirmative action. Maybe they resent that the government is helping minorities and asking the working class white to shoulder the burden.
They are called xenophobes, but maybe they are roofers who can’t get work, and see Mexicans on roofs working for less than minimum wage. Maybe they resent that the government is sympathetic to immigrants and asking the working class white to shoulder the burden.
They are called haters, but maybe they lost their home after being sold a variable rate mortgage they couldn’t afford, by a bank that didn’t care, because it sold the mortgage to an investment bank. And maybe they resent that when the government stepped in to help, it helped the investment banks who bought the mortgages, not the people who were sold those mortgages.
And might they not be upset that their wages have remained stagnant for decades, as the rich have gotten steadily richer?
I saw a church in Northhampton, Mass. recently with a rainbow flag, indicating support for all gender varieties, and a Black Lives Matter flag. Note that they supported all the colors of the rainbow, and black. The only thing missing was white.
I think Trump supporters feel as if they’re being left behind.
Well if you’re white like me, that is more middle class white, then none of those are issues, and we’ve been helped enough thank you. So we might not get it.
But there is a very large white voting block that is affected. Remember the old bumper stickers, that said things like “I’m pro choice, and I vote.”
Well all the non-colleged educated white people, who feel they have been left behind, are now displaying a similar bumper sticker. It says: “Trump.” And we’re scared.
I am very disturbed by any politician that simply dismisses the concerns of this very large voting block. Because it’s been the dismissal of this group that has led to the phenomena which is Trump. And if their concerns aren’t addressed by our govenment, a government for all our people, then they will be back.
