The roots of discord
The
undercurrent of feeling in the U.S., one of anger and frustration,
while justified and to a large extent welcome, does not necessarily
funnel change in a positive direction.
In
the case of Donald Trump, those individuals feeling disenfranchised
do not seem to be alert to the reason for their suffering, and thus
tend to support extremes in their rush to vent their anger, i.e.,
“Anything is better than what we have now.” Donald Trump is too
much of a narcissist to carry through on his boastful promises.
Those
in his party who are so surprised at how Trump could have come about
even now refuse to admit what brought us to this point: the
self-serving behavior of the far right, and their abandonment of any
pretext of participation in the government they swore to uphold and
defend. For the last seven-plus years, their emphasis has been
totally focused on returning to power, and they have demonstrated a
willingness to let the people suffer if the alternative was to show
the opposition in a positive light. For example, since the
Republicans took over the Senate in 2012, appointments of federal
judges have been blocked, even though there is a backlog of cases
begging to be resolved. The Scalia replacement situation is but
another example.
That
things are bad is a given. That an angry mob can make things better
is highly doubtful. They would need to be better organized, better
able to see the big picture and work to make meaningful changes, such
as term limits — remove these permanent campaigners from our
government. But so far, all I see are tough guys cheering wildly at
either empty platitudes or language that encourages them to feel
comfortable in their bigotry.
The
anger is justified, but the solution is misdirected.
By:
Noel J. Munson
