With the importance of the white working class in the
election of Donald Trump, was this election a product of racist sentiments or
of a class struggle? Has the coalition
of the Democratic Party become one of higher income professionals and inner
city blacks which has thrown the interests of working, Midwestern whites to the
curb? This writer’s response to these
questions is that yes, the election was both an expression of racism and of class
struggle.
As pointed out
in the last posting, Democratic strategists and policy makers such as Lawrence
Summers had ignored the blatant economic demands of the displaced workers hit
by foreign and domestic cheap labor and the effects of automation. The reasons for this neglect are not so
clear. Was it a matter that what was
called for was just beyond the ability of any politician to address and remedy?
Of course,
along comes Mr. Trump who promises solutions, but at what cost? If his solutions call on, in effect, freezing
those manufacturing facilities that exist and somehow forcing the ones that
left back to the Midwest, then those policies would be either so
un-capitalistic and/or unconstitutional that one wonders how the feat will be
accomplished.
It would be
un-capitalistic in that it would call for trade wars. A way to freeze existing plants and foundries
is to slap tariffs on imported goods. The
thing is, that would most likely be met with tariffs from the other countries
involved. Hence, international trade
would be highly curtailed and that would raise our prices and make our economy
very unproductive. It would also limit
the economy by hurting existing exports.
What is needed
is a vast retraining program and its accompanying governmental investment that,
up to now, this government, when run by either party, has been unwilling to
do. And it would also call for
employment program(s) that would supply the needed income while such retraining
was taking place. Again, a strong
government effort. Conservatives, who
basically have controlled the policy making organs of government (Congress and
legislatures), are ideologically antagonistic.
If there is
one thing that unites all conservatives, it is the idea of smaller government
and these problems call for, albeit for a limited period, a much bigger
government – the type of effort characterizing the New Deal of the 1930s. And that is the class side of this concern.
As for the race
side, here is where government, as in the words of Hillary Clinton, is not so
effective in changing minds or hearts. What government can do is put laws in effect
making discrimination illegal and it can place resources in the grasp of
targeted groups experiencing the deficiencies in the system – but not change
hearts.[1]
Secretary
Clinton had the plans, but she was deficient in communicating them, plus all her
accumulated baggage (mostly placed there by Republican efforts to discredit
her). The point was the challenge for a
more dual view: attacking the inequities
of class and the racism that exists against
blacks and immigrants. What was missing
was the language which “Working Together,” as a slogan attempted to capture,
but fell short.
Why? It fell short because the nation abandoned a
federalist view some fifty or sixty years ago, and assuming that a slogan can
rekindle the type of collaborative inclinations that once existed is
unrealistic. Building bridges, not
walls, is dreamy for people who feel and understand the collaborative nature of
our constitutional makeup. The res publica is simply not there and that
is part of the problem that cannot be fixed in a political campaign. It calls for a concerted effort.
Some have been
vocal for a dual message – meeting the class challenges and the racism,
especially held among the affected white working class – but that order cannot
be met or addressed when there is an opposing side countering with messages
more resonant with the existing electorate.
What is heartening is that the collaborative side received more votes,
albeit poorly distributed to make the difference needed in the Electoral
College.
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