NO NEED FOR BLAME

 

Wow! Yes, it did take a day and half to get over the shock and of course, we are disappointed but whoa- what is all the anger about? It is easy to turn disappointment into anger, condemnation and all other judgement related feelings, but hey, that doesn't help. I have identified as a Democrat all my life. That doesn't mean I always, or even usually, agreed with the party establishment. We need to look at ourselves. Blaming the voters is pointless; especially when there is something to learn.

Remember, here in Minnesota we are the DFL- Democrat- Farmer-Labor. Labor, that is those folks who used to be upwardly mobile. They used to be able to send their kids to college so they could be teachers, nurses, social workers and some became lawyers and doctors. The American Dream was their dream. As this dream, was gradually torn away from them, what have we, the Democrats, done?

What did we do when the unions were demonized, then destroyed? What did we do when college tuition became unaffordable, for all but the wealthy? What did we do when factories first went South, then to Mexico and then overseas?

My first real job was a knitting machine mechanic for Munsingwear, they went South along time ago, and if they still exist, I am sure they are making their underwear in Viet Nam or some such place.

I didn't think my life path was all that easy, but it was duck soup compared, to my children and grand children. I entered the Air Force as a HS-nongrad in 1954. When I was discharged in 1958 I entered the University of Minnesota. I received my BA in 1962. It didn't cost me one penny-GI Bill. I returned to school for my Masters in 1964 and received it in 1966, again it didn't cost me one penny, and besides I received a stipend which was enough to live on so I didn't need to work; a Federal Grant program.

My children have it much rougher. Three of my children were in the Air Force and their GI Bill was nowhere as good as mine. One of my daughters had school loans in excess of $20,000. And that is probably below average for today's students.

What have we, the Democrats, been doing to help the middle class? What did Bill Clinton do? He oversaw the abolishment of the Glass-Seigle act which kept banks [ordinary savings] from gambling with depositors money. When that turned Wall Street, into a greater casino, than it already was and banks pushed money, into the hands of people who couldn't pay it back, and the banks went bust, what happened? The banks got bailed out. Working people by the thousands lost their homes. Many lost their jobs; where were the programs to help them?

I could go on and on in this vein. We might protest, we tried to help but the Republicans stopped us at every turn, that is partly true, but the Clintons had close ties to Wall Street, very little was done to help the ordinary people and the poor. Welfare reform was a disgrace.

Let us pretend the Democrats are blameless and they couldn't do anything about the endless war, the growing poverty, the escalating healthcare, the loss of manufacturing jobs, the economic stagnation, and the end of upward mobility for most of our population. Let us pretend, that there were forces, we were helpless to deal with. We could have, at least, sympathized! We could have addressed it! We could have told the people we wanted to do something about it!

I only heard Bernie talk about it. Do you think Hillary looked good with her ties to Wall Street? She promised, no end, to the senseless war in the middle East. She, even, threatened to escalate the war in Syria. I know she was just trying to be tough, but we don't need anymore of that.

So this huge part of the population, that was left out of the candy store, is mad. Can you blame them? Their standard of living has been going down since the seventies. Two people, in the family, have to work just to keep their head above water. They can't afford to send their kids to college. If they don't have company health insurance they can't afford it.

Don't underestimate these people's intelligence. They are not necessarily fooled by this conman, they just wanted to register a protest against a party that abandoned them.

We are supposedly the wealthiest people on the Earth. Where is our guaranteed minimum income, where is our free higher education, where is our free heath care? We are supposed to be the liberal party, the one that cares for people, the one that believes in equality, perhaps this is the wake up call we need.

Or, perhaps, we should stop thinking of ourselves as Democrats or Republicans and start thinking of ourselves as people who want to love and care for each other. We can do it, you know.

Happy Friday!

Love and Peace, Gregg