Sunday, January 20, 2013

A Divide America - The Past Versus the Future

If one really knows American history one thing that quickly becomes clear: the country and society have never been static and the one constant has always been change.  Often rapid and major change.  A century ago America unknowingly was seeing the end of the Edwardian era which in less than ten years would be swept away away by World War I and the so-called roaring 20's dawned.  Only another ten years later and the Great Depression struck the nation and much of the world.  Now, in 2013, change is sweeping in again and one political party and its supporters are struggling to fight the tide of history and, if possible, restore a mythical version of the 1950's when white privilege still held immense sway and minorities and gays were expected to remain either invisible, suffering in silence, or give obsequious deference to their white Christian betters.  An article in the Washington Post looks at these two very different America, one motivated in my view by self-centered greed and a resentment of those who are different versus a recognition that the "good old days" weren't so good for many Americans.  The ultimate irony to me is that many of the economic challenges the backward looking individuals complain about are, in fact, the result of failed GOP policies.  Here are some highlights:

Bill and Sally Herr built their farmhouse on the outskirts of Fremont in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, and they agreed to decorate it in homage to the country they served and loved. They placed two American flags on the lawn, five flag magnets on the fridge, a flag-themed coloring book in the grandkids’ room and a flag throw blanket on the living room couch. They framed another flag just inside the entryway, displaying it under three words that summarized their philosophy: “God Bless America.”

But lately, when they talked about the state of the country, the phrase Bill preferred was something different, something much less reassuring.  Obama’s America,” he said.

Obama’s America: It was the wood pellets burning downstairs in their latest attempt to lower the energy bill; the constant threats of downsizing at the print shop where Sally has worked for 30 years; the 25 percent drop in tithing at their church; the date nights paid for with gift certificates to Arby’s or Casa Fiesta; the 37-year-old son with a doctorate who had been forced to move back in with them for six months after losing his job as a counselor in Toledo.

What bothered Bill most of all was the way he thought Obama had slighted the military, removing troops from combat zones too quickly and once disregarding Iraq as a “stupid war.”

Bill and Sally were lifelong Republicans who had been wary of Obama from the start, but it was the frustrations of the past four years that had welcomed Fox News as a constant presence into their living room and tea party members to their annual backyard Fourth of July bash. They wanted friends with whom to share their frustrations. Now they forwarded along e-mails from those new friends suggesting murky details in Obama’s family history and traveled to Glenn Beck rallies across the state.

They had sought out a community of others who thought like them, and immersing in that community had changed what they thought.  “The first time he won, I really just considered him inexperienced and misguided,” Sally said. “This time, I think he is purposely taking us to a place we don’t recognize.”

On the other side of the spectrum:

Cathy Morris, an Arm & Hammer quality supervisor, had worked alongside Bill for every one of those years without ever speaking to him about politics. She had overheard enough of his conversations to know: “He’s way over on the other side,” she said — and she preferred to associate only with her own side whenever possible.

She picked out an elliptical machine at the gym farthest from the TVs, because they were always tuned to Fox News. She deleted conservative friends from her Facebook page. She went on Snopes.com to investigate rumors about Obama and then shared her findings mostly with other liberals . . . . 

In what increasingly felt like a fight over basic American principles, she decided her role was to reinforce the stakes with liberals already on her side.

“Why waste my breath talking about the president to somebody who is always going to hate him?” Morris said. “If they can’t understand what he’s accomplished, it is already a lost cause.”

How, she wondered, could anyone not see the proof? The local unemployment rate had dropped from 13 percent to just more than 6 percent. The nearby National Machinery Plant, which had nearly closed its doors a few years earlier, now had trucks lining up at the loading docks like floats awaiting the start of a victory parade. The two colleges in town had become more diverse, and Arm & Hammer had begun offering benefits to same-sex domestic partners. Because of health-care reform, Morris’s youngest daughter, 22, has been able to stay on her mother’s health insurance plan. Morris decided to repay the president by doing something she had never done: making regular donations to Obama’s reelection campaign.

And then the divide - note who suggested the resort to violence:

[T]he area’s once-tranquil town hall meetings had devolved into a shouting match, with one woman suggesting that liberals in Washington should be “shot in the head,” prompting local Democrats to demand a police investigation. Ever since, local politics had all but come to a standstill.
What the article doesn't expressly delve into is the open racism that is now so pervasive in the GOP - what I believe is the overriding beef behind the mindset of folks like Bill and Sally Herr.  A president who is half black in the White House daily reminds these people that their days of special privilege are eroding and will eventually be gone. 


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