Anger in America Gerry OShea
Rage is
dominating the American body politic. The culture has become so toxic that we
can no longer just agree to disagree.
In April of this year, reputable pollsters
revealed that 70% of Republicans declared that the presidential election was
stolen and Donald Trump should be re-installed in the White House. A September gauge
of opinion showed that the figure of Republican disbelievers in the Biden
presidency has grown to a whopping 78%.
It is
important to explain that there is not a scintilla of evidence supporting this
erroneous contention. Mr. Trump’s lawyers’ claims of electoral impropriety were
considered by close to sixty judges, some of whom were appointed by the former
president, and none of them even allowed the case to be heard because no
evidence of wrongdoing was presented in court.
The Supreme
Court with a strong influence of Trump appointees refused even to consider the
case. The Department of Justice under William Barr could find no reason to
question the election results.
Still, a
sense of rage permeates Republican supporters. Over 70 million voted for Mr.
Trump, so, in round figures, about 55 million reject the official election
results. These are mind-blowing numbers that raise serious questions about the
future of American democracy.
What has
caused such a flight from reality, unmatched in the history of the republic? To
complicate the situation, many of the same Republican deniers parade with the
anti-vaxxers and feel that the insurrection on January 6th was
somehow justified.
The faces of
most of the rioters during the Capitol revolt on January 6th revealed furious
indignation about the election outcome which showed Joe Biden winning the
presidency. Most Trump supporters are seriously irate about what they call “the
big steal.”
I recall my
eminent professor of psychology in Manhattan College, Dr. Frank Lodato, in his
lectures about strong grievance emotions like wrathful anger and blind
prejudice, explaining that these fierce feelings are really symptoms of a
person’s wider psychological problems and should never be taken at face value.
He gave a
simple example. A young person growing up in a family and community environment
where love and respect and caring are largely absent will surely carry a dark
emotional cloud into his or her teen years and adult life. Thus, the individual
from the political left or the right angrily emoting about some controversial
issue often reveals less about the matter he is loudly engaging with and more
about pervasive fears and serious unresolved emotional issues.
Conspiracy
theories abound and seem to fill a need for the many citizens who see the world
through the prism of jaundiced eyes. According to Pew Research, up to the year
2000 only 16% of Democrats held a “very unfavorable” opinion of Republicans.
This has changed dramatically, rising to 38% by2014, and another recent poll brought
the total to a huge 52%. Republican numbers measured by the same yardstick revealed
similar levels of disdain for Democrats. The malaise has infected both
political parties.
These
disturbing statistics were confirmed when people were asked about a family
member marrying someone from the other party:
an astonishing 55% would not want intermarriage outside their own
political clan.
Or consider
the prestigious right track/wrong track poll judging citizens’ satisfaction
with the direction of the country, which normally hovers in the area of 40-50
percent, but since the turn of the century this number has plunged, settling in
the 20-30 percent range.
The cogent socialist
perspective points to the growing inequality in American life as the hidden
cause of the anger. Over the last sixty years, workers’ wages have barely held
stable at a time of major improvements in industrial productivity and company
profits and while the salaries of the top echelon have shown exponential
growth.
The federal
minimum wage has fallen by a third since 1970 but, during the same time, worker
production has increased by 150%. Many retirees depend solely on their social
security cheques to get by from month to month. This is confirmed in a recent
study completed in Boston College which reveals that three out of four workers,
aged fifty to sixty-two, do not have a company retiree pension plan.
Trade Union
membership has declined dramatically in the past half century leading to a drop
in income and in respect for working people. This is a major problem, but,
surprisingly, those who are hurt most – workers without Union representation in
their jobs – are not directing their energy and rage against their bosses at
the top who will pull every trick out of the bag to prevent their employees
from joining a Union.
Wall Street
is booming like never before. The various stock indices reveal big gains in the
last half century. Great, but most workers can’t afford to own shares. The 10%
at the top have accumulated 84% of this wealth, and about half of American
employees do not hold stock in any company.
The Trump
tax giveaways benefited millionaires and people on high incomes. Those lower
down the economic ladder got negligible amounts but were told by then Treasury
Secretary Mnuchin that some of the trillion dollars going to the top 5% would
trickle down to them. Trickle down talk from millionaires is the modern version
of voodoo economics.
The people
at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder have every right to be furious that
the political parties have sidelined their concerns over the last few decades.
Many of these families are barely paying their monthly bills, but they are not
united in promoting any cohesive plan that might mitigate their justified sense
of alienation and indignation.
Some engage
in disturbing cognitive dissonance as they applaud some autocrat screaming
right-wing tripe on the influential talk radio shows, blaming immigrants or the
welfare system or inevitably elite liberals.
Bernie
Sanders’ solutions are rejected by many of the men and women who would benefit
most from progressive policies. He has been the leading advocate in Washington
for reducing the cost of drugs and introducing adequate coverage for quality
dental care and hearing aids, but, inevitably, he is pegged as a socialist or
even a communist. Instead of standing in his corner, many of these low and
mid-level people show a venomous dislike for the Vermont senator.
Fox News
debuted in 1996 and, after a few years, they decided that their niche, the
place where they could have the biggest impact, was in promoting far-right
conservative views. Fox does not usually produce serious news programs where
reporters check out the facts behind any story and interview people
representing a variety of perspectives.
Instead, its
fundamental message is one of daily rage at what liberals are doing to the
country. Their list is well-rehearsed – open borders, Benghazi, Christian bake
sales, critical race theory, lazy poor people, athletes taking the knee in
protest and so on – and the main culprits are inevitably Fox News’s bete noire,
liberals in the media and in Washington.
Where will
all this toxicity end? Are we on the road to terminating the American
experiment in self-government? Are we heading for a major crisis?
The poet Langston Hughes asked the same
serious question close to a hundred years ago.
What happens
to a dream deferred?
Does it dry
up
Like a
raisin in the sun?
Or fester
like a sore –
And then
run?
Maybe it
just sags
like a heavy
load.
Or does
it explode?
Gerry
OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
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