I agree with most of this bringing us together article, except the part about Republicans being a party for people of all colors and of differing attributes for the last 10 years. I was elected to the Washington State Legislature in 1980 as a Republican. I was a 28 year old woman (white). Most Republicans care for all people and the rhetoric on the left was believed but not true. This article is a breath of fresh air.
I am not surprised about the results of the US election. It was always going to about policy and common sense. The Dems have totally lost their way (like our Liberals in Canada) and the result is that they got seriously trashed. Harris basically got the TDS vote --- i.e., the people voting AGAINST Trump --- and not much else. Trump hopefully has learned from the first time around, he has a solid mandate from the people, they have the Senate and possibly the House (and hopefully will not screw that up this time) and there should be no tolerance from the active undermining of a sitting POTUS that went on the last time around. I expect that he will not BLOW it like Biden did (kowtowing to the left w ac k jobs) and that he will come down the middle and solve a whole lot of serious problems. I was not a fan of Trump running again but the guy would like nothing more than a successful Presidency based on real results being achieved. So hopefully people will be smart and let him DO IT and save the protests and angst for legitimate concerns and provide constructive criticism rather than spite and nonsense.
I attended an event called Dissident Dialogues in NYC in the spring and there was a host of very smart people who were mostly true Liberals (like the ones that I grew up around) totally appalled at the direction of the Democrats. The Democrats would be smart to welcome these people back, move to the center and bring back some common sense (and ditto for the Liberals in Canada).
PS - Canada is relevant because Harris was following the Trudeau playbook and look no further than the total disaster that we have going on up here.
This is so on target, so correct. I just wrote this to a friend with your article attached....
Maybe this will help?
I think the results meant a referendum on both political parties as elite and out of touch with what most Americans want and need. I voted for an independent this time. Yes me, a lifelong liberal ....because I truly believe that this current 2 party system, and the legacy news that we consume, is dividing our country. Trump represents to most people something outside of a two party elite system that has become almost a coronation of sorts, the Clinton dynasty, the Bush dynasty, etc.
I don't believe this was a vote for Trump, given the breakdown in this article about who got his vote, but more a rejection of the status quo. THat is my hope about the results of this election; that real change in how we get our candidates and the way we vote is drastically changed. If not, I would have been voting for a system that I think is to blame for all of this.
I know you see it so differently, and my heart, thoughts, and supportive embrace go out to you.
What a loving and thoughtful message. This is precisely the kind of exchange we need to have with people who are struggling to understand what happened this week. Keep up the outreach and the good work, Peasque.
Trump has always managed to appeal to people who are deeply frustrated with the establishment in both parties. They are voting in some cases for, as you point out, someone who appears to reject both sides.
Class is always the issue. Pundits and political operatives ignore it on purpose. It is much better for them if we are all pointing at one another rather than at them. I am hoping daily for unity for all of those who want to try.
I usually find FAIR postings to be beacons of much-needed sanity and clarity, but I must say I’m troubled by this essay, as I would be by any attempt to put a positive spin on the outcome of this election.
Please don’t interpret the relative quiet as anything resembling “relief” on the part of Harris supporters. Temporary paralysis due to shock would be more accurate. I and most of my friends are feeling overwhelmed by grief, rage, and disbelief.
As a compulsive liar and hate-spewing racist, misogynist, and rapist, Trump is the last person who should be credited with ending divisiveness or fostering unity. The fact that voters from so many demographics drank his cool-aid was the result of his relentless appeals to the lowest common denominator, the ugliest and sickest aspects of the American character—including but not limited to xenophobia—and the willful ignorance of voters to his manifold failings and crimes, which are there for all to see.
Only four years? We’ll see if we can keep our heads above water that long—figuratively and even literally.
Please keep in mind that what one person’s Kool Aid may be another’s elixir 😉
Rather than assuming that so many voters — across a wide range of demographics — are misguided, perhaps it might be helpful for you to engage with some of them, one on one, to understand *why* they voted as they did. That’s what I’m doing with my friends now: trying to bridge the gap in understanding. What I’m finding is that there has been a great deal of misinformation on both sides, largely owing to the media.
In any event, if you are a supporter of FAIR I know you must also support our mission to heal this country by promoting mutual understanding, dignity, and respect. One of the most important aspects of this effort is giving the benefit of the doubt to those with whom we disagree and not making assumptions about their their beliefs or character.
Please try to stay in a positive space and hope for the best. 70% of Americans clearly believe our country is on the wrong path. Whether we voted for Trump or not, it’s in our collective best interests to support him so that he has the best chance to fix this.
What a fantastic article, Monica - I think you are spot on with your assessment of the situation. It is time to walk away from divisive ideology and get back to looking for the things that unite us.
I grew up during the 70's when integration of the public schools was first starting. My 40th reunion a year ago was a great mix of colors, with many successful classmates who were happy to get together and share memories of our high school years. We didn't divide the room by color, although there were certainly tables that leaned one way or another, but that was based on friend groups, not race. I keep asking myself when exactly it went so wrong and why...
I am a physician and entered medical school when females were first starting to make up larger portions of classes. I like to think that I was admitted based on my academic qualifications and personal achievements, not merely because I was a woman. I think today's students would feel the same way. We need to encourage education of our children of color and provide them with role models who are successful, educated adults so that they have something to aspire to and achieve success as a consequence. I pray that this is where we are headed - to a place where every child has an opportunity regardless of sex or race if they want to take advantage of it.
All of which is possible only if the chattering classes and pols can put country first. Divide and conquer is about power, not effectiveness. As long as political supremacy is the goal, we will remain divided. This is a tall order, especially for a determinately anti-american party. What Americans will need to do, is move forward, ignore the dividers, and leave their vitriol, superiority, and arrogance behind.
I've been explaining that people are voting for the policies they like, regardless of the person in leadership. People weren't voting against Kamala's heritage or skin colour or sex. They were voting against her policies but not just her policies, her methods too.
I think the problem we have now is most of the issues people in this country care about on a day-to-day basis (inflation, income stagnation, the impact of job loss and lingering globalization on towns and cities they may not want to leave) center squarely on class and not artificial identity-based groups. Political parties don't want to recognize that, possibly because so many of the members of the leadership circles in both parties lie squarely in the upper-upper class and have no idea how most of these issues actually impact people. All you had to do is look at the confusion on pundits' faces when they insisted inflation was down based on price increases going down. That's not what regular folks see. They see prices in the stores staying at high levels (sometimes still going up), rent increasing at a rate people who haven't rented in over ten years can't comprehend, and so on. Telling them inflation is "going down" when they don't see any real change is insulting.
I hope to see change, but I can't say I'm hopeful. Politics continues to attract some of our worst actors...regardless of party.
I posted a link to this article on Facebook. Before the link I quoted the part about a friend in California asking why POC voted for Trump. Facebook removed my post as against their community standards.
I did the exact same thing, including the same quote. I added, dems don't get it. My post was also removed from Facebook for violating community standards. Also, this was in a private political group I belong to with thousands of members.
Well said, Monica! It was an honor to read your essay this morning. Thank you.
You will not be surprised to know that those who hoped/worked for a different presidential election outcome continue with their standard fare of divisive rhetoric. This from Rethinking Schools:
"A campaign that promises the “largest deportation” in history, that claims educators force “brutal” sex change operations on children, and that represents so much ugliness, is victorious. The campaign was drenched in white supremacy, anti-Blackness, patriarchy, xenophobia, transphobia, and more...But it is important to remember that times of extraordinary activism and progress have often gone side-by-side with elected leaders who have not been on the side of justice. The abolition movement grew and grew during the grimmest days of slavery, under hostile presidents and Supreme Courts. The strike waves of the 1930s began not under the Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, but under the reactionary Herbert Hoover — lettuce workers in California’s Imperial Valley; cigar makers in Tampa, Florida; coal miners in Harlan County, West Virginia. The Civil Rights Movement was launched with a Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, as president and racist Democrats as governors throughout the South. The Black Panther Party was born in Oakland while Ronald Reagan was governor of California, and the anti-Vietnam war movement became massive under Nixon’s presidency. And, of course, the outpouring of activism around racial justice following the murder of George Floyd occurred during the last presidency of Donald Trump.
Yes, we are saddened, even horrified, by the results of this election. But not defeated. People throughout history — here and around the world — have organized and stayed hopeful in the face of tyrants. That is our assignment. Educators of conscience are needed more than ever before.
We are grateful to you: the educators, activists, and organizers who fight for democracy — you represent hope in hard times.
In Solidarity, Rethinking Schools editors and staff"
Trump and most people support fair, orderly and LEGAL immigration (and actually the number of legal immigrants was up under Trump over Obama). Obama was also very good at deporting the undesirables that unfairly and illegally crossed the border. The people have spoken in this election and no reasonable person can be against the deportation of non American criminals, gang members and terrorists which will be the focus of Trump and the Administration. The European Nations have recognized the child abuse associated with irreversible sex change procedures on minors and it continues in the US because of money, politics and ideology. Check out the breakdown of who voted for Trump and reassess your key premise. Got anything else.
Beautifully written, and I hesitate to add but: when Biden appeared in the debate I knew democrats would lose the presidency. It was a symptom of something profoundly wrong inside the party to let a clearly infirm person make any attempt whatsoever to speak to the country.
Harris was then thrown off the famous “glass cliff” where only when an institution is failing is a woman or a minority put in place for turnaround. Ginny Rometty took over a failing IBM and didn’t do a lot; Meg Whitman took over a collapsing HP amd same issue. Biden and the Democratic Party left her 3 months to recruit voters instead of 12. Simple math would show it was an impossibility.
I agree with you that the party position of Democrats is woefully (measurably!) disconnected from the electorate and have been so for quite some time. But even if Harris had game-changing positions for the party, it would be impossible to communicate.
I feel the calmness, and have felt it since June. The only question was how much he would win by.
Great observations! Same here in Canada our first female Prime Minister Kim Campbell was the result of Brian Mulroney's ousting/resignation. She lasted three months.
I agree with most of this bringing us together article, except the part about Republicans being a party for people of all colors and of differing attributes for the last 10 years. I was elected to the Washington State Legislature in 1980 as a Republican. I was a 28 year old woman (white). Most Republicans care for all people and the rhetoric on the left was believed but not true. This article is a breath of fresh air.
Thank you for your feedback, Jeanette. Really appreciate your perspective from WA!
Monica - The most intelligent article on the election this year. You nailed it.
Jeanette- Hope you are still involved as the system needs intelligent women to serve!
Wow, thanks Terry! I'm so honored by your kind words!
Could not agree more.
I am not surprised about the results of the US election. It was always going to about policy and common sense. The Dems have totally lost their way (like our Liberals in Canada) and the result is that they got seriously trashed. Harris basically got the TDS vote --- i.e., the people voting AGAINST Trump --- and not much else. Trump hopefully has learned from the first time around, he has a solid mandate from the people, they have the Senate and possibly the House (and hopefully will not screw that up this time) and there should be no tolerance from the active undermining of a sitting POTUS that went on the last time around. I expect that he will not BLOW it like Biden did (kowtowing to the left w ac k jobs) and that he will come down the middle and solve a whole lot of serious problems. I was not a fan of Trump running again but the guy would like nothing more than a successful Presidency based on real results being achieved. So hopefully people will be smart and let him DO IT and save the protests and angst for legitimate concerns and provide constructive criticism rather than spite and nonsense.
I attended an event called Dissident Dialogues in NYC in the spring and there was a host of very smart people who were mostly true Liberals (like the ones that I grew up around) totally appalled at the direction of the Democrats. The Democrats would be smart to welcome these people back, move to the center and bring back some common sense (and ditto for the Liberals in Canada).
PS - Canada is relevant because Harris was following the Trudeau playbook and look no further than the total disaster that we have going on up here.
This is so on target, so correct. I just wrote this to a friend with your article attached....
Maybe this will help?
I think the results meant a referendum on both political parties as elite and out of touch with what most Americans want and need. I voted for an independent this time. Yes me, a lifelong liberal ....because I truly believe that this current 2 party system, and the legacy news that we consume, is dividing our country. Trump represents to most people something outside of a two party elite system that has become almost a coronation of sorts, the Clinton dynasty, the Bush dynasty, etc.
I don't believe this was a vote for Trump, given the breakdown in this article about who got his vote, but more a rejection of the status quo. THat is my hope about the results of this election; that real change in how we get our candidates and the way we vote is drastically changed. If not, I would have been voting for a system that I think is to blame for all of this.
I know you see it so differently, and my heart, thoughts, and supportive embrace go out to you.
What a loving and thoughtful message. This is precisely the kind of exchange we need to have with people who are struggling to understand what happened this week. Keep up the outreach and the good work, Peasque.
let's keep in touch!!!!
Trump has always managed to appeal to people who are deeply frustrated with the establishment in both parties. They are voting in some cases for, as you point out, someone who appears to reject both sides.
You need to retool your understanding of the word 'eloquent'. Word salad is word salad, however graciously presented...
Class is always the issue. Pundits and political operatives ignore it on purpose. It is much better for them if we are all pointing at one another rather than at them. I am hoping daily for unity for all of those who want to try.
I usually find FAIR postings to be beacons of much-needed sanity and clarity, but I must say I’m troubled by this essay, as I would be by any attempt to put a positive spin on the outcome of this election.
Please don’t interpret the relative quiet as anything resembling “relief” on the part of Harris supporters. Temporary paralysis due to shock would be more accurate. I and most of my friends are feeling overwhelmed by grief, rage, and disbelief.
As a compulsive liar and hate-spewing racist, misogynist, and rapist, Trump is the last person who should be credited with ending divisiveness or fostering unity. The fact that voters from so many demographics drank his cool-aid was the result of his relentless appeals to the lowest common denominator, the ugliest and sickest aspects of the American character—including but not limited to xenophobia—and the willful ignorance of voters to his manifold failings and crimes, which are there for all to see.
Only four years? We’ll see if we can keep our heads above water that long—figuratively and even literally.
Please keep in mind that what one person’s Kool Aid may be another’s elixir 😉
Rather than assuming that so many voters — across a wide range of demographics — are misguided, perhaps it might be helpful for you to engage with some of them, one on one, to understand *why* they voted as they did. That’s what I’m doing with my friends now: trying to bridge the gap in understanding. What I’m finding is that there has been a great deal of misinformation on both sides, largely owing to the media.
In any event, if you are a supporter of FAIR I know you must also support our mission to heal this country by promoting mutual understanding, dignity, and respect. One of the most important aspects of this effort is giving the benefit of the doubt to those with whom we disagree and not making assumptions about their their beliefs or character.
Please try to stay in a positive space and hope for the best. 70% of Americans clearly believe our country is on the wrong path. Whether we voted for Trump or not, it’s in our collective best interests to support him so that he has the best chance to fix this.
Have borrowed your numbers. Hope that's OK!
Please borrow and share widely!
Real, relevant statistics are revealing of truth...
What a fantastic article, Monica - I think you are spot on with your assessment of the situation. It is time to walk away from divisive ideology and get back to looking for the things that unite us.
I grew up during the 70's when integration of the public schools was first starting. My 40th reunion a year ago was a great mix of colors, with many successful classmates who were happy to get together and share memories of our high school years. We didn't divide the room by color, although there were certainly tables that leaned one way or another, but that was based on friend groups, not race. I keep asking myself when exactly it went so wrong and why...
I am a physician and entered medical school when females were first starting to make up larger portions of classes. I like to think that I was admitted based on my academic qualifications and personal achievements, not merely because I was a woman. I think today's students would feel the same way. We need to encourage education of our children of color and provide them with role models who are successful, educated adults so that they have something to aspire to and achieve success as a consequence. I pray that this is where we are headed - to a place where every child has an opportunity regardless of sex or race if they want to take advantage of it.
Thank you for your work!
Thank you, Laura!
Whoa, this was an extremely interesting and well-written analysis. A lot of layers; a lot of pieces to the puzzle.
I don't agree with all of it. Some of the big points are spot on while a few minor points miss badly, if you ask me.
But this was a serious, thoughtful and fair piece; and damned if we don't need more of that nowadays.
Kudos.
All of which is possible only if the chattering classes and pols can put country first. Divide and conquer is about power, not effectiveness. As long as political supremacy is the goal, we will remain divided. This is a tall order, especially for a determinately anti-american party. What Americans will need to do, is move forward, ignore the dividers, and leave their vitriol, superiority, and arrogance behind.
I've been explaining that people are voting for the policies they like, regardless of the person in leadership. People weren't voting against Kamala's heritage or skin colour or sex. They were voting against her policies but not just her policies, her methods too.
I think the problem we have now is most of the issues people in this country care about on a day-to-day basis (inflation, income stagnation, the impact of job loss and lingering globalization on towns and cities they may not want to leave) center squarely on class and not artificial identity-based groups. Political parties don't want to recognize that, possibly because so many of the members of the leadership circles in both parties lie squarely in the upper-upper class and have no idea how most of these issues actually impact people. All you had to do is look at the confusion on pundits' faces when they insisted inflation was down based on price increases going down. That's not what regular folks see. They see prices in the stores staying at high levels (sometimes still going up), rent increasing at a rate people who haven't rented in over ten years can't comprehend, and so on. Telling them inflation is "going down" when they don't see any real change is insulting.
I hope to see change, but I can't say I'm hopeful. Politics continues to attract some of our worst actors...regardless of party.
I posted a link to this article on Facebook. Before the link I quoted the part about a friend in California asking why POC voted for Trump. Facebook removed my post as against their community standards.
That's unreal! Did you try to post again?
I did the exact same thing, including the same quote. I added, dems don't get it. My post was also removed from Facebook for violating community standards. Also, this was in a private political group I belong to with thousands of members.
Wow...
Well said, Monica! It was an honor to read your essay this morning. Thank you.
You will not be surprised to know that those who hoped/worked for a different presidential election outcome continue with their standard fare of divisive rhetoric. This from Rethinking Schools:
"A campaign that promises the “largest deportation” in history, that claims educators force “brutal” sex change operations on children, and that represents so much ugliness, is victorious. The campaign was drenched in white supremacy, anti-Blackness, patriarchy, xenophobia, transphobia, and more...But it is important to remember that times of extraordinary activism and progress have often gone side-by-side with elected leaders who have not been on the side of justice. The abolition movement grew and grew during the grimmest days of slavery, under hostile presidents and Supreme Courts. The strike waves of the 1930s began not under the Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, but under the reactionary Herbert Hoover — lettuce workers in California’s Imperial Valley; cigar makers in Tampa, Florida; coal miners in Harlan County, West Virginia. The Civil Rights Movement was launched with a Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, as president and racist Democrats as governors throughout the South. The Black Panther Party was born in Oakland while Ronald Reagan was governor of California, and the anti-Vietnam war movement became massive under Nixon’s presidency. And, of course, the outpouring of activism around racial justice following the murder of George Floyd occurred during the last presidency of Donald Trump.
Yes, we are saddened, even horrified, by the results of this election. But not defeated. People throughout history — here and around the world — have organized and stayed hopeful in the face of tyrants. That is our assignment. Educators of conscience are needed more than ever before.
We are grateful to you: the educators, activists, and organizers who fight for democracy — you represent hope in hard times.
In Solidarity, Rethinking Schools editors and staff"
Trump and most people support fair, orderly and LEGAL immigration (and actually the number of legal immigrants was up under Trump over Obama). Obama was also very good at deporting the undesirables that unfairly and illegally crossed the border. The people have spoken in this election and no reasonable person can be against the deportation of non American criminals, gang members and terrorists which will be the focus of Trump and the Administration. The European Nations have recognized the child abuse associated with irreversible sex change procedures on minors and it continues in the US because of money, politics and ideology. Check out the breakdown of who voted for Trump and reassess your key premise. Got anything else.
Beautifully written, and I hesitate to add but: when Biden appeared in the debate I knew democrats would lose the presidency. It was a symptom of something profoundly wrong inside the party to let a clearly infirm person make any attempt whatsoever to speak to the country.
Harris was then thrown off the famous “glass cliff” where only when an institution is failing is a woman or a minority put in place for turnaround. Ginny Rometty took over a failing IBM and didn’t do a lot; Meg Whitman took over a collapsing HP amd same issue. Biden and the Democratic Party left her 3 months to recruit voters instead of 12. Simple math would show it was an impossibility.
I agree with you that the party position of Democrats is woefully (measurably!) disconnected from the electorate and have been so for quite some time. But even if Harris had game-changing positions for the party, it would be impossible to communicate.
I feel the calmness, and have felt it since June. The only question was how much he would win by.
Great observations! Same here in Canada our first female Prime Minister Kim Campbell was the result of Brian Mulroney's ousting/resignation. She lasted three months.