Gail's Blog

The Vote Heard Around the World–America’s Brexit

I think it is time for the serenity prayer.  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, change the things I

President Trump

President Trump

can and the wisdom to know the difference.  Amen to last night and the major electoral victory for Donald Trump our new president.

I have learned that when we are given some abrupt and drastic change in our lives, change that we cannot do anything about except accept, we would be wise to adjust as quickly as possible to the change.  Having said that, many of us are reeling from an upset election.  Yes, Hillary won the popular vote, as expected, but it wasn’t enough to get the electoral vote to put her in office.  How did this happen and why were the polls so wrong?  What did the democrats miss?   They missed the largest and social ethnic group in our country, the white middle and poor to middle classes.  This is still the largest group even with all our immigration.  They are white European descendants.  They live in smaller cities and rural areas and they voted.

This group has felt marginalized for at least 30 years.  They have watched their jobs be outsourced and been insulted by having to train their replacements.  They watched their values be destroyed and their hopes for decent paying jobs go away.  The motto for the Democrats was about the 1% and inequality.  To this large ethnic group it was never about inequality.  It was about being included, having a seat at the table and feeling productive.  It was about making enough money to take care of your family and being able to afford to buy a home even on a lower income.  Trump sensed this mood and tapped into it.  His audience was filled with this anger and resentment of being discarded.  They believe they had someone who understood their plight and wore the “deplorable” tee shirt with pride.

What America found out last night was that the elites could be overturned by the masses.  When a dysfunction goes on for too long in a society, eventually it will have political repercussions.  It did last night.  It did this past summer with England exiting out of the European common market.  For better or worse, those marginalized in British society threw out those who underestimated the power of the common man/woman.  It is going on in Europe with the small National parties that are trying to make inroads in the governments.  Governments have created a bubble either here in Washington or in Brussels.  Elites and members of the status quo are being thrown out.

The interesting point to make though, the voting last night returned the same members to Congress.  This should be the next target of change.  This bloated, special interest, unaccountable group (with no term limits) continues to vote itself special privileges and positions with a lack of concern for the public.  This group will be a target for Trump.  It should also be a target for the general population.

What can you expect with Trump?  We don’t know enough now.  He has promised many things that he will not be able to keep.  Running a country is a non-profit job with many, many bosses who will obstruct you.  Early in his administration, I would expect to begin the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act.  Some parts will be kept but, for the most part, most of it as we know it, will go.  Competition of insurance companies across state lines will be a good thing.  How to do health savings accounts and what happens to the poor is anybody’s guess.  Pre-existing conditions, who knows?  Social security will stay in tact.  Abortion should be able to be obtained.  Taxes will be going down with a pro-business bent to encourage investment.  What happens to the EPA and environmental issues looks tenuous.  I would say that most likely pipelines will be finished and fossil fuel energies will still be encouraged.  He will try things out for awhile to see how they go.  It all depends on who he puts on his economic team.  He has given us little information as to who he is considering.  So much both foreign and domestic are in the unknown pile.  He won’t build a wall but I think immigration will tighten.  The emphasis will be on strengthening the class of people who put him into office and discouragement of immigration.  He wants colleges with endowments to help give out college loans and grants to students instead of the government.  That makes some sense but we don’t enough as to how.

Trump said many nasty things publicly.  He basically was unfiltered.  In the end, he stayed on teleprompter and quit using Twitter.  His supporters didn’t care how vulgar he was, he was on their side.  Besides, many politicians have said the same thing in private.  His hyperbole was amazing.  “Make America great again” was an excellent slogan to fire up this enormous base.  He also didn’t turn off as many women as the democrats had hoped.  On top of that, he was a better politician than Hillary Clinton who had a boring slogan.  She was seen as part of the old order and the elite who were out of touch with the common person in America.

Where do we go from here?  We need to follow up with the new leadership, hold the elected officials feet to the fire and get involved in participating in our government.  Most voters are under-informed or uninformed.  They vote almost always “against something–not for something”.  In this case the vote was against the status quo and the elites and that is what the democrats represented.  It was a vote against the Obama, Clinton, Bush machine.  Women will be still become more visible.  This wasn’t a vote as much against women–although there was some of that in there–as it was about getting rid of the elites and the entrenched.

 


20 responses to “The Vote Heard Around the World–America’s Brexit”

  1. Hello Kerren,
    I understand your feelings. Thanks for writing. We do need to be smart about how we go about supporting our values and the people we pay to represent them. Become proactive with quality leaders and groups that know how to get things done. We are in for four rough years as we remain under this large Pluto transit of death and transformation. To many people, this election may seem like a death. What do you want to see in 2020? Start putting energy behind what and who you would like to lead.

  2. Kerren Bergman says:

    Hi Gail. Thank you for your encouragement. I wish it could truly enter my heart, but I am devastated by this election. Trump did not win the popular vote, as we now know, he won the electoral vote. It is time we got rid of these anachronisms that no longer fit this world. As dark as these times will be, it will cause a great uprising in this country, perhaps another civil war. I’m ready. I’m ready to fight and stand for those I love and cherish. I will not accept his vulgar, ignorant, disgusting values nor those of his “cabinet.” He will never be my president and I will fight with every last breath I have for women’s rights, including those of my daughters who will soon be women, environmental rights (he doubts global warming…. seriously????), freedom of speech, freedom of religion, protection of public lands, animal rights, support for refugees, basic right to healthcare, and on and on. This has caused a serious rift in my family just as it has in this country. Bring on the fight. We’re ready.

  3. Hello Brian,’
    Thank you for writing. Yes, the Democrats have their work cut out for them. I have said and repeated it many times, the election to watch for more permanent changes for America is 2024. We remain in upheaval due to America experiencing a second revolution. It is similar to the period of 1760 to 1790. Exposure is necessary and a return to original intentions of the constitution are in play. Trump represents the outlier. He is definitely unpredictable and will cause much confusion. It is still in formation stage. The Democrats have to go back to the drawing board and rebuilt themselves incrementally. This is essential over the next 8 years. The Republicans will have to realize that progress of the new Aquarian Age cannot be stopped. It is in play now. America cannot isolate itself nor can it bring back manufacturing jobs. Artificial Intelligence and robotics will continue to replace more and more workers, including programmers and those who write code. The entire system has to really be re-thought. Already, power plants have shut down their coal firing divisions. The clash of the titans as the old industrial age is replaced by the new age of cyber space, robots, AI, small labor forces and 3-D printing.

  4. Brian says:

    I thought this was a well thought out and unbiased write up. Quite refreshing given the left vs. right dribble I’m so used to. But I don’t think the American left truly grasp how bad it really is for them going forward. Since Obama’s election in 2008, Democrats are down 11 Senate seats, 13 State Governor’s offices (Republicans control 34 of 50), 60 House seats, and most importantly over 900 (a staggering number) state level legislature seats – 700 of those came in the major butt kicking Democrats took in 2010 and Republicans have slowly tacked on another 200 in the 3 elections since. Of course we all know Trump and company have almost absolute power until the 2018 mid-terms – they’ll move quickly on halting Syrian refugees and filling the vacant Supreme Court seat. No doubt the left is planning to “clean house” in 2018. But…they made such claims in 2012, 2014 and 2016 with little to show for it. Republican turnout almost always trumps (sorry) Democratic turn out in mid-term elections. With Democrats DEFENDING 23 Senate Seats compared with Republicans only defending 8 (there are 2 Independents), Republicans chances of holding power are pretty good. With VP Pence as a tie-breaker in a 50/50 party line split, Republicans could actually lose 2 of their 8 defended seats in 2018 and still be OK. Democrats cant afford to lose even 1 seat at this point despite having to defend 3 times as many. After the midterms but before the 2020 Presidential election comes the 2020 Census. – congressional districts get updated and red-drawn…by the State Legislatures (the group of folks the Republicans currently have a 900 plus seat advantage on). See how this is going? With the districts now drawn in their favor though 2030, Republicans are operating from a position of strength for quite some time. I’m not saying Republicans wont lose the House or Senate or White House along the way for a few years. But overall, their long term health looks pretty good. Meanwhile as valuable time ticks away between now and 2018, the left apparently plans to spend the next two years camped out in front of Trump Tower, holding “cry-ins”, blocking roads, assaulting police, smashing windows, looting stores, marching back & forth and chanting catchy slogans – kinda like a 24 month long riot / pep rally that doesn’t change the real numbers. With their gaze focused only on Trump and the North Dakota pipeline, liberal Democrats can’t see the forest through the trees. I’m betting high ranking Republicans are counting on that. In fact, it might be by design – a classic use of misdirection…. and BTW, the forest is looking awfully RED.

  5. Cheryl says:

    Thank you, Gail. I can always count on you for calm and common sense. We have discussed this on another forum, but we are in a deconstruction cycle that will last 8 more years. We cannot remove or heal what we do not see or know. The issues that are being raised did NOT begin with Trump. They have been festering a long time but swept under the rug or given “window-dressing” to appear acceptable. Like it or not, Trump is an agent of change–just not the change we may have expected. I keep remembering your warning so long ago at the beginning of the Pluto cycle in 2008 that we needed to cease being complacent and participate in the political process, hold our elected officials to the fire and call out corruption and dishonesty. Like it or not, Trump’s election has fired up a whole lot of people. Hopefully some of the 117 million registered voters who did NOT vote(Global News, Canada), and hopefully many who have placed all their trust in “Big Daddy” to know what is good for us.

  6. Sharon says:

    CNN inaccurately reported that Trump won the popular vote, which was not true (and is not true now).
    David Wasserman of Cook Political Report has been keeping an online spreadsheet with a running tally of the 2016 recount.
    As of yesterday, he has Clinton at 61,504,254 votes, with Trump at 60,669,373 votes.
    As a comparison, the AP was reporting these popular vote totals. Donald Trump 60,375,961 (47.28%) Hillary Clinton 61,047,207 (47.79%)
    That’s a difference of 671,246 votes for Hillary.

    The Electoral College is outdated. The founding fathers in 1787 meant to strike a compromise, but at that time there were only 13 states. A lot has changed since then making this system outdated. In 1956 even the American Bar Association recommended it be scrapped and found it archaic, complex, ambiguous and dangerous. However, Republicans have benefited from it and they’re in control of Congress so it won’t be changing because it is benefiting them.

  7. Hello Kris,

    Actually Hillary is winning the popular vote. Just in California, the counting is still going on. As of Sunday in California election officials still had over 4 million ballots yet to be checked or counted. That figure could even grow in the next few days. More than a million of the pending ballots, almost one in four, remain to be sorted and counted in Los Angeles County.

  8. Kris Saba says:

    Actually Hillary did not win the popular vote. Trump–62,972,226 Clinton 62,277,750.
    The media gets things wrong all the time.

    Give Trump a chance please. We may make a great president. Let’s hope for the best for our country.

  9. James Ray says:

    Great piece!

  10. Hello Anne,

    Actually Trump might listen to Obama. Since Trump has not voting record to defend and basically only has to defend his campaign rhetoric, he can back away from some of the shoot the moon comments. Tax code is definitely a concern. Republicans want tax cuts which could amount to wealthy receiving about a 13% tax cut and the middle class getting 4%. Regarding Social Security tax, it is crazy. I still have to pay almost 15% payroll tax in my retirement.

  11. Hi Karen,

    The electoral college won’t be abolished. It is a very frustrating situation.

  12. Karen says:

    Have been saying for years we should abolish the Electoral Votes and here’s our chance: https://actionsprout.io/39C3FE?source=share

  13. mikie says:

    inI do hope trump will follow his calling. it seems already, he has made a change in his presentation to the public. He fought hard with determination. Yes he has not been breaded or raised, clone in the government ways. He is a person who thinks out of the box of the political area . Most of them are groomed and can t . Don t want to take the risk of loosing the popularity among politicians. I have an issue about women looking the other way when their husband is having an affair. As all know in the history , pretty much every President had or has an affair. I would not be surprise
    there is even a separate payroll for that activity. If the person has one , talking about Mr. Clinton, who is an fool, to pick someone so open and make it public. Every eye, is on the President. For him to do that , no respect for his wife. For her to look the other way, its all right, Dahhhhh? don’t tell me she did not know. Trump knows how to negotiate. Hillary not so good, even Bernie said that. I have nothing against women, but men seem to know how to wheel deal talk the lingo of business. Trump is a business man, Hillary is not, never was. She was always involved in the political area, not the ways of running a business. If you are working for some else and never been your own boss, its just a different take. PS. I truly believe trump will be guided and listen to others in the
    Political arena will not ignore other in put. Even Hillary. PS. back in the Reagan days, it was said/and I believe written that the Democratic were to build a Wall on the borders and Reagan did the amnesty. I looked it up, its there.

  14. Anne says:

    I love this blog. I fall into the category of feeling marginalized for years. My husband and I at our best made under $50,00.00 a year. When Bush gave his famous tax cut, the employees at our non-profit did not qualify for a tax cut as our salaries were too low! I also don’t like paying taxes on Social Security benefits, as I paid into it for years and still do! Perhaps, if those in my category are lucky, we could have a reduced rate also!!!!!!!!!!

    On a more positive note, I hope Trump will listen to Obama, and put some things through that Obama tried to do but was blocked. I know Obama would not mind if Trump gets the credit as long as people are put to work and all the other areas he tried, Trump can put through and take credit. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

  15. LA O'Kane says:

    I am saddened that we have allowed a racist, sexist, bully, to take the highest office in our country!
    Today was a wake up call for us all!
    After many tears I have the resolve to get in the game.
    I will search out, investigate, and support the next POWERFUL WOMAN CANDIDATE FOR 2020!
    My anger I will use as fuel for change!
    I will do my work within myself and heal my separation thoughts….boy when the teacher shows up….and makes me uncomfortable I cannot get around it, and must work through it….yep the Serenity Prayer is perfect

  16. Karen says:

    I understand what you mean about the Democrats but his supporters also only listened to what they wanted to hear and he fed them that. They dismissed the fact that he’s a rapist and has sexually assaulted women. After all it’s not that long ago in the history of mankind that women were still considered property and could not own property, that it was a wife’s duty to please her husband, and that women couldn’t vote. Seriously, women have been raped for centuries, so what’s the big deal? There are centuries of beliefs ingrained in men and women that women are inferior. If the only group in power has been predominantly white men (except for one bi-racial president) and everyone else is a minority then why wouldn’t white men want to bring back the power to their camp? So what if he raped 13-year-olds and his first wife… what? Did you say something? I missed that. But did you hear he’s going to Make America Great Again? So what if he’s outsourced his work, which gave jobs to other countries, and used undocumented workers on his buildings, and hasn’t paid taxes? It’s okay because he’s going to give us jobs now. It’s what his supporters chose to hear that are largely responsible for the end result… that and the Electoral Vote, which needs to end, because it doesn’t show a true voting outcome. The Band-aid is off and we see the conscious/unconscious beliefs that drove this election. I’ll be praying like she did in the “War Room” that any deceit will be exposed and this time he and his team will be held accountable. I do believe that good comes out of everything, even when we can’t imagine what that will be, and I’ll be looking to see what good will rise from the ashes of this election.

  17. Chris says:

    All the notes that you hit were valid…however, one of the comments about how the working class has suffered for 30 years grinds at me…why? Because it was that “paragon” of virtue, Ronald Reagan, who began to divide us (inaccurately calling people Welfare Queens) and created a chasm between the white working poor and the working poor of people of color…so much so that the white poor felt that it would be better to be poor than to take a “hand out” like the “others”
    …the irony of that is that the states with the most white working poor are the red states of Ronnie’s acolytes. They all revere him even though he gave huge tax cuts to the rich and carved away at a robust middle class that grew after WWII.
    So, while those who voted for T. or those who protested and chose another candidate, which basically handed the E. College to him…cannot wait for the Obamas to de-camp so this faux man of the people can move in–they’ve completely ignored the toxicity of the Pres. Elect.
    In my opinion, while the grievances of the majority of white voters have legitimacy…there were other candidates than a basic no-nothing and his equally if not more terrifying VP to choose by the R’s
    ….but sadly to the uninformed…they think that Trump is smart…to the weak they think Trump is strong. They are wrong.
    PS. tried to tune in to FB live at 3:30 CST today…and nothing was there.

  18. Yume says:

    Interesting perspective. It’s about the elites and entrenched, but they voted in the most elitist of them all of the bunch. Someone who has never been marginalized or felt marginalized before. Someone who was born pretty much with a silver spoon in his mouth. It seems to me that this such contradiction of the American people who did vote for Trump.

  19. Elizabeth says:

    Gail, thank you for your accepting, insightful and unbiased summary. Let us hope that as president Trump will rein himself in and no longer present himself as a loose cannon, but as a respectable, respectful and reasonable leader who thinks before he acts.

  20. Kayci says:

    This is a well thought out and well said statement Gail. I think you hit the nail on the head as to why he won and Hillary lost. It amazes me that her campaign people did not listen more to people who voiced these thoughts along the way. Michael Moore for one said this way back when. Oh well, maybe it is destiny for this to happen so that Americans can wake up and hold their “representatives” to be accountable. Maybe this will b e a new beginning for all Americans when they see that one can say all kinds of lies and not care about whether anything happens from the promises no matter which party they are on. This has happened too many times. Maybe we all will get angry enough to make some needed changes and all participate in the making of America.

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