THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN GREAT SHAPE! BUT WHAT WILL THEY DO WITH IT?

…This isn’t happening today

 

There are elements of the economy that are rigged against the working American. 

 

As expected some of the conservatives that have followed my articles have, after the election results, been thumbing their proverbial nose at me.  They are of course saying that the Republicans are the strongest in decades and the Dems are in the worst shape going back to the years after the American Civil War.

 

The problem is that as to the Democratic party, these critics were totally correct that the Dems are in their worst shape in terms of federal officeholders and at the state level since the Civil War Reconstruction Era.

 

The issue of income disparity in America is worse than ever and is different than what some of the Democrats have been saying.  It’s not that the top 1% is doing so well versus the other 99%.  The truth is that a total of one-third of all American adults are economically secure and they are getting wealthier year by year. This is the upper-middle class that the economist Stephen Rose had found had doubled in size and share of national wealth since 1979.

 

It’s the other two-thirds of Americans however, that are virtually scared to death.  (These were the ones that voted for a billionaire business man.)  The idea of living a life of dignity and comfort has been shattered for these people. They aren’t asking for handouts. They want work that provides a good living, a career path and a sense of purpose. This is the glue that had previously held our democracy in place.  It is also what it will take to reverse the shrinking of the American middle class that was the first ever mass middle-class of any nation that developed after WWII.

 

So while they would like for the workplace to be more fair as the Democrats have proposed, what they really want is for good jobs to be more plentiful.  But to do that entails solving the most difficult domestic-policy issue of our era: that of making the forces of globalization and technology work for everyday people, and not against them.

 

At some point the liberals of the Democratic party are going to have to understand what has been going on in the American work force over the past 40 years.

 

Those in both parties have a point when they say that there are elements of the economy that are rigged against the working stiff.  Just look what has happened at many of those long-time large American employers.  At one time, 145,000 Americans worked at Eastman Kodak. They lost their jobs not because of a stacked political deck, but because everyone takes pictures on their phone today.

 

In just the last 10 years, 465,000 fewer people work in paper publishing and printing, that’s because they will probably read this column online, not on a hard copy. It was 365,000 Americans that lost jobs in department, clothing and electronics stores because Americans now shop on-line from their homes. These are just some of the root economics of the problems in the United States, and simple solutions from either party won’t solve them.

 

Another critical issue is the vast divide that has grown between the two political parties.

 

It started after the 2008 election within the US Congress when the Republicans, instead of dealing as before in working with their opposition, they decided to say “no” to anything that the then new president Obama or the Dems offered.  Then, when the president offered up Obamacare and the Republicans tried to repeal it over 50 times, the divide between the parties just continued to increase.

 

Today, instead of the two parties working together to get the people’s business done and to get an American infrastructure jobs bill through the Congress, the Republicans have stated that no bill is going to happen to pass that isn’t paid for 100%.  And the GOP has the votes to make that happen.

 

The one positive for today about having Trump as the president and the GOP controlling both houses is, if nothing continues to get done in Congress going forward, at least the American public will see that it’s not because of the Democrats.

 

But that’s a good example of how bad the situation is in getting our business done in Washington DC.

 

Let’s face it, on social policy, all the facets of the Democratic party are in harmony. The fight Democrats have led to fully include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and immigrants in our society, to protect a woman’s right to choose, to stand for sane gun laws and holistic policing and criminal justice has been a unifying force for Democrats, not a source of division as it was in the 1990s.

 

But, because of this unity, many Democrats will use that unity and throw into the faces of the opposition.  As one individual said, “It only takes being called a racist, homophobe or misogynist once to permanently end a conversation with a potentially reasonable but reluctant voter.”  Perhaps on social issues, many liberals need to take a less “shaming” approach for dealing with those that don’t believe as they do.

 

However, to say that doing that will end the problem is being far too simplistic.

 

The Democrats need to start at the bottom and get their act together by winning more local and state elected position, that includes some governorships as well.  They need to show that they are for what the average working American needs for supporting their families.

 

I guess the good thing for the Democrats is that from where they stand today, the only direction choice that they have today is up!

 

Copyright G.Ater 2016