In December 2016 The Nation published an
editorial that tried to make sense out of the insane decision of the country to elect Donald Trump. It is the most cogent explanation that has been suggested about how a people who are, “Dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” could cede their power to a man whose life has been devoted to using his rank to oppress those less fortunate than he, which, since he inherited an enormous fortune, means everybody. Before he was elected, a tape was even released on which he can be heard bragging about the ease with which he can molest women. Then he proceeded to carry even that demographic in the election.
I began this site about 2 years ago, thinking the name would evoke a crazy old man on a park bench screaming things about diet and lifestyle as people cross the street to avoid him. Perhaps the defining theme of my life has been my father’s death at 54. As I approached that age myself, I searched for a solution to that existential threat and landed upon what is generally called, “Plant Based Whole Food,” these days. It convinced me that my dad had forfeited almost half of his life to lifestyle, primarily smoking and poor eating. His brother, who died a few years ago at age 91, was more fastidious in those lifestyle choices. So my father died from a heart attack without ever seeing one of his grandchildren, without ever having given us the benefit of his wisdom as we needed it most during the turbulent trials of life. And we needed it. So the promise of preventative medicine seemed a good cause to dedicate my energies to.
But over the last few weeks I have become so angry with the state of my life, brought about by conditions beyond my control that I am afraid the site name must evoke a crazy old man on a park bench screaming things about politics as people cross the street to avoid him. I have been working on a softer approach to reestablishing the blog. I titled it The Priviledge of Growing Old, but, as I woke up this morning, I felt an anger that motivated me to compose this screed instead. As I was lying in bed, I began to generate resentment towards all of these deplorables, whom I had been feeling sorry for. After all, most of what Trump tells them is true; they were happier when they were using fossil fuels at a rate several million times the rate at which it can be produced, they were happier when people of color,,women and LGBTQs, “Knew their place,” Of course, Trump didn’t say, “You were happier, …” He said, “Make America great again,” a code everybody understood. It wasn’t lying to them that got him elected; it was appealing to their most base desires, right?
No, it WAS lying to them; telling them they could attain happiness at the expense of the earth and their own children’s futures. The global economy did not respect them and, so, it is their right, (some might say duty) to destroy that economy, and that globe. It’s ironic how, for all of the talk about how refreshing it is to hear a blowhard politician avoid political correctness, the most politically incorrect (and, perhaps, most honest) statement made during the 2016 campaign was made by Hilary Clinton when she referred to these neo nazis as deplorables.
In order to compete in the 80s, I took full college course loads while working full time. I staffed two complete weekend test shifts at a Silicon Valley DRAM company while finishing my Statistics degree. That degree provided a 30-year career contributing to the true greatness of America, and the prosperity to raise a child. Every boomer Trump voter had the same opportunity. Instead they cleaved to jobs that provided an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, thereby avoiding the type of backstabbing and psychpathology that culminated in my last employer retiring me two years ago. They could have taken those jobs, performed them honestly and contributed to creating a great America. Instead they sneered at those of us who took up that challenge and resented whatever small successes we had achieved. Eventually the psychopaths won, and even boomers who cared about the earth, the ideals upon which the nation was founded, and the future of our children succumbed to the thumb-sucking comfort of the total retaliation Trump was peddling. But there is no truth in the pursuit of happiness for its own end. The truth lies in coupling that pursuit with the rights of life and liberty that we all share.
The truth, if anyone cares to hear it anymore, is that we live in a global economy. We are not going to compete with Asia in manufacturing televisions and radios unless we are anxious to work at dangerous sub-minimum-wage jobs without bathroom breaks. That appears to be the direction in which the Don and his deplorables are leading us. Personally, we’ve lost over $25,000 in retirement savings since October due to his nineteenth century trade policies, and we seem to be about one depression away from stoking up the crematoria again. It’s time for those of us who are rational to become mad as hell, and not take it anymore.