Tag Archives: Strangers in Their Own Land

Trump Vote: Thumb in Your Eye

Trump has enthusiastic support among some Americans. They wear MAGA hats and cheer wildly at his rallies. They make up the true believers decrying a “fraudulent” election.

Why go against all evidence and support a man who has stolen from his own charities, failed in business, constantly lies, loves to insult and belittle, and shows concern only for himself?

I think many of Trump’s supporters cheer him because the country’s more favored citizens have abandoned them. Trump appears to accept them.

Many Americans lost out when our traditional manufacturing culture shifted to a more tech oriented society. Some also are suffering whiplash from a changed society in which more young Americans leave organized religion.

These, the disdained, find their champion in one who sneers at the rules and thumbs his nose at the politically correct. He rails against liberal media who appear to his followers as opposed to their beliefs and way of life.

In her book, Strangers in Their Own Land, Arlie Russell Hochschild writes of Republican voters who dislike the party’s favoritism of big business. Nevertheless, they vote Republican because they believe this party favors God and family.

Trump, the personification of the spoiled rich grifter, provided rallies for those pushed out of the mainstream to vent against the America they believe has turned its back on them. They equated his behavior as opposition to the system that failed them.

Trump was a disaster and was voted out of office. Those who decry false accusations of a “stolen” election must accept one of the most certain election results in U.S. history

The winners, however, cannot ignore those who put Trump in office in 2016, many of whom voted for him a second time. Come January, we may experience a very divided government: president of one party, congressional power split, Supreme Court with a majority appointed by the other party.

If the government is going to function with such divisions, we must begin by respecting those who differ from us. That is to say, greatly differ: over everything from gender rights to police power.

The only way we will survive the possibility of stalled governing when we face such great divisions is by accepting that each side will win sometimes and lose other times—even lose on issues dear to them.

We must lose in good grace, then work to change the situation through persuasion and the next election.

In addition, worker training, fairer wages, basic healthcare, and a host of other issues must be
addressed soon.

Capitalism: Neither God nor Satan

Arlie Russell Hochschild’s incisive book, Strangers in Their Own Land, portrays citizens in Louisiana caught between watching the industrialized devastation of their beloved state and their need for jobs. “It’s the sacrifice we make for capitalism,” one says.

Some of us see capitalism as some kind of god that we must serve. One may also worship socialism or money or government. In fact, all, it seems to me, are neutral, capable of either evil or good, depending on the type of allegiance we give them.

A saying of the early Christian missionary, Paul, is often quoted as “money is the root of all evil.” That is not what he said. He said “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil . . .” It’s the love of money (or capitalism or government or whatever) that is the problem.

Capitalism is neutral. It can be used for good: money from individuals pooled to form companies and create jobs. Or it can be used for evil: the extraction of maximum profit no matter what ecological or human damage it causes.

Government, I believe is similar. It is neither good nor evil in itself. Rightly used, government protects us from foreign enemies, crime, and economic predators. It can create programs that serve its citizens, like social security, in a way that private industry can’t.

Wrongly used, it can take from workers in order to give to the wealthy. Without adequate oversight, its resources can be wasted or riven with corruption.

Workers, needing jobs, tend to worship capitalism and hate government. Others, seeing only the tragedy of ecological devastation, tend to reverse their worship.

In fact, worship is a poor choice for either. Better is a watchful use of both.