America’s Cry for Help
When Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders began their presidential campaigns, I felt as many Americans did. I thought Trump’s move was a brazen act of self interest. I thought Sanders’ move was a nice effort to raise awareness of important social issues. But when the poll numbers and popularity started to shift for both men, I began to see something very different. Something that was crystallized when the two men actually won state primaries.
I realized that the popularity of the two men had nothing to do with politics. It had everything to do with a national cry for help. Take a look at the demographics of each man’s support. Trump is huge with non-college educated white men. The same men that have been losing their power base for decades. They same men who used to be able to get a real job in real industries without an education. They could work the line, work the beat, or work the street in construction or transportation projects. But there are two types of assembly line jobs today: those that need a college degree and those that don’t even need an English speaker. Most police departments require a college degree or some type of college education for employment or promotion. The remaining manual labor jobs (such as construction) are going to women and non-white candidates in overwhelming numbers.
Now, let’s “feel the Bern.” Sanders is huge with young, college-aged voters. The same voters that used to be able to pay for a college education on mostly summer jobs. That was back in the day when the state paid for 70 percent of a student’s in-state tuition. Now, the student must pay for 70 percent. That means massive student loans. That means less of a chance to get a job in your chosen field. That means you sweat and toll at jobs you dislike or hate because that is the best you can do. It means you don’t feel like you have a prayer of living the life you wanted. Also, Sanders is huge with independents, another group that feels separate from the system.
These two groups see the world as one that has shifted against them. The Trump supporters feel betrayed by a government and marketplace that doesn’t value their skills. That can get jobs done for a fraction of the cost with a non-male, non-white workforce. The Sanders supporters know that a college education isn’t a choice if you want to succeed on the same scale as their parents. But they see the price of that education being higher than any generation since World War II. And both groups are really, really angry about it.
But when I looked at the anger, I noticed two distinct things. First, the American Dream has shifted. Traditionally, the American Dream stated that anyone of any class, creed, gender or sexual orientation could have a successful life through hard work. In this case, success was entirely material in that you could have a home, car and consistent food on the table. But today’s American Dream is different. Today, success is defined as the dream job, dream relationship, dream car and dream home. Today, everyone feels they have the right to be happy. A right that previous generations would have found to be a luxury.
Second, it seems that previous generations were willing to take less than happy because they were part of something bigger than themselves. They understood that sacrifice was necessary to build and keep a nation strong. They didn’t mind a job they disliked because there was other ways to contribute. Before the Vietnam War ended, Americans were famous for big thinking and big projects. The Canal system, the railway system, the electronic grid, mass education, the Hoover Dam, the Eisenhower freeway system, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, even the modern Internet began as an idea during this era. There wasn’t a problem we couldn’t solve. Few Americans feel that way anymore. They see a balance of power shifting away from them. They want to point fingers at immigrants, the poor, liberal media, minorities, and anyone else instead of pointing it where it belongs.
At all of us. We let this happen. Like Apple without Steve Jobs, we stopped innovating. We stopped thinking big. We stopped sacrificing for the betterment of us all. We stopped focusing on the “Unum” and instead focused on the “E Pluribus.” But we want it to change. That’s why people support Trump. That’s why people support Sanders. That’s why people give so generously when disaster strikes a community. That’s why people give to crowdfunding sites.
And that’s why the 2016 political season is a massive cry for help. People want to believe again. They want to succeed and they want to be recognized as contributors to society. They want to play on a level field. They want to believe that the opportunities of previous generations are still available to them. Right now, they might not be pointed in the right direction.
It is up to us to pave the road and point them in the right one…
