It has been several weeks since the election and most of the shock has finally wore off. We have mostly come to grips with the fact that Trump will be the president. All the temporary flare ups with regard to recounts will pass and we will once again settle into the old tradition of passing the flame to the next person (guy) to hold the office. As much as I expect the ceremony of inauguration to be similar to past inaugurations, I see the ramifications of this one to be very unlike any we have had before, except perhaps the election of 1860 which assured the secession of the southern States and a civil war.
In modern times we have never elected a president with so many negatives attached to his persona. We have never elected a president with no governing experience of any kind. We have never elected a president who is so willing to meld his personal businesses with the affairs of government. In spite of Trump's claims, turning his businesses over to his children does not constitute removing himself from involvement- it's just another of his half-truths and slight-of-hand gestures. The real difference Trump's inauguration will be the onslaught of what may be the Great Regression.
Let's all think back over the last century of American and world history. The twentieth century marks the most tumultuous century of man's existence on the planet. It was the century that contained two world wars, with the Second World War being the deadliest experience in humankind's history. I doubt many of us today can comprehend the level of death and destruction wrought by that war. Over 50 million people were killed in WWII and the most savage treatment of humans by humans ever devised occurred during WWII. The latter half of the century saw a continuation of wars around the globe on a much smaller scale, in some form of a scaled-back continuation of WWII, but we would never be able to say we achieved any kind of real peace- even to this day. The Great Depression wiped away the wealth of this nation and much of the world. It also wiped away the hopes of those everywhere who sought prosperity or comfort from their labors.These were the horrors of the last century. But the twentieth century also brought with it incredible advancements in science, industry, and improvements in the human condition in some places on the earth. The twentieth century can be seen as a turning point in our social evolution as well as a turning point in understanding of the world through science and discovery; including the discovery that some of our so-called advancements were actually harming the very planet we live on and threatening our own existence- a notion never before conceived of by man.
Out of all that pain and all that discovery we began to see the seeds of wisdom concerning human advancement take root, and that is what I'd like to focus on in this essay. In the western world in general, and in the USA in particular we began the movement towards improvement in some aspects of our lives. The deep festering wound of slavery pushed into the twentieth century in the form of discrimination and hatred, both codified and informal. We began to make progress in combating that great American sin by passing new laws and enforcing new norms to combat racial hatred and discrimination. We integrated schools and we integrated neighborhoods. We outlawed discrimination in all forms of employment, housing, education and any number of other social institutions.We have not achieved total success, but there is progress.
The last century saw women achieve the right to vote and enfranchisement to real citizenship. The latter part of the century saw the women's movement take shape and the quest for full equality begin. Again, we have not fully achieved it but progress has begun and I hope it will continue. The last century was the breakthrough period for some semblance of economic justice. The union movement, and government programs and policies created a more equal sharing of increased national wealth. The middle class was solidified as the most important segment of the society following WWII. Finally working people could afford good housing, higher education for their children, and the best standard of living for the most people in the history of mankind. Even though some of that has since eroded thanks to political movements in the last part of the century (Reaganomics), an unprecedented period of economic justice and equal distribution of wealth took hold.
The other great sin of the American experience was the destruction of the Indian nations and the theft of their lands and resources in the nineteenth century. Nothing can undo the horrors of that genocide and theft, but at least there came a recognition of the wrongs we did and continued to do until the latter part of the twentieth century. Much work needs to be done to restore what can be restored- but there are those who are willing to work towards the ends of justice for Native peoples of this Continent- a sentiment that did not exist until lately.
Out of the Great Depression we invented the idea that government can redistribute wealth and resources so that our elderly did not have to die impoverished, or children did not have starve because the family lost a breadwinner. We also invented the idea that working people could just as well do productive labor for the public good as stand idle. The reforms of the Great Depression brought us Social Security, Public Works jobs, Aid to Dependent Children, Economic reforms to protect the wealth of the nation from the privileged elite- among a number of other programs and reforms. It was called the New Deal and it fundamentally changed our society- For the Better.
The 1970's brought us to the realization that our industry, our exploitation of the planet, and our greed could destroy the delicate balance of nature on the planet. Advances in food production and medicine caused and unbelievable explosion of the human population worldwide and the need to exploit the planet even more to support the population growth. That decade thankfully also brought forth great thinkers who told us in very dramatic terms that we need to stop our wanton destruction of the planet, with a wealth of scientific evidence to support the notion that we must stop our use of fossil fuels and destruction of natural resources in order to survive on the planet.
As I think back, as imperfect and incomplete as the advances have been, we can take pride that some progress has been made in the human condition and in human wisdom needed for our survival. It is also true that each step forward in human rights and improvement of the human condition was the result of a Progressive Movement- what some may call "liberal" policies and thought. And in each case the conservative movements of the day opposed them. Now we have come to the point with the election of Trump and control of the government firmly in the control of today's conservatives, where the progress of the last century could be lost. If this happens it will be the Great Regression. We will regress in our values, our compassion, our standards, and possibly in our ability to survive the damages we have already inflicted on the earth.
Mr. Trump has given us every reason to believe this is where we're headed. He hasn't even taken office and he already exploding international relationships that took generations to build. His appointments to high offices suggest he is bringing in people to undo progress in education, housing, Health and Welfare, national security, health care, fair and affordable housing, civil rights, protection of the environment, and economic equality and justice. When we select a person as our leader who has lived everyday of his life by the code of financial exploitation of others for his own benefit, and disregard for truth unless it suits his ends, then we cannot be surprised when his leadership reflects that kind of sorted existence. The result cannot help but be a rollback of so much progress created in the last century- progress that was hard won from the pain of others leading to the recognition of the need for reform.
If you long to make America Great Again- to return to past era that was mostly mythical anyway, and see a demagogue as the way to do it, please try to remember what America really was like for Hispanics or Blacks, for the poor, the elderly, for gay or transgender people, for working folks before the Fair Labor Standards Act, for young people who could not pursue a higher education, for women, or the Native American. It wasn't so great for them. America has always been wealthy with an abundance of land and natural resources taken from the original owners as we moved west, which made America powerful. But being rich and powerful doesn't make America Great- it just makes the rich and powerful people in America think they're great. The greatness of this nation is in the values that gave us our rights and responsibilities, taught us to care for those in need, and the planet we live on. I would hate to see this rebirth of boastful nationalism and the personal bravado of a selfish leader take us in to the era of the Great Regression.
Thanks for looking in.
