2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumI hope Brexit becomes a valuable lesson for Americans
When fear, xenophobia, and half truths become the basis for decisions you live to regret it.
tonyt53
(5,737 posts)randr
(12,409 posts)tonyt53
(5,737 posts)LoverOfLiberty
(1,438 posts)I believe the phrase is "thanks Obama".
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...when the masses of people are besieged by no jobs, fewer opportunities, huge debts, little hope -- when those things happen, then demagogues WILL arise who WILL foment fear, xenophobia, and half truths, and an angry population WILL use their vote to express their outrage, whatever the consequences.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)His message is that people deserve a basic standard of living...because they are American citizens. We have the resources to guarantee and provide that, but not the will. Something about the misinterpretation of "socialism" and how we have many "socialist" programs here.
That is the real debate among intelligent people in the US. And it's a reasoned debate that is still taking place.
Trump's Buffoonery may cost the Republicans dearly, just like the Brexit. But do not confuse these with the Left who is tired of neoliberalism...I'd settle for the FDR Democratic Party. We have the money for a safety net for the least of us. Child poverty is apalling.
Absolutely nothing to do with Trump and his ilk.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...between left-wing populism and right-wing populism. But my point is that, given the economic stresses we have these days, the right-wing demagogues will step in and try to foment xenophobia etc., and they will be more successful than in an environment where people are basically content with their lives.
Sanders and his movement, as you say, have nothing to do with Trump and his ilk. And Sanders did get a lot of people to listen to a more uplifting narrative in response to the Third Way / neoliberal policies we have now. Good on him, may the movement thrive!
Like after NAFTA what's happening now with Trump supporters?
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...although I don't think NAFTA is the whole story. Whatever the root policy reasons are, the fact is that people are struggling and our lives are getting harder and more complicated. Even after the ACA, it is impossible for a large swath of the population to have health insurance that they can actually use, apart from catastrophic illness -- and even then, they are likely to have insufficient coverage to keep them out of the bankruptcy courts. As just one example.
NAFTA is one expression of the current corporatist global order. It is a great illustration of how these agreements are put together by elites who do not give much consideration to the effects on the masses. They subscribe to the trickle-down theory, which they word in a much more friendly way, telling us that "a rising tide lifts all boats". But what we experience is a lot different from that; we see no rising tide, but instead we see piggish elites who cut themselves off from the rest of us, live in gated communities or huge mansions (depending on just how rich / elite they are), fly private jets rather than on airlines where they might have to encounter the Great Unwashed... and whose policies just happen to give them the advantage, every time.
The only rising tide we'll be seeing is the one that decimates the state of Florida when climate change really takes off. At that point the elites will flee to their safe havens, believing they can buy their way out of a scuffle with Mother Nature. Which, of course, they cannot. But they'll last longer than the rest of us, and apparently, that is good enough for them.
Chakab
(1,727 posts)The coverage of international politics is the US media is scant and superficial.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)Alex4Martinez
(2,193 posts)...for the working class.
Promises of short term economic growth eventually give way to the truth that these are wealth management schemes for the 1%.