Fear and Self Loathing of Right Wing American Voters

[McCamy Taylor]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17poverty.html?hp

First, some numbers. One in seven of us live in poverty. Over 50 million of us have no health insurance. Close to 10% of us have no jobs. Food stamps are the only thing keeping over 40 million Americans from starving. Almost 75% of us have been personally affected by the unemployment of a family member or close friend. Poverty, hunger, joblessness, lack of health care----all of these problems are worse for Blacks and Latinos, who have poverty rates close to 25% (higher for minority children). But the number that has the corporate fascists’ salivating is this statistic---almost 10% of European-Americans now live in poverty.


What does it mean to be poor, jobless, uninsured in a country which embraces the puritan ethic? It means that you are worthless, shiftless, lazy. It means that God hates you. It means you hate yourself---and when you hate yourself, you start hating the world around you.

Some Tea Baggers are probably well paid corporate shills. The rest are desperate, dejected, self hating average American citizens. This Bloomberg poll from spring, 2010 reveals that the average Tea Party supporter is 55 years old, white, a Christian fundamentalist, college educated and male.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/289821

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a 55 year old white male Christian fundamentalist. You were brought up at a time when the Civil Rights movement was rocking your parents’ world. You were taught that no good would come of integrated schools and lunch counters and that America would go to hell in a hand basket if Black votes were ever counted. You watched your police attack (Black) school children with fire hoses and dogs. Being a child yourself, you were probably shocked, but when you turned to your parents, you saw only smiles of satisfaction.

Though your mother did not work outside the home, she probably had a Black woman to do her housework---at a pitiful wage. You called the woman by her first name, even though all the mothers of your school friends were Mrs. So-and-so. The maid took care of you and your siblings, while her own children were left at home.

Your father probably supervised Black and Latino employees. You were proud of him because he was a “boss” and because all those minority underlings called him “sir.” You were told that when you grew up, you would also be a “sir”, well respected, in control. No matter how bad things got, you would always be better off than the Blacks and the Mexicans. God loved you, that’s why He made you white and male in the most prosperous country on earth.

Fast forward 45 years. The U.S. economy has turned to liquid shit, you are in danger of losing your job, your pension has evaporated, your second mortgage payments are eating you alive, your kids (who can not find work) have moved back home along with your wife’s mother who has to use up her savings before she can qualify for a federally funded nursing home. Your life sucks. You are glad your old man is not alive to see you. He would probably tell you it is all your own fault. How could a white, healthy, American man make such a mess of his life---?

The thought of your father’s scorn makes your stomach twist up in knots. Your blood pressure is through the roof. You are so full of fear and self loathing that you feel as if you could burst. Being only human, you look around for something or someone to blame. You see the president---

Of course! It is all the fault of those Black folks. They hate you and that is why they are trying to destroy you. Your kids can not get into college, because of affirmative action. Your mother in law can not get help from the government, because government employees are all Black and they only take care of their own. Your job is in danger because of illegal aliens. Your mortgage payments are too high, because a bunch of minorities defaulted on their loans. Your pension went to pay for some welfare queen’s Cadillac---

And somewhere, some corporate fascist rubs his hands in glee, knowing that his manipulation of the economy has created another foot soldier in the battle against democracy.

It is natural to feel anger when confronted by the anger of the Tea Baggers. It is much harder to respond to anger with compassion. But only compassion will win the hearts and minds of America’s very frightened voters. I know that some people want a firebrand in the White House, a modern day John Brown. That is because we on the left are also afraid, and we also channel our fear into anger---

Anger has its place, but sometimes all the anger in the world will not solve the problem, if the problem is a sense of loss and despair. Just once, I would like to see a politician sit down and cry for the American people instead of fighting for them.

Then, maybe, we could all work together and get something done.