On the eve of the presidential election, Michael Moore described the supporters of Donald Trump as “groaning dinosaurs”, and in one of his tweets, I read: “As the dinosaurs were going extinct, they became confused, fearful, angry and lashed out, not knowing their era was over”. I think that Moore’s statement is absolutely correct–except for the fact that he should have directed the comment to the Democratic Party, not to the Trump supporters. If the situation in America were not so serious today, it would be amusing to watch the confused Democrats lashing out, first this way, then that way. Jim Manley, a senior Democratic strategist, commented: “We have to take the time to figure out what happened…Something went wrong and we need to figure out what it is and how to stop it.”
When I was studying at the university many years ago, the Democrats were known as the intellectuals of the political arena. In contrast, they now look like groaning dinosaurs struggling to grasp the bleating obvious. It’s painful to watch the confused state of this once respectable political party. So I am suggesting three simple words for their consideration: corruption, internet, and values.
Corruption: One lesson to be learned from this election is that Americans don’t like corruption. And they really don’t like corruption when it is as disgustingly obvious as it has been in the political career of Hillary Clinton and as it was within the ranks of the DNC during this campaign. Some nations accept political corruption as a way of life, but I don’t think that most Americans do. So now it’s time to purge the corrupt elements out of the Party and to rebuilt it on a solid foundation.
Internet: The second lesson is that the internet has changed the information flow in the country to the point that the mainstream media can no longer successfully manipulate public opinion. The reckless effort of the media to discredit Donald Trump and to promote Hillary Clinton was so apparent that it had the reverse affect. Due to the amount of information that voters received on the internet–admittedly, all of it is not reliable–, they lost confidence in the mainstream news outlets. The collusion between the corporately owned media and the establishment politics was exposed, and the Democrats lost the election.
Values: The third and most important lesson to be learned from this election is that Americans are growing weary of the gender politics represented by the Democratic Party. There was a time when the Democrats represented values of real substance. They were concerned about the poor in our country. They wanted to promote peace in the world, not war and destruction. They supported the working class of America etc. But as Barney Frank once commented, the Party abandoned its core values and turned to gender politics because it was easier. Just consider the anti-Trump demonstrations taking place. Where were these demonstrators when Obama started bombing Libya again? When did we last see the Democrats lead an anti-war demonstration of any description? Where were the demonstrators when Jill Stein was trying to protect the Native Americans at Standing Rock? Why couldn’t Hillary Clinton give reassurance to an African-American questioner who was concerned about the mass incarceration of African-Americans? The sad truth is that the Democratic Party has no values today. They speak about “tolerance,” but tolerance in the modern sense is the absence of all values, not a value.
My advice to the groaning dinosaurs: Stop making excuses for yourselves and get in touch with hardworking Americans who are the backbone of this country. Most hardworking Americans are tired of your wrangling about who goes into which bathroom. They want a country that provides a decent lifestyle for the average person, and they want a country that has some sense of morality.
Postscript: I have intentionally kept this article short because I am not sure how many words a groaning dinosaur can read.
Villager Jack Brush is a frequent contributor to Villages-News.com
