Do people get the government they deserve?
After Donald Trump’s improbable election as the nation’s 45th president, protests erupted
in several cities. However, a reasonable can’t help but wonder if the protesters even bothered to vote. If they didn’t vote, their protests are the definition of hypocrisy. Voting would have been the best way to protest, and if they didn’t vote, their protests in the streets is an exercise in futility.
After the election, an angry Detroit woman was heard on talk radio blaming the city’s mayor and the county executive, in part, for Trump’s victory. She said they were not visible enough and didn’t promote get out to vote efforts enough.
Her comments highlighted a persistent problem in the black community relating to voting. Too often, black voters have to be begged to register to vote. Then, they have to be begged to actually vote. Anyone aware of what Trump represented shouldn’t have needed any extra motivation to get out to vote. You would think they would have recognized it was in their self-interest to come out and vote against Trump.
Despite claims to the contrary, the media were hardly biased against Trump. The media gave Trump so much free “pub,” he didn’t have to spend as much of his own money. The media also turned the campaign into a tabloid show of “he said, she said.” It rarely pushed the candidates, especially Trump, beyond their “talking points.”
The media are also embarking on another mistake by attributing Trump’s election to a revenge of poor and uneducated Whites. Those voters were voting their prejudices against Blacks, Hispanics, middle class Whites, Muslims, Jews, and anyone else they felt bias towards.
Women, Hispanics and Blacks all turned out in less numbers than expected. White women, who were humiliated by Trump, put their race ahead of their common sense, and most of them voted for Trump.
The election is over, and life goes on, but a political autopsy is in order to learn from these mistakes and be better prepared the next election be it national or local.
After Donald Trump’s improbable election as the nation’s 45th president, protests erupted
in several cities. However, a reasonable can’t help but wonder if the protesters even bothered to vote. If they didn’t vote, their protests are the definition of hypocrisy. Voting would have been the best way to protest, and if they didn’t vote, their protests in the streets is an exercise in futility.
After the election, an angry Detroit woman was heard on talk radio blaming the city’s mayor and the county executive, in part, for Trump’s victory. She said they were not visible enough and didn’t promote get out to vote efforts enough.
Her comments highlighted a persistent problem in the black community relating to voting. Too often, black voters have to be begged to register to vote. Then, they have to be begged to actually vote. Anyone aware of what Trump represented shouldn’t have needed any extra motivation to get out to vote. You would think they would have recognized it was in their self-interest to come out and vote against Trump.
Despite claims to the contrary, the media were hardly biased against Trump. The media gave Trump so much free “pub,” he didn’t have to spend as much of his own money. The media also turned the campaign into a tabloid show of “he said, she said.” It rarely pushed the candidates, especially Trump, beyond their “talking points.”
The media are also embarking on another mistake by attributing Trump’s election to a revenge of poor and uneducated Whites. Those voters were voting their prejudices against Blacks, Hispanics, middle class Whites, Muslims, Jews, and anyone else they felt bias towards.
Women, Hispanics and Blacks all turned out in less numbers than expected. White women, who were humiliated by Trump, put their race ahead of their common sense, and most of them voted for Trump.
The election is over, and life goes on, but a political autopsy is in order to learn from these mistakes and be better prepared the next election be it national or local.