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George,The election should be a wake-up call
for Democrats. Trump won because he was more in tune with voters' feelings—anger
at a do-nothing Congress, the feeling that they have been forgotten, stagnant
wages, many good jobs have been shipped overseas, etc. It was a vote for real
change—someone who would shake up Washington and get things done for the people.
It was anti-establishment and a call for bold solutions. Hillary Clinton is part
of the establishment and a Third Way incrementalist.
For some time now
the Democratic party has abandoned the working class and the unconnected
ordinary citizen. It has emphasized doing things for the "middle class." Only
about 35 percent of the electorate identify with the "middle class," the rest
are either "working class" or have no class identity. Aiming to appeal to the
"middle class"—the minority of citizens—is not a smart strategy. Besides, the
middle class is largely composed of conservatives.
The Democratic party
needs to return to its roots, roots that began with the New Deal and reappeared
with the Civil Rights Act and the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson. It should not
be afraid of right wing attacks and name calling. FDR was called a socialist yet
accomplished many programs to help the ordinary citizen. (His picture still
hangs on the walls of many homes.) Bernie Sanders comes along with definitive
New Deal type solutions to the many problems that ordinary citizens are having:
need for a living wage; the cost of a college education; treatment of Blacks;
major highway, bridge and airport construction; family leave; workable health
care system (single payer); ending reliance on fossil fuel; gun control;
reinstatement of New Deal bank regulation (Glass-Steagall); and so forth. Yet
the Democratic party establishment impeded, rather than welcomed, Bernie
Sanders.
This was a year when a great number of people wanted major
change—a revolution. We could have had Bernie Sanders' revolution instead of
Trump's revolution. Hopefully, next time the Democratic party will have a better
idea of the concerns of the American people. David RePass ( Electronic
mail, November 9, 2016)
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