Send signed letters to news@nancyonnorwalk.comWe have elected a man to the presidency whose primary goal in life is winning, at whatever cost. He sold himself using the time-honored technique of saying whatever his audience wanted to hear, regardless of whether it was true, ethical or possible. He is clueless about everything except business and entertainment. So why did so many otherwise rational people buy the product?
You can cite a long string of immediate causes: working-class job loss, suspicion of government, loss of male white supremacy to minorities and women, income and wealth inequality, xenophobia, misogyny, ignorance, superstition etc. These are all valid enough, but they are after the fact and often contradictory. Why did so many women vote for a predacious womanizer? Why did working-class people vote for someone who has promised to make the rich richer? I think a more wide-angle view is needed.
Human civilization is totally unplanned. It is far too complex to understand, and entirely unpredictable. Everyone on the planet is now linked through trade and communication, so that events far away can have powerful local effects.
When faced with forces we don’t understand and can’t control, humans have always invented stories to explain what is going on and give the illusion of control. These myths quell our anxieties.
The prevailing myth over the last few hundred years has been the notion of progress through growth. While no one ever defined what “progress” means, we are demonstrably longer-lived, healthier, richer, more ingenious, better informed and safer. Yet we expect more and better, so that standing still feels like a loss, and real loss seems like disaster.
Our economy, social values and politics are founded on the myth of progress through growth. But on our finite planet, providing more people more of everything is impossible. Since we can’t figure out how to stop growing, the planet is showing us how, in unpleasant ways: climate change is but one example. All our current local and national problems, including mass migrations, turmoil in the Middle East and job loss, can be seen as unintended consequences of the myth of progress through growth.
When we feel threatened, we are vulnerable to demagogues who promise us easy solutions to problems that have no easy solutions. That is how we got Trump. Hillary, by reminding us that things really are complicated and threatening, merely raised anxiety; Trump promised solutions.
Don’t worry excessively about the damage Trump can cause. He is a bull in a china shop and is going to make a hell of a mess, but most of the china is locked up behind law, litigation, and sheer inertia. And when his working class supporters find out they have been sold snake oil, they are likely to turn on him.
Your best bet is to get involved in causes you care about: acting reduces anxiety. My cause is to limit the extent of the Sixth Extinction through environmental protection. Yours may be social justice. Whatever it is, I hope it helps build the cooperative and empathetic world we need to survive.
Gordon Tully
Norwalk
Leave a Reply
You must Register or Login to post a comment.