Wednesday, March 9, 2016

To my conservative friends:

Last night nearly eight out of every ten Kaua'i Republicans voted for either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. 

There have been a few moments in my life where a deeply held fiction was taken from me-- like learning that Santa Clause isn't real or when an understanding of the horrors of the holocaust changed my perspective of humanity. Last night was one of those moments.
I thought that I understood conservative ideology. 
  • That freedom is the most important part of America.
  • That limited government is the best way to expand our freedom. 
  • That reducing taxes limits the size of government and grows the economy. 
  • And that the only way to move people out of poverty is to get them a job through that expanded economy—not by handing them food stamps for life.

Like a dialogue between husband and wife making a marriage stronger, I've always understood that the give and take between progressive and conservative viewpoints is what truly made America great.

The GOP positions that I disagree with most fervently-- climate change denial, opposition to gay marriage, political obstructionism, and unlimited gun rights-- could all be explained through the dogmatic insistence that the only way to expand freedom was through a limited federal government.


And as a progressive Democrat, I've spent countless hours trying to dissuade the dangerous and divisive myth that conservatives are selfish, or racist, or that their party has been corrupted by corporate influence. 


Ronald Reagan was President when I was born. I've been watching the rightward shift of the GOP for my entire life. And, while I've always disagreed with the core tenets of conservative ideology-- I could at least respect them. 

And I knew that Donald Trump didn't represent those ideals. So I didn’t express any moral outrage when he called Mexicans rapists. I ignored his sexist feud with Megyn Kelly. And I barely began paying attention when he called for a complete ban on Muslim travel to the US.

There are plenty of racist shit heads in the world, and we tend to give them too much credit. This guy didn’t represent the conservative party-- he was just an egomaniac with a microphone. He was a media side-show, and we had more important things going on.


He took the most extreme aspects of the GOP-- inflammatory rhetoric, hate mongering, and intense xenophobia-- and got rid of the small government ideology that's been used to justify it. And so I knew that the party of Reagan would ultimately denounce him. 

Until last night. That fiction imploded with the Hawai'i GOP caucus.

Nearly forty-five percent of Republicans on Kaua’i voted for him. More than twice as many as voted for Rubio and Kasich combined.

These are people that I know and see everyday. People that live in one of the most vibrant multi-cultural societies in America. People that come from a community built by immigrants.

Yet, you handed him your vote. The guy who talks about the size of his penis in a GOP debate—who insists that we need to commit war crimes to win the “war on terrorism”— who calls Ted Cruz a "pussy"-- who defends Putin-- and the guy who scape goats all of our problems on other people.

Donald Trump represents the worst of America. He has made a mockery of our country and our political system. 
What wouldn't have been acceptable conversation at the dinner table is now acceptable in our political debates. 

The world is changing quickly, and we need a healthy Republican party. We need to have robust conversations on welfare reform, marginal tax rates, and infrastructure spending. On whether we should respond to climate change with market incentives or stricter government intervention. On what America's role should be as a global leader. And on how best to battle inequality.
Conservatives, we need all of you in this dialogue. And we can’t afford to lose you to the fire of extremism.

As a friend told me last night-- if we vote for Donald Trump, then it's Donald Trump that we deserve.

While I'm beginning to believe it, I hope that you can prove me wrong.
From The New York Times






12 comments:

  1. The only difference between Trump and the rest of the Republican Party since Regan is that he says out loud what they've only been inferring for the last 35- or actually 52 (since Goldwater)- years. The "southern strategy" goes back to Nixon. And just because Trump brought the tone of the dog whistle down below 20,000 Hz do4esn't mean that racism, xenophobia, anti-immigrant, delusional "exceptionalism" and the rest haven't been their main message all along.

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    1. Too true. Sad but too true... I loved Obama's speech because he made us laugh in the face of madness. They are angry. Mad.

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    2. I think many if not most republican officials are appalled at Trump. Not sure how you can generalize the entire party like that but I agree with John, America is going to miss Obama.

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    3. Speaking of missing Obama-- check out this piece in the Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-obama-doctrine/471525/

      It's long, but worth reading through in its entirety. Yes, American is going to miss Obama.

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  2. I was pretty shocked to see the results as well. I think the media also needs to take some of the blame for giving him 24/7 coverage. All the networks aired his HOUR long acceptance speech last night, which included him hawking everything from his steaks to his wine, while giving virtually no airtime to Hillary or Bernie who were in a very tight contest of their own. Inexcusable!

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    1. I half agree. Someone recently said that they voted for Trump because they don't have time to study up on all of the candidates but they knew what Trump stands for.

      But, it's that same media attention which makes support for him, in my opinion, so inexcusable. I've never judged anyone by who they vote for. There have been plenty of candidates, both on Kaua'i and nationally, that I thought were reprehensible. But I couldn't judge someone for voting for them, because you really have to be paying attention to see through all the rhetoric.

      But with Trump, even if you're not paying attention-- you know exactly what he stands for. Because the media blasts out every inflammatory comment of his continually until he makes his next inflammatory comment.

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  3. Conservative southern white guy here. I ll say this from the start, I will not vote for Trump. He will destroy this country. He might be the greatest threat to this country since 1861. I think your correct, his popularity is almost entirely a manifestation of white fear. Which is embarrassingly sad. A person can become almost anything in the USA. Diversity is one of our biggest assets. But the USA has become so divided in the last few years. Trump feeds off this and he will make it worse. I don't care what color my president or leaders are. I just want them to be intelligent, hard working, and brave. I want them to seek office to lead and serve, not to satisfy ego. I thought I'd comment simply to let you know I appreciated your thoughts and there are some conservatives who aren't deceived by trump.

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    1. Thank you for your comment and I really appreciate your perspective.

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  4. Another conservative white guy here, and former Southerner. Your critique of Trump is spot on, but your characterization of his supporters at the end is not. They are not closet racists afraid of a non-white dominated future (mostly), they are part of a very polarized America and are frustrated that their side isn't winning. They think their politicians have failed them and they think its because their politicians have sold out to non-conservative interests, without considering that a political party can't carry out its agenda without some compromise with the other side unless it has a supermajority and the Presidency. They expect too much, and they think they need an "outsider" to shake the process up. They are so desperate for an outsider that they are willing to overlook the obvious signs that Trump is not a conservative or even an outsider. I have family that supports Trump, and its the impression that I get.

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    1. Thanks for commenting. I know what you're saying, and, after posting the piece I did regret not further clarifying where I believe Trump support comes from. I mentioned it briefly in my last post (a middle-class realization that a "recovering" economy has left us all behind and a party who has oversold itself to its supporters), but I really don't think that that explains all of it. The only reason that we're even paying attention to him is because of his bigotry. If people really wanted an outsider candidate to shake things up and that was why they were motivated-- there are plenty of other options. But Trump screams the loudest.

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    2. I do wish I could chalk his support up to bunch of ignorant racist rednecks, that would be a convenient and simple explanation. But I know a few supporters, even within my own family, who are decent intelligent people. I knew a lot of the people I was standing in line with last Tuesday who were co-workers, friends, and fellow church goers. Apparently most of them voted for Trump. I'm at a loss to make complete sense of it, but I know it stems from distrust of the "establishment". Why Trump and not Carson or Fiorina as the chosen "non-establishment" guy, I don't know. The entertainment factor maybe? All press is good press?

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    3. Yeah, I hear what you're saying.

      And in any election other than this one, even Rubio would be seen as an anti-establishment candidate.

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