If you voted for Mr. Trump, don’t read this. It’s about you, and you won’t like it. If you join studio audiences in cheering for Stephen Colbert when he trashes Trump every night, don’t read this. You won’t like it because you, too, are part of the problem.
It’s time to stop worrying about our pretend president. It’s time to focus on the many good Americans who voted for the man ... and the many good Americans who jeer whenever Trump’s name is mentioned. It is time to ask where we as a society went wrong. The mostly good men and women who voted for Trump are hurting. We did not recognize their hurt.” The mostly good men and women who find entertainment in the outrageous behavior of the president are also hurting; they suffer the pain of illogical self-satisfaction.
The question on which we should focus is: Where did we as a society fail these two groups of good Americans.
Did our education system fail them? Perhaps we teach too much STEM and not enough bloom – too much science, technology and math — and not enough history, civics, English and arts? As Aristotle told us long ago, human beings are social animals. Social animals don’t thrive in non-social settings such as computer dependence, research labs and isolation. Isolation may seem comfortable, even stimulating at times, but is not an environment conducive to social responsibility and growth.
Did our political institutions fail those good Americans? No doubt, politics played a role. Citizens can’t learn to appreciate the strength of democracy when give-and-take is considered evil, when compromise is equated with heresy and when political loyalty is more important then national unity. When the “enemy” is anyone who chooses a different political label, then we build high walls, not vital bridges.
Did religion fail our good neighbors? The record is not positive. You can’t preach love on Sunday and practice distrust on Monday. You can’t reach out to the world one day and reject whole groups of people a day or two later. You can’t criticize immoral behavior when speaking inside the church building and ignore immoral behavior taking place in public outside the church door. Hypocrisy creates doubt and insecurity and weakness.
Did business organizations forget their civic responsibilities? Business institutions play major roles in the lives of most Americans. When business leaders, business establishments, and business investors exhibit more greed than social service, it contradicts the values we supposedly cherish. When business cares more about the current quarter than about the next year or the next decade, workers lose confidence. No wonder voters become disappointed and angry.
Did the media trade responsibility for entertainment? Too many good Americans seem more interested in entertainment than enlightenment. Even good journalists look on Mr. Trump’s illiterate tweets as sources of entertainment rather than proof of ignorance. News reports inadvertently play to his limited strengths, not to his limitless weaknesses. His insults are treated as jokes, not as the profound shortcomings they represent.
In short, education failed to educate, Congress and other political entities failed to serve religion failed to lead, business failed to set an example and media failed to inform.
No wonder so many voters gravitate to a man who is uneducated, serves only himself, contradicts religious values, abuses business ethics and provides endless entertainment.
As Shakespear observed many decades before the United States was born: The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves. And, we might add, in our institutions.
Don Gale.
Don Gale believes America is great and always has been. We don’t need new slogans; we need better understanding about who we were and who we are.