I understand your anger. And that anger is justified. I, too, am angry at the Democratic Party for turning away from its traditional role as the supporter of the American worker.
After having been neglected and disappointed by Democratic politicians for decades, you responded to Donald Trump's full-voiced support for your grievances against the government like someone starving for food. His rage was empowering; you felt vindicated. So you have voted for Donald Trump and fervently stood behind him through thick and thin.
But how well has Trump done by you? The time has come to ask yourself that question.
What were your grievances? First and foremost, you complained about the financial impact of job losses and wage stagnation caused by globalization. Your financial status as a solidly middle-class person was stolen from you.
Second, to make matters worse, prices for food and everyday products, as well as housing, have skyrocketed while your wages stagnated. The combination has done a double whammy on your ability to provide for yourself and your family.
Third, while you were suffering and feeling neglected, you saw the programs Democrats fought for to benefit the poor, Blacks, and women. Worst of all, minority groups and women were given preferential treatment in hiring to reverse the harm of past discrimination. To fix one wrong, they created another.
These were all valid grievances—not just personally but structurally. The American worker is the backbone of this nation. If he is not financially secure, the country is not financially secure, regardless of how well the stock market and major corporations are doing.
To address your grievances, Trump promised you that he would bring back good jobs, that he would cut the cost of living, and that he would end the government's special treatment of minorities, the poor, and women.
I ask you: Are you better off now than you were before Trump? Have prices come down? Have jobs come back? Have your wages risen? Do you have more money in your pocket?
Let's look at what Trump has actually done to help you.
In his first term, Trump did nothing that helped you. The main benefit of his tax cut went to the super-rich, who saved millions of dollars; you got small change. Trump promised that his trade war with China would bring back jobs and lower prices. Instead, jobs did not come back, and prices rose.
His second term has been more of the same. In his flurry of executive orders since taking office, Trump has taken only one action that addresses your grievances. ALL of his other orders were designed to either benefit big business and the rich or to throw red meat to the Right’s culture warriors.
Trump said that by stopping illegal immigration, more jobs would be available and the country would be safer. But illegal immigrants take jobs that you would never even think of seeking, and government data shows they don't decrease safety; they actually commit fewer crimes than US citizens.
He has ordered federal agencies to review their policies to reduce consumer prices, but they have no control over prices. His rolling back of environmental and other regulations benefit big business and corporate agriculture—corporations see this as an opportunity to increase profits, not reduce prices..
Trump has once again gone on the warpath with his tariffs. And once again, the tariffs have not only raised prices you pay at the store but also caused China to retaliate by refusing to buy any American soybeans, creating a disaster for America's farmers.
By cutting Medicaid and not renewing subsidies for Obamacare premiums, health care costs for the middle and working class and the poor will rise substantially; Trump is harming tens of millions of Americans. Did you know that the majority of people living in poverty are White?
Trump has drastically cut the Federal workforce and funding going to the states. This is bound to have a negative impact because some of you will find yourselves out of work, and many will be affected by a reduction in the government services you use.
The one thing he has done that sounds like it will help some of you—his white male supporters—is his orders concerning DEI (diversity, equality, inclusiveness). But since the Supreme Court had already declared affirmative action unconstitutional, Trump's removal of programs that support greater diversity will not make much of a difference.
Bottom line, Trump is first and foremost a traditional Republican, not in his demeanor, but in his main client being corporate America and the rich, and they have benefited handsomely from his actions. Despite his forceful language in support of your grievances, he has done nothing to help his middle- and working-class supporters other than ending DEI efforts.
You and I agree that to make America great again, one of the things needed is to return the American worker to the middle-class status he worked so hard to achieve. That means that jobs must be available at an appropriate wage.
"OK," you may say, "let's say all that you state is true, and I'm not better off than I was before Trump. Why should I vote for Democrats who abandoned me?"
That's a good question. The reason why I keep voting Democrat despite being disappointed by them time and time again is that the Republican Party is definitely not now nor has it ever been the Party of the working man.
Throughout the 20th century, it was the Democrats who fought for the working man—improving his financial status, his health care, and his educational opportunities. The Republicans, on the other hand, were consistently against anything that improved the lot of the working man. They were even against Social Security and Medicare!
Republicans will do nothing to address your issues. When Republicans say they are the party of the people, of the working man, their noses should grow as long as Pinocchio’s. They are hypocrites.
But the Democratic Party made two terrible mistakes in the decades since Ronald Reagan was elected President. First, they assumed that the American worker was safe after all the work Democrats had done, and they could divert their attention to support the poor, Blacks, and women. They were never against you; they just neglected you. They did not follow the devastation that globalization was causing among middle-class workers.
The second mistake is that they saw the money flowing from corporate America and the rich to the Republican Party. As the cost of elections skyrocketed, they wanted some of that support for themselves. And so they started paying attention to corporate interests, especially in banking and multinational corporations. They accepted economists' assurances that free trade agreements would ultimately benefit the American worker and ignored warnings from unions and others.
The Trump election, however, has taught Democrats a painful lesson. They understand now that they have strayed and neglected their historic base and what that has cost, not just them but the country. I'm sure that I will never be completely happy with what the Party does, but voting Democrat is the best option.
Suppose I want to see America be great again, with the rights of average Americans being protected, the right of all to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" being advanced, jobs at an appropriate wage for the American worker, and a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" fulfilling its role of "securing" their rights by adopting policies and programs that provide equal opportunity to pursue those rights. In that case, there is no better option than to vote for the Democratic Party.
If you want to improve your life and that of your family, there is no better option than to vote for the Democratic Party.
Ronald L. Hirsch is a teacher, legal aid lawyer, survey researcher, nonprofit executive, consultant, composer, author, and volunteer. He is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Chicago Law School and the author of We Still Hold These Truths. Read more of his writing at www.PreservingAmericanValues.com
