Come,
November, Come
Published in Marietta (GA) Journal, 1/5/20
America’s populist revolution is both similar
and dissimilar to those in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and Canada. Similar because, whether in the small
countries of Europe or in a vast continental nation like America, localism runs
deep in the hearts of those who want to be free and un-tethered to distant rule.
They
are dissimilar in that in the countries named above, secession is the issue. Scotland wishes to disunite from the
U.K. Catalonia prefers to separate from
Spain. Venice still rejects Italy as her
Fatherland, and Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province, is perennially chanting
independence.
In America, the issue
is not secession, or not yet. Here the
issue is the rise of work-based, faith-driven ordinary Americans who seek –
let’s say it together one more time – limited government, secure borders, a
free market economy, freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and yes, an end
to murderous abortion. Americans who
favor this agenda are called nationalists, racists, bigots, and worse. These firefighters, masons, plumbers,
carpenters, teachers, cops, bakers, tailors, electricians, small business
owners, farmers and such are fed up with Al Gore pomposity, Bernie Sanders socialism,
CNN smugness, academia’s shift from free speech to controlled speech, the Go to
College mantra, and Republican hesitancy.
Those who view these
fed-up “commoners” as ignoramuses, namely the old networks, MSNBC and CNN, know
little to nothing about what the “commoners” know, or what they cherish or
struggle with. How many television
commentators or national (or local) columnists know anything at all about Bill
Gaither, NASCAR, Vidalia onions, crop rotation, job lay-offs, a monkey wrench, evangelicals,
depleted checking accounts, cows, pick-up trucks, small town life, the Grand
Ole Opry, or even Rotary? What they do
know about is Democrat schmoozing, flights from biological reality (choose your
gender), and flights from D.C. or New York to L.A. and back. Never have they heard “America singing,” as
poet Walt Whitman put it. They don’t
even know what America sings.
Incidentally, do we
ever see “commoners”/ordinary folks protesting in the streets? Not much if at all. They’re at work. It’s college kids who protest, as well as
Hollywood’s big names who have time and money on their hands, and college
professors who probably egged the students on.
Now we can add a handful of high schoolers who of course know everything
and who have been propelled to fame because they were interviewed after a high
school shooting. Everything changes,
we’re told, so it’s time to let the pot command the potter. How stunningly amiss can the country get?
And what does all of
this have to do with November? November,
I believe, will show the increased power of the deplorables. Unlike England’s Peasant Revolt of 1381 which
didn’t end well for the peasants, America’s deplorables are stationed to fare
better. Tea Party organizations may have
shut down, but their spirit is alive and well. The deplorables’ leader,
President Trump, isn’t one to tinker with government (stitch this, tweak that,
pour money here, start another bureaucracy there). He likes the Hippocratic Oath: “Do no harm,”
and honors Calvin Coolidge’s adage, “The business of America is business.” Nothing that has been thrown at the President
so far has stuck and the Left is still livid and embarrassed. They sense they’ve become tiring.
As for those
evangelicals, little did the national media or many local columnists know that
there has always been a small evangelical left and Christianity Today magazine
began tilting toward it over a decade ago.
What’s an evangelical Christian to do if one candidate opposes the
murder of innocent, defenseless, unborn babies and the other candidate
doesn’t? Or if one candidate defends
your cultural beliefs and economic interests and the other doesn’t?
The leftist media is
telling evangelicals how hypocritical they are even though the media certainly
knew about but disregarded the sexual behavior of Jefferson, Harding, FDR, JFK,
LBJ, and Clinton, particularly JFK, their darling still.
And oh yes, Republican
economic orthodoxy. It too is what the
middle class is rejecting. Republican
elites have subscribed to globalism as much as Democrats. They got nervous hearing Trump’s “America First”
slogan, but working folks said, “It’s about time!” That’s why they hired a bull to enter the
china shop.
As with the nations
listed above, many American middle class voters feel ignored and disdained by
their political leadership and left behind economically by globalization. Ironically, Democrats are helping re-elect Trump. As
Peggy Noonan wrote, “Crazy won’t beat Trump.”
November will come
quickly. Working class voters will vote for nationalism and against
socialism. Old Adam Smith, Coolidge, and
Reagan will be applauding from their graves.
Roger Hines
January 1, 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment