I am one of those people that do not understand why conservatives hate liberals.  I read the article that tries to explain it but I still don’t understand. I am sure I have benefited by the fact that I am white, but, should I want that to continue? Should I want to feel like I am superior to someone that is not white? Maybe superior is not the right word. Maybe the word is better, that I am better than a person of color. White privileged is a real thing and you don’t have to remind me that I have benefited from it. Growing up in the times of Dr. King and how he preached that we were all bothers is a message that has stuck with me my whole life.

In the 60s and the 70s it was easier to have Black brothers or Hispanic brothers. We all had jobs that we worked together. They were factory jobs in the metal fabrication or automobiles or many of the other factories that were all over this country. We had a strong manufacturing base that required that we all worked together under the same roofs. I worked at the American Brass in Kenosha and there was every nationality under the sun. All earning the same wage and all being represented by the same Union. There was still racial injustice but just not in the environment that I was in. The difference was that there were jobs. Yes, white privilege existed back then but it was not as noticeable because of the Unions because of the equality that they created. Those jobs disappeared and in many cases so did the equality that the factories gave us.

That competition for jobs has created huge earnings gaps that was not there as much when I was growing up. The shrinking of the middle class has had an effect on all races but more so with minorities. It has also helped feed the white privilege that we have today. As our cities, like Detroit, have rotted from the inside out, the violence in those cities has increased. The family structure that was there in the 50s and 60s for all races has deteriorated because of lower wages and people needing to perform multiple jobs. The day of the stay at home mom has gone especially with the minority families.  I was having an online conversation with an individual about guns and how people have guns for personal protection. He was Black and I told him I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be a Black person today. Why do people buy guns to protect themselves? In many cases it is because Black people have been demonized so bad that many white people feel as though they need guns to protect themselves of those demonize by society. Even Dirty Harry Hollywood contributed with things like Harry with his “make my day” as he was pointing his gun at the head of a Black man.

I was talking with a friend and she said that she doesn’t care what anyone thinks she liked a lot of things that Trump said especially that he was going to bring all those jobs back. I asked her “Don’t you believe in Capitalism anymore?’ She gave me a funny look and I told her that it wasn’t in his power in a Capitalist country. Politian’s will say anything to get elected but we have to decide can they really deliver?  Those old jobs are not coming back. The billionaires that sent them overseas don’t want to bring them back. They sent them there because they want to maximize their profits. They will not take a loss and Trump knew that when he was telling us his tall tales to us. If we want more jobs we need to develop new technologies. We need to be leaders not followers chasing old technologies and old products. The billionaires that sent all those jobs overseas won’t like us making those products obsolete but that is what we have to do. We need to keep moving forward with new ideas driven by a new generation of thinkers and entrepreneurs. Does that sound a little like Build Back better? Well maybe it does because maybe a lot of Build Back Better is needed.

The direction of the country under Trump in my opinion was spiraling downward. We need to keep moving forward and that is doesn’t happen chasing old technologies like the ones that use fossil fuels. Not only are fossil fuels destroying our earth they are also holding us back from moving forward with new technologies and thinking. You want to drain the swamp you have to get all that money out of Washington that is corrupting our political system and actually hurting the country.  This new year we have to really start working on getting rid of the old stuff that is destroying our planet and start working on the new stuff that will start saving our planet.

 

 

The Real Reason Trump Supporters Hate Liberals | by Michael Greiner | Medium