by Dr. Ellen Brandt
I've spent the past several days - unnecessarily bleak and stress-filled days - removing a particularly nasty cybervirus from my computer system. It was the nastiest, in fact, that I've seen in my years on the Internet - and I was a very early Internet adopter.
Among other things, it transformed all my documents and photos into newly encrypted versions that were not openable without the proper key, a form of "ransomware" that even the world's foremost security experts have not been able to combat successfully. Fortunately, I now know to back up my documents and photos on external flash drives every week or so. So I "only" lost a week's worth of work, meaning it could have been worse.
As is now par for the course on the Internet, no site or company has yet admitted that their own security protocols were at fault. I'm almost certain that the culprit in this case was my darling ISP (Internet service provider), a very large ISP with many millions of users, including all sorts of state and local government agencies.
My darling ISP, which shall be nameless, has been lax in protecting its E-mail system fairly often - and this particular kind of virus attack almost always spreads via E-mail.
So that's what probably happened this time. Another time, though, nasty Malware might enter one's system - and phone - and TV set - and possibly one's blender, toaster oven, and riding lawnmower - via a social media site or a search engine or a news site or a retail order and payment system.
Some of these Malware attacks are criminal in nature - whether the criminals are organized and slick or rogue amateurs working alone. They're trying for a monetary gain of some kind, whether via out-and-out theft of financial data or the original kind of "ransomware," where shady types demand a payment, in return for which they'll send you a decryption key to unlock the files they've locked.
Although the attack I - and almost certainly millions of others - just lived through this week did involve illegally encrypted files, it wasn't classical "ransomware," since no one demanded payment in return for a key, and the kinds of files they went after were clearly targeted in order to gum up one's system, waste one's time, and cause one stress and anguish.
In other words, it was "Malware for Fun" - humorous and entertaining, if one is a Sociopathic Sadist who thinks gratuitous Malice aimed at fellow human beings is as jolly as the proverbial barrel of monkeys.
And alas! this sort of gratuitous, cruel, almost casual Malice has become a commonplace in the current historical era, whether on the Internet, in the media, in the workplace, or pretty much anywhere else.
Which brings us to the ultimate theme of this story, which, Yes, is political.
We believe Americans, in general - and the collective worldview that represents America, in general - think of ourselves as a particularly Moral people, believers in truth, justice, a fair shake for everyone, and special protection for "widows and orphans" - whoever the weakest among us might be in the current period.
Gratuitous Malice - or bullying - or kicking the other fellow when he's down - are decidedly not in the historical American ethos, not part of the American Dream or the American Way.
Yet, all of a sudden, it seems, here they are. An absolute avalanche of Malice and cruelty and sociopathic behavior is not only tolerated, but in some inconceivable way, applauded - in our economy, in our media, in our social institutions - and lately, in our politics.
Many of us are ready to cry out, Enough! Stop disregarding our pain, whether financial, social, or cultural. (In the case of the more than 2 in 5 Americans over age 50, it is now all three).
Stop blaming or trivializing anyone and everyone who has been victimized by the cataclysmic events of past three decades: outsourcing, downsizing, the decimation of middle management, housing crises, market crashes, and the hollowing out of manufacturing, resources, and Main Street small business alike.
Stop characterizing us, as many Elitist media now routinely do - and some politicians are beginning to do - as "losers" or "sheeple" or those who "just couldn't cut it and deserve to suffer."
In calmer times, in more stable times - or, significantly, in periods in which a tiny Thug-ocracy of gazillionaires acting like common criminals is not at the helm of the economy and the Ship of State - the vast majority of the many, many millions teetering on the brink of financial devastation would in no case be ridiculed or bullied in this horrid and astonishing way.
Because they - because WE - are not "losers" and "those who couldn't cut it." WE - individually and collectively - are generally well-educated and skilled and experienced and decent people, from every region, in every profession and trade, who were either directly targeted by financial predators or fell victims, despite our valiant efforts, to one or several of the kinds of devastating economic cataclysms this era has experienced in wave after wave of inexorable chaos and dislocation.
The GOP - Party of Morality
While neither major Party, nor any particular part of the broad American political spectrum, can claim an exclusive ethical or moral superiority to those of different political persuasions, in our current era of economic and social chaos, many of us believe the GOP has a clear edge - an edge that we should exploit.
As we've said in previous stories, the Republican voter Base is more "Gray" than the Democrats' Base - that is, it has more people age 50 and over. And voters 50 and over will comprise fully half of the electorate in 2016.
America's "Grays," as most of us can tell you from personal experience, have been the major victims of the economic and social chaos of the past 30 years - because we've been adults through all of it. And especially during the past seven chaotic - and for many of us, horrendous - years of the Obama administration, a large percentage of us have been direct victims of economic, social, and cultural Malice, some of it verging on absolute cruelty and sadism.
We've been ridiculed. We've been bullied. We've been scorned. And worst of all, we've been roundly ignored.
The GOP has, at least for the past 75 or 80 years, already held the mantle of the "Religious" Party, the one with the largest number of active churchgoers and religious activists.
Now, many of us believe, it is high time to claim the mantle of the Moral Party, as well - the Party which will no longer tolerate meanness or spitefulness or unethical behavior by anyone - including anyone claiming to be a Republican, but acting in ways that diminish or degrade the self-worth of our fellow Americans.
If the GOP refuses to claim the mantle of Morality and Decency and Humane Compassion - particularly towards those in its own (Gray) Base, many of whom are currently downtrodden and need to be helped back on our feet again - other parts of the political spectrum will make their own attempts to claim this Moral mantle.
At this point, Republicans have the clear Moral edge. But it is ours to lose.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Ten Populist Issues at the Heart of "Gray" Activism
by Dr. Ellen Brandt
If you want to explain the rapid rise of Populism within both major Parties - but especially within the GOP - look no further than the issues American Grays (people 50 and older) are most passionate about.
There is no need to be baffled about the rise of Populist thought and Populist issues within American politics this election cycle. Understand what the Gray population aged 50 and older most cares about and, in many cases, is most angry about, and you'll have an excellent handle on why politics-as-usual doesn't apply in 2016, particularly within the Republican Party.
As we have pointed out repeatedly - and will continue to do so, until it finally sinks in - American "Grays" right here, right now, in the exceptionally historic election year of 2016, are:
***** 43 percent of the American population - or more than 2 in 5 Americans.
***** Already close to half - or 1 in 2 - American women.
***** About one-half - or 1 in 2 - prospective American voters in 2016.
***** The key "swing" voters both on many individual issues and in general.
***** And the most well-educated, passionate, and well-informed voter base we've ever had - as well as the most likely to show up at the polls.
So just what do we pesky and misunderstood Gray Americans care about this presidential cycle? I believe at least ten - and probably more - issues with a strong tinge of Populism stand out:
!!!!! Populist Plaint One -Jobs: You took 'em away. Now give 'em back !!!!!
Many Grays believe there has been a concerted effort, starting as far back as the Clinton adminstration, but accelerating rapidly during the Obama years, to eliminate jobs held by Americans over age 50; repackage them in different forms, generally requiring far less education and experience; and "gift" them to groups which tend to hew to the Limousine Liberals' "politically correct" agenda and vote Democratic.
Grays, particularly those in the GOP, also strongly dismiss those glowing "jobs reports" and "unemployment reports" touted each month by government officials as proving that All is Well. All is very much Not Well with America's Grays, who are living through times a lot like the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Grays are now the bulk of the long-term unemployed and those not counted as being part of the U.S. economy. The best-educated and most industrious Grays, believe many, have simply slipped through the cracks in statistical models, struggling to make a living as consultants, self-employed professionals, small contractors, and Main Street small business owners of every kind.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Two - Immigration: Care About Those Of Us Already Here !!!!!
Gray Americans in both major Parties, but especially in the GOP, blame outsourcing, downsizing, the decimation of middle management, and other kinds of financial engineering for much of the job losses people over 50 have suffered these past 25 or 30 years.
And now, instead of helping us, the so-and-so's want to bring in more hordes of young immigrants, to knock more of us out of the workforce or prevent other Grays from clawing our way back in?
This year's crop of Populist politicians may be couching the issue of Immigration mostly in national security terms. But the many Grays in the "up-until-recently-comfortably-Middle-Class" group aren't buying it. We see new Immigrants as more competition for scarce economic resources.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Three - Wall Street: So punish the greedy, malicious Evil-doers already !!!!!
On the issue of Wall Street malfeasance and its contribution to the Great Crash of 2008-2009, which quite literally wiped out the life's savings of a very large, unacknowledged group of Gray Americans, Grays within the GOP may stand closer to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren than we do to some within our own Party's "establishment."
The GOP needs to recognize this - pronto! We Grays were excellent students, workers, savers, and investors - and for all our trouble, we've been left with nothing to show for it.
Moreover, we've been constantly harried and harassed by the Limousine Liberal-controlled Mainstream Media, with an extraordinary stream of anti-Gray, particularly anti-Baby Boomer, propaganda, coloring us as Victimizers, rather than Victims.
We deserve better from this nation - and especially from our own Party. Yes, there is still an influential Wall Street-oriented cadre within the GOP. But smart Populists this year are distancing themselves from it. And the Republican Party as a whole probably should follow their lead.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Four - Media: They're insulting us, our beliefs, our agendas, and our candidates day-by-day, minute-by-minute. Stop allowing them to do so. And by all means, stop enabling them !!!!!
The Republican establishment has finally awoken to the out-and-out hatred exhibited towards our Base, as well as towards our candidates, by an MSM that is too young, too elitist, and too politically correct to interpret, let alone have any empathy for, the positions and the vital needs of Republicans, Grays, or - drum roll - Gray Republicans, who are now the majority of the GOP.
We have talked about the necessity of persuading the existing Media mainstream to become more GOP-friendly, while forming an Alternative MSM consisting of GOP-run publications, sites, and programming.
As a key part of these efforts, we urge Republicans and GOP politicians at all levels to have a zero tolerance policy, when it comes to the negative, often downright malicious and sadistic, propaganda aimed at people over age 50. If anyone within the Party - even some once-prominent pundits - continue to exhibit such malice-filled anti-Gray bias, they should lose their GOP Media pulpits or suffer otherwise for what would be seen as clear hate speech if aimed at any other constituency.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Five - Entrepreneurship: You're backing the exact wrong horses. Bet Better !!!!!
Gray GOP'ers, who tend to be pro-business and trained in business disciplines, are disgusted with the recent trends in both private venture capital and government programs aimed at creating and sustaining entrepreneurs.
Breaking with historical precedent - and, say many, with logic and prudence - way too much funding has been going to the youngest, least educated, and least experienced entrepreneurs, with some significant backing going to mere teenagers. In contrast, founders and early-stage entrepreneurs over age 50, who used to be primary beneficiaries of venture and expansion capital, have been getting practically nothing.
This absurd skewing towards young and inexperienced entrepreneurs is, of course, linked closely to the equally absurd skewing of start-up and early-stage funds towards just two kinds of businesses - software and gaming - with maybe a little telecommunications, media, and fintech (financial technology) thrown in for good measure.
Not only is this imbalance in funding bad for the many worthy potential Gray entrepreneurs who have been shut out, it is also almost certainly bad for our economy in general. With very few exceptions, the technology-oriented businesses which have tended to get backing employ few workers; have relatively few subcontractors or other satellite business associations; and, therefore, provide far less long-term economic value to the communities in which they're located than more traditional businesses in manufacturing, resources, agriculture, retail, hospitality, and public service.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Six - Small Business: Main Street is still dying. And the cloistered darlings in the MSM, on Wall Street, or in political corridors don't seem to know it !!!!!
Related to the above, but somewhat different, is political, media, and financial sector indifference - some would say pure negligence - to the continuing plight of traditional Main Street small business, particularly in the absolute majority of communities where Main Street leaders are almost all over age 50.
Over-concern with big cities and their "troubled" neighborhoods, many populated by constituencies favored by the Limousine Liberals, and under-concern with other communities where those who tend to vote Republican choose to live and work has, of course, been with us for decades.
But it has been many years - probably not since the 1930s - that so many middle American and until recently middle class communities were so down-at-the-heels, spiraling into the exact same kind of long-term hopelessness that the L-Liberals say are only the lot of "minority" communities, including those with significant numbers of illegal immigrants.
We need renewed attention focused on once-vibrant Main Streets where optimistic, experienced small business people over 50 - who had earned their status over many decades of hard work - until very recently held sway. There need to be specific, targeted programs - creative and low- or no-cost - to get Gray American small business owners back on their feet again.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Seven - Housing: The latest "housing boom" is missing us completely, say Grays !!!!!
The Obama-ites and Wall Street may think there's a "housing boom" going on, with prices of luxury properties for the ultra-rich strong and lots of pretty, clean new housing for the favored "Youth" getting any new jobs there are.
But in much of Gray America, the housing situation could not be more glum. So glum, that there are numerous anecdotes of housing-despair suicides among beleaguered Boomers (only in our 50s and 60s), let alone among the true elderly.
Here is the cold, hard reality for many too many American Grays: They took our life's savings, accumulated over decades, and they won't let us get new jobs. Meanwhile, utility costs, property taxes, and home insurance costs go up, up, up, and up. We can't afford to pay these bills. We can't afford home repairs. And our houses - with mortgages paid off decades ago - are falling apart at the seams.
Since many, probably most, Republicans would like to see various entitlement programs cost less, not more, the escalating problem of Grays with their homes falling apart and nowhere to go, if they're forced to abandon them, needs to concern the Party as a whole.
Surely, we can find creative and low-cost and humane and philanthropic ways to help still relatively young and healthy people stay in their homes and their communities. Yes, this is tied in with re-creating jobs lost by experienced, well-educated, and worthy people over 50 and with re-directing venture capital and small business programs to enterprises Grays found and own.
But this is also an under-addressed problem area in which faith-based groups, conservative foundations, and local-level Republican outreach could play a part.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Eight - Resources: An Ultra-Green agenda has been forced on us by the current administration and its Limousine Liberal backers on Wall Street !!!!!
Not all Gray Republicans believe that the so-called climate change agenda is junk science - but many do. And many GOP'ers of every generation think the Obama-ites and their naked-short-seller hedge fund buddies on Wall Street have gone beyond the pale in their efforts to starve out resource companies and resource investors - and the many (mostly Red State) communities that depend on them.
This is one of the worst Busts in the energy sector in U.S. history; clearly the worst Bust ever in the mining sector; and an across-the-board Bust in commodities in general. States and communities that were booming three years ago are staggering now - and the vast majority of them are heavy with GOP voters.
If you believe that much of this - maybe any of it - is not political in nature, I have a lovely bridge in a New York borough I'd like to sell you.
Meanwhile, investors who tend to favor resources, manufacturing, or pretty much anything not based on bits, bytes, and thin air, have suffered greatly for a full two or three decades now - meaning most of them are now Gray and the majority of those are Gray Republicans.
To add insult to the already uber-insulted and financially abused: Remarks from the (possibly now unhinged) Paul Krugman and other Limousine Libs calling GOP resource-fanciers "gullible," "stupid," "sheeple" and worse.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Nine - Favoritism: Oh, to be a 15-year-old illegal immigrant gang member with a drug problem - and preferably acne !!!!!
Many Grays, of all political persuasions, would tell you this country - and the Obama administration in particular - has gone completely Through the Looking Glass the past few years.
There is constant talk about underserved communities which, in fact, get pretty much 100 percent of government help, of foundation money, and of private charity - while the egregiously underserved - the escalating population of "New Poor" over age 50 - are left absolutely adrift.
The GOP and faith-based philanthropic cadre have been at fault, too, seemingly focused on military veterans only, to the exclusion of the other kind of veteran - people over age 50, especially women, who do not have military backgrounds.
Many "New Poor" over-50 Americans cringe, in fact, when we see one of those neverending ads for pathetic (and, Yes, adorable) abused dogs and cats. Maybe we should start making our own ads featuring pathetic (and, Yes, adorable) financially abused Gray-haired ladies and gentlemen.
The good ole, reliable Mainstream Media plays its constant role pushing the ever-more-frightening Limousine Liberal agenda:
*** Degrees from community colleges - or even on-line coursework - are better than university or professional degrees.
*** Summer internships for "Youth" are better than the rigorous multiyear apprenticeships skilled craftsmen have gone through.
*** New grads are better at technology than mature Americans who've used technology for decades, because the Young can see minute keyboards more clearly and are far better typing with their thumbs.
*** Professors, journalists, creatives, and managers in a wide swath of enterprises who are found to hold views insufficently "politically correct," according to the Thugs-in-Charge, deserve to be shunned, ousted, and eventually starved out of existence - because WE are in power, and YOU are not. (cackle, cackle, cackle)
!!!!! Populist Plaint Ten - Lack of Respect: If decency and human kindness are not dead, they're surely in intensive care !!!!!
And the corollary to the above, believe most Grays, is that a nation which no longer treats its mature citizens with decency, kindness, and respect is in essence experiencing a significant moral failure. Moral failures tend to lead to other kinds of failures - social, cultural, and economic - and should not be tolerated in a country like the United States.
Historically, the above is quite literally true. Countries which place the needs and desires of the very young - usually young men - at the top of the social and economic pyramid tend to turn into failed states eventually.
Examples from the modern period include places like Somalia and other African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries where populations of lawless male "Youth" have essentially been permitted to determine the shape of society.
In contrast, nations which have gone out of their way to respect and care for the proverbial "widows and orphans," older women - and men - and other populations which are vulnerable, have been nations celebrated for their social, cultural, and economic stability.
Which kind of nation does the United States want to be?
There you have it! Ten reasons for escalating Populism - and again, there are certainly others - with Grays at the heart of the Anger-Turned-to-Activism.
If candidates, officeholders, economists, and the media fail to recognize the many logical and valid reasons for Populist sentiment this election year, they are failing to understand where America - and Americans - are right now.
If you want to explain the rapid rise of Populism within both major Parties - but especially within the GOP - look no further than the issues American Grays (people 50 and older) are most passionate about.
There is no need to be baffled about the rise of Populist thought and Populist issues within American politics this election cycle. Understand what the Gray population aged 50 and older most cares about and, in many cases, is most angry about, and you'll have an excellent handle on why politics-as-usual doesn't apply in 2016, particularly within the Republican Party.
As we have pointed out repeatedly - and will continue to do so, until it finally sinks in - American "Grays" right here, right now, in the exceptionally historic election year of 2016, are:
***** 43 percent of the American population - or more than 2 in 5 Americans.
***** Already close to half - or 1 in 2 - American women.
***** About one-half - or 1 in 2 - prospective American voters in 2016.
***** The key "swing" voters both on many individual issues and in general.
***** And the most well-educated, passionate, and well-informed voter base we've ever had - as well as the most likely to show up at the polls.
So just what do we pesky and misunderstood Gray Americans care about this presidential cycle? I believe at least ten - and probably more - issues with a strong tinge of Populism stand out:
!!!!! Populist Plaint One -Jobs: You took 'em away. Now give 'em back !!!!!
Many Grays believe there has been a concerted effort, starting as far back as the Clinton adminstration, but accelerating rapidly during the Obama years, to eliminate jobs held by Americans over age 50; repackage them in different forms, generally requiring far less education and experience; and "gift" them to groups which tend to hew to the Limousine Liberals' "politically correct" agenda and vote Democratic.
Grays, particularly those in the GOP, also strongly dismiss those glowing "jobs reports" and "unemployment reports" touted each month by government officials as proving that All is Well. All is very much Not Well with America's Grays, who are living through times a lot like the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Grays are now the bulk of the long-term unemployed and those not counted as being part of the U.S. economy. The best-educated and most industrious Grays, believe many, have simply slipped through the cracks in statistical models, struggling to make a living as consultants, self-employed professionals, small contractors, and Main Street small business owners of every kind.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Two - Immigration: Care About Those Of Us Already Here !!!!!
Gray Americans in both major Parties, but especially in the GOP, blame outsourcing, downsizing, the decimation of middle management, and other kinds of financial engineering for much of the job losses people over 50 have suffered these past 25 or 30 years.
And now, instead of helping us, the so-and-so's want to bring in more hordes of young immigrants, to knock more of us out of the workforce or prevent other Grays from clawing our way back in?
This year's crop of Populist politicians may be couching the issue of Immigration mostly in national security terms. But the many Grays in the "up-until-recently-comfortably-Middle-Class" group aren't buying it. We see new Immigrants as more competition for scarce economic resources.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Three - Wall Street: So punish the greedy, malicious Evil-doers already !!!!!
On the issue of Wall Street malfeasance and its contribution to the Great Crash of 2008-2009, which quite literally wiped out the life's savings of a very large, unacknowledged group of Gray Americans, Grays within the GOP may stand closer to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren than we do to some within our own Party's "establishment."
The GOP needs to recognize this - pronto! We Grays were excellent students, workers, savers, and investors - and for all our trouble, we've been left with nothing to show for it.
Moreover, we've been constantly harried and harassed by the Limousine Liberal-controlled Mainstream Media, with an extraordinary stream of anti-Gray, particularly anti-Baby Boomer, propaganda, coloring us as Victimizers, rather than Victims.
We deserve better from this nation - and especially from our own Party. Yes, there is still an influential Wall Street-oriented cadre within the GOP. But smart Populists this year are distancing themselves from it. And the Republican Party as a whole probably should follow their lead.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Four - Media: They're insulting us, our beliefs, our agendas, and our candidates day-by-day, minute-by-minute. Stop allowing them to do so. And by all means, stop enabling them !!!!!
The Republican establishment has finally awoken to the out-and-out hatred exhibited towards our Base, as well as towards our candidates, by an MSM that is too young, too elitist, and too politically correct to interpret, let alone have any empathy for, the positions and the vital needs of Republicans, Grays, or - drum roll - Gray Republicans, who are now the majority of the GOP.
We have talked about the necessity of persuading the existing Media mainstream to become more GOP-friendly, while forming an Alternative MSM consisting of GOP-run publications, sites, and programming.
As a key part of these efforts, we urge Republicans and GOP politicians at all levels to have a zero tolerance policy, when it comes to the negative, often downright malicious and sadistic, propaganda aimed at people over age 50. If anyone within the Party - even some once-prominent pundits - continue to exhibit such malice-filled anti-Gray bias, they should lose their GOP Media pulpits or suffer otherwise for what would be seen as clear hate speech if aimed at any other constituency.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Five - Entrepreneurship: You're backing the exact wrong horses. Bet Better !!!!!
Gray GOP'ers, who tend to be pro-business and trained in business disciplines, are disgusted with the recent trends in both private venture capital and government programs aimed at creating and sustaining entrepreneurs.
Breaking with historical precedent - and, say many, with logic and prudence - way too much funding has been going to the youngest, least educated, and least experienced entrepreneurs, with some significant backing going to mere teenagers. In contrast, founders and early-stage entrepreneurs over age 50, who used to be primary beneficiaries of venture and expansion capital, have been getting practically nothing.
This absurd skewing towards young and inexperienced entrepreneurs is, of course, linked closely to the equally absurd skewing of start-up and early-stage funds towards just two kinds of businesses - software and gaming - with maybe a little telecommunications, media, and fintech (financial technology) thrown in for good measure.
Not only is this imbalance in funding bad for the many worthy potential Gray entrepreneurs who have been shut out, it is also almost certainly bad for our economy in general. With very few exceptions, the technology-oriented businesses which have tended to get backing employ few workers; have relatively few subcontractors or other satellite business associations; and, therefore, provide far less long-term economic value to the communities in which they're located than more traditional businesses in manufacturing, resources, agriculture, retail, hospitality, and public service.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Six - Small Business: Main Street is still dying. And the cloistered darlings in the MSM, on Wall Street, or in political corridors don't seem to know it !!!!!
Related to the above, but somewhat different, is political, media, and financial sector indifference - some would say pure negligence - to the continuing plight of traditional Main Street small business, particularly in the absolute majority of communities where Main Street leaders are almost all over age 50.
Over-concern with big cities and their "troubled" neighborhoods, many populated by constituencies favored by the Limousine Liberals, and under-concern with other communities where those who tend to vote Republican choose to live and work has, of course, been with us for decades.
But it has been many years - probably not since the 1930s - that so many middle American and until recently middle class communities were so down-at-the-heels, spiraling into the exact same kind of long-term hopelessness that the L-Liberals say are only the lot of "minority" communities, including those with significant numbers of illegal immigrants.
We need renewed attention focused on once-vibrant Main Streets where optimistic, experienced small business people over 50 - who had earned their status over many decades of hard work - until very recently held sway. There need to be specific, targeted programs - creative and low- or no-cost - to get Gray American small business owners back on their feet again.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Seven - Housing: The latest "housing boom" is missing us completely, say Grays !!!!!
The Obama-ites and Wall Street may think there's a "housing boom" going on, with prices of luxury properties for the ultra-rich strong and lots of pretty, clean new housing for the favored "Youth" getting any new jobs there are.
But in much of Gray America, the housing situation could not be more glum. So glum, that there are numerous anecdotes of housing-despair suicides among beleaguered Boomers (only in our 50s and 60s), let alone among the true elderly.
Here is the cold, hard reality for many too many American Grays: They took our life's savings, accumulated over decades, and they won't let us get new jobs. Meanwhile, utility costs, property taxes, and home insurance costs go up, up, up, and up. We can't afford to pay these bills. We can't afford home repairs. And our houses - with mortgages paid off decades ago - are falling apart at the seams.
Since many, probably most, Republicans would like to see various entitlement programs cost less, not more, the escalating problem of Grays with their homes falling apart and nowhere to go, if they're forced to abandon them, needs to concern the Party as a whole.
Surely, we can find creative and low-cost and humane and philanthropic ways to help still relatively young and healthy people stay in their homes and their communities. Yes, this is tied in with re-creating jobs lost by experienced, well-educated, and worthy people over 50 and with re-directing venture capital and small business programs to enterprises Grays found and own.
But this is also an under-addressed problem area in which faith-based groups, conservative foundations, and local-level Republican outreach could play a part.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Eight - Resources: An Ultra-Green agenda has been forced on us by the current administration and its Limousine Liberal backers on Wall Street !!!!!
Not all Gray Republicans believe that the so-called climate change agenda is junk science - but many do. And many GOP'ers of every generation think the Obama-ites and their naked-short-seller hedge fund buddies on Wall Street have gone beyond the pale in their efforts to starve out resource companies and resource investors - and the many (mostly Red State) communities that depend on them.
This is one of the worst Busts in the energy sector in U.S. history; clearly the worst Bust ever in the mining sector; and an across-the-board Bust in commodities in general. States and communities that were booming three years ago are staggering now - and the vast majority of them are heavy with GOP voters.
If you believe that much of this - maybe any of it - is not political in nature, I have a lovely bridge in a New York borough I'd like to sell you.
Meanwhile, investors who tend to favor resources, manufacturing, or pretty much anything not based on bits, bytes, and thin air, have suffered greatly for a full two or three decades now - meaning most of them are now Gray and the majority of those are Gray Republicans.
To add insult to the already uber-insulted and financially abused: Remarks from the (possibly now unhinged) Paul Krugman and other Limousine Libs calling GOP resource-fanciers "gullible," "stupid," "sheeple" and worse.
!!!!! Populist Plaint Nine - Favoritism: Oh, to be a 15-year-old illegal immigrant gang member with a drug problem - and preferably acne !!!!!
Many Grays, of all political persuasions, would tell you this country - and the Obama administration in particular - has gone completely Through the Looking Glass the past few years.
There is constant talk about underserved communities which, in fact, get pretty much 100 percent of government help, of foundation money, and of private charity - while the egregiously underserved - the escalating population of "New Poor" over age 50 - are left absolutely adrift.
The GOP and faith-based philanthropic cadre have been at fault, too, seemingly focused on military veterans only, to the exclusion of the other kind of veteran - people over age 50, especially women, who do not have military backgrounds.
Many "New Poor" over-50 Americans cringe, in fact, when we see one of those neverending ads for pathetic (and, Yes, adorable) abused dogs and cats. Maybe we should start making our own ads featuring pathetic (and, Yes, adorable) financially abused Gray-haired ladies and gentlemen.
The good ole, reliable Mainstream Media plays its constant role pushing the ever-more-frightening Limousine Liberal agenda:
*** Degrees from community colleges - or even on-line coursework - are better than university or professional degrees.
*** Summer internships for "Youth" are better than the rigorous multiyear apprenticeships skilled craftsmen have gone through.
*** New grads are better at technology than mature Americans who've used technology for decades, because the Young can see minute keyboards more clearly and are far better typing with their thumbs.
*** Professors, journalists, creatives, and managers in a wide swath of enterprises who are found to hold views insufficently "politically correct," according to the Thugs-in-Charge, deserve to be shunned, ousted, and eventually starved out of existence - because WE are in power, and YOU are not. (cackle, cackle, cackle)
!!!!! Populist Plaint Ten - Lack of Respect: If decency and human kindness are not dead, they're surely in intensive care !!!!!
And the corollary to the above, believe most Grays, is that a nation which no longer treats its mature citizens with decency, kindness, and respect is in essence experiencing a significant moral failure. Moral failures tend to lead to other kinds of failures - social, cultural, and economic - and should not be tolerated in a country like the United States.
Historically, the above is quite literally true. Countries which place the needs and desires of the very young - usually young men - at the top of the social and economic pyramid tend to turn into failed states eventually.
Examples from the modern period include places like Somalia and other African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries where populations of lawless male "Youth" have essentially been permitted to determine the shape of society.
In contrast, nations which have gone out of their way to respect and care for the proverbial "widows and orphans," older women - and men - and other populations which are vulnerable, have been nations celebrated for their social, cultural, and economic stability.
Which kind of nation does the United States want to be?
There you have it! Ten reasons for escalating Populism - and again, there are certainly others - with Grays at the heart of the Anger-Turned-to-Activism.
If candidates, officeholders, economists, and the media fail to recognize the many logical and valid reasons for Populist sentiment this election year, they are failing to understand where America - and Americans - are right now.
Proud of Our Gray Base
by Dr. Ellen Brandt
It's hard to believe that the GOP is still not pushing our biggest advantage by celebrating - not ignoring - voters 50-plus, one-half of the electorate in the next four presidential cycles and, beyond any doubt whatsoever, our Party's ace in the hole.
Republicans tend to be optimistic folks - even when we're angry. So GOP activists like me still believe our turbulent Party will suddenly wake up and begin to realize that our true Base, our effective and passionate and well-informed Base, is driven by Demographic changes within the U.S. which are strongly favorable, not unfavorable, to Republicans.
To reiterate what we have stressed in past articles: Fully 43 percent of the American population - or over 2 in 5 Americans - are now aged 50 and older. This Gray population may well escalate even further, to close to 1 in 2 Americans, within another 10-12 years, if longevity continues to improve and this country impedes, rather than encourages, the explosive growth in immigration, which so many Republicans believe has been negative, not positive, for our economy and our culture during the past two decades.
The Demographic facts are even more dramatic for American women than for the population as a whole. Since U.S. women still - alas! - outlive men by several years, women 50 and over already make up very close to half of all American women.
In terms of the electorate, both women and men, of all ethnicities, religions, and educational levels and in all regions of the country:
Starting with this 2016 presidential cycle, about one-half of all voters will be Gray voters 50 and over. And this domination by Grays will continue in the 2020, 2024, and 2028 election cycles - and possibly beyond them.
That's because, despite the efforts of Nancy Pelosi and others, Americans age 0-17 still cannot vote, nor can illegal immigrants.
The cohort of Gray voters will be boosted this presidential election cycle, versus the last one, because now all of the vast Baby Boomer generation, still almost one-third of all Americans and numbering a whopping 1.1 billion human beings worldwide, are now over age 50 (turning 52-70 in 2016.)
Those Americans older than Boomers - i.e. age 70 and older - which includes many prominent political figures within both major Parties (John Kerry, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi, for example), as well the Gray doyens of Wall Street, the corporate world, and the media, are still going very strong and are certain to outlive and stay productive longer than any former generation of Americans.
Meanwhile, by the end of 2016, the first two birth-years of the Gen-X generation, particularly prominent and influential within technology and the Internet universe, will have turned 50, with a major portion of this demographically front-loaded generation turning 50 by the 2020 election.
All three of these generations - Boomers (52-70 in 2016), Boomers' "older siblings," the Depression and World War Two-era Babies (70-88 in 2016), and the first of the Gray Gen-Xers (50-52 in 2016) - are, as everyone knows, very highly-educated compared to prior generations. They are also technology-proficient, media-savvy, issues-oriented, and may be the last truly independent-minded generations in America - until today's "Youth" wakes up and smells the need to think independently.
Note also, once again, that voters over 50 go to the polls in significantly greater numbers than younger - especially very young - voters tend to do.
In fact, in the last national election, only about 1 in 4 Millennial voters made it to polling stations. Their percentages may be somewhat greater in 2016, due to the historical significance of this very important election.
But older voters will almost certainly far outnumber them, even further highlighting the supreme importance to both major Parties of courting and wooing the Gray portions of their electoral Bases.
Very fortunately, the GOP Base is already far Grayer than is the Democratic Base. In simple fact, more than half of Republicans are mature voters, and Grays still - again, fortunately, not the opposite - dominate many of the key caucus states and Red states in general.
This is only part of the story in 2016, however. Grays within both major Parties, as well as within the ranks of Independent voters, are almost certainly the key swing voters this year and the key Populist voters this year.
We will explain why in the next few stories in the Party of Yes series.
We'll talk about the issues - primarily economic issues - which Grays are embracing as their top priorities this cycle, although such issues also embrace geopolitics and social causes in a broader sense.
We will make specific reference to women voters over 50 - again, already about one-half of American women - a group that the GOP absolutely needs to start courting and wooing right now.
We will talk about many Grays' utter disgust with the continued corruption on Wall Street, now the essential province of the Limousine Liberals and their viciously anti-Gray agenda, which coincides with their anti-GOP agenda.
And we'll propose a couple of related strategic hypotheses:
How the GOP needs to point out the difference between a strong business climate, in a national sense - which we should enthusiastically embrace - and what's good for an absurdly wealthy cadre of Limousine Liberals now controlling many world markets and attempting to control the entire U.S. economy via financial engineering of the worst possible kind.
And how - as the Party of morality and decency and basic human kindness - Republicans need to make a clean break with the immoral mantra of Wealth for Wealth's Sake, the mantra of the Limousine Liberals, which has permeated our economy and our social climate for the past 25 years or more.
Wealth for Wealth's Sake represents their culture - the Limousine Liberals' culture - not ours.
And coming out strongly on the side of Positive Morality - we might even make that phrase our Republican motto this year - can be the glue that pulls together and unites the apparently disparate "establishment" and "non-establishment" parts of the GOP in 2016.
It's hard to believe that the GOP is still not pushing our biggest advantage by celebrating - not ignoring - voters 50-plus, one-half of the electorate in the next four presidential cycles and, beyond any doubt whatsoever, our Party's ace in the hole.
Republicans tend to be optimistic folks - even when we're angry. So GOP activists like me still believe our turbulent Party will suddenly wake up and begin to realize that our true Base, our effective and passionate and well-informed Base, is driven by Demographic changes within the U.S. which are strongly favorable, not unfavorable, to Republicans.
To reiterate what we have stressed in past articles: Fully 43 percent of the American population - or over 2 in 5 Americans - are now aged 50 and older. This Gray population may well escalate even further, to close to 1 in 2 Americans, within another 10-12 years, if longevity continues to improve and this country impedes, rather than encourages, the explosive growth in immigration, which so many Republicans believe has been negative, not positive, for our economy and our culture during the past two decades.
The Demographic facts are even more dramatic for American women than for the population as a whole. Since U.S. women still - alas! - outlive men by several years, women 50 and over already make up very close to half of all American women.
In terms of the electorate, both women and men, of all ethnicities, religions, and educational levels and in all regions of the country:
Starting with this 2016 presidential cycle, about one-half of all voters will be Gray voters 50 and over. And this domination by Grays will continue in the 2020, 2024, and 2028 election cycles - and possibly beyond them.
That's because, despite the efforts of Nancy Pelosi and others, Americans age 0-17 still cannot vote, nor can illegal immigrants.
The cohort of Gray voters will be boosted this presidential election cycle, versus the last one, because now all of the vast Baby Boomer generation, still almost one-third of all Americans and numbering a whopping 1.1 billion human beings worldwide, are now over age 50 (turning 52-70 in 2016.)
Those Americans older than Boomers - i.e. age 70 and older - which includes many prominent political figures within both major Parties (John Kerry, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi, for example), as well the Gray doyens of Wall Street, the corporate world, and the media, are still going very strong and are certain to outlive and stay productive longer than any former generation of Americans.
Meanwhile, by the end of 2016, the first two birth-years of the Gen-X generation, particularly prominent and influential within technology and the Internet universe, will have turned 50, with a major portion of this demographically front-loaded generation turning 50 by the 2020 election.
All three of these generations - Boomers (52-70 in 2016), Boomers' "older siblings," the Depression and World War Two-era Babies (70-88 in 2016), and the first of the Gray Gen-Xers (50-52 in 2016) - are, as everyone knows, very highly-educated compared to prior generations. They are also technology-proficient, media-savvy, issues-oriented, and may be the last truly independent-minded generations in America - until today's "Youth" wakes up and smells the need to think independently.
Note also, once again, that voters over 50 go to the polls in significantly greater numbers than younger - especially very young - voters tend to do.
In fact, in the last national election, only about 1 in 4 Millennial voters made it to polling stations. Their percentages may be somewhat greater in 2016, due to the historical significance of this very important election.
But older voters will almost certainly far outnumber them, even further highlighting the supreme importance to both major Parties of courting and wooing the Gray portions of their electoral Bases.
Very fortunately, the GOP Base is already far Grayer than is the Democratic Base. In simple fact, more than half of Republicans are mature voters, and Grays still - again, fortunately, not the opposite - dominate many of the key caucus states and Red states in general.
This is only part of the story in 2016, however. Grays within both major Parties, as well as within the ranks of Independent voters, are almost certainly the key swing voters this year and the key Populist voters this year.
We will explain why in the next few stories in the Party of Yes series.
We'll talk about the issues - primarily economic issues - which Grays are embracing as their top priorities this cycle, although such issues also embrace geopolitics and social causes in a broader sense.
We will make specific reference to women voters over 50 - again, already about one-half of American women - a group that the GOP absolutely needs to start courting and wooing right now.
We will talk about many Grays' utter disgust with the continued corruption on Wall Street, now the essential province of the Limousine Liberals and their viciously anti-Gray agenda, which coincides with their anti-GOP agenda.
And we'll propose a couple of related strategic hypotheses:
How the GOP needs to point out the difference between a strong business climate, in a national sense - which we should enthusiastically embrace - and what's good for an absurdly wealthy cadre of Limousine Liberals now controlling many world markets and attempting to control the entire U.S. economy via financial engineering of the worst possible kind.
And how - as the Party of morality and decency and basic human kindness - Republicans need to make a clean break with the immoral mantra of Wealth for Wealth's Sake, the mantra of the Limousine Liberals, which has permeated our economy and our social climate for the past 25 years or more.
Wealth for Wealth's Sake represents their culture - the Limousine Liberals' culture - not ours.
And coming out strongly on the side of Positive Morality - we might even make that phrase our Republican motto this year - can be the glue that pulls together and unites the apparently disparate "establishment" and "non-establishment" parts of the GOP in 2016.
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