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.
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