Republicans! You don’t need Donald Trump to know which way the wind blows, nor for whom the bell tolls…
Lewis Black would likely say Thanksgiving is the time you sort through all the crap that’s happened to you during the year to look for the silver lining.
There is a silver lining. Regardless of all the bad stuff that’s happened to us, our county or the world-we are Blessed.
An awful lot of crap has befallen the world and the U.S. over the last year. Plane crashes, hurricanes, immigrant children caged, women assaulted, deadly wildfires, and the gruesome assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and if you are in to politics-the midterm elections made you despondent.
Of course many journalists declared the Democrats control of the U.S. House as a Blue wave. Is it a Blue wave one-third say they want nothing to do with the national Democratic Party leadership. Others backed away from liberal giveaways, stood for stronger border protection, moderated the national Democratic Party’s position on other issues like abortion or gun rights.
Yes, I’m grateful Democrats took the House but 2018 was more an “Orange” Trump wave.
Except for this Saudi gruesome murder, since Senator McCain is gone the Republican’s willingness to engage the President or oppose his policies has gone quiet.
Conversely, we have seen a rise in Republican voting strength in some areas of the country and with it Republicans like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio conform their thoughts and deeds to the President’s perceived coattails. While Trump’s coalition remains strong in 2018, could it take down the Republicans in two years?
Alabama’s 2018 election was dominated by hard right Trump supporters with a heavy dose of singled minded Christian conservatives supporting state amendments to make the Ten Commandments visible on all Alabama public property and to make abortions extinct! The Ten Commandments approved by 70% and those calling for an end to abortions under any conditions by 60%.
Alabama Republicans love Donald Trump. These Republicans are the respectable White folks who hang out with other White folks who deny they are racists and for the most part are good and kind people just not socially conscious enough to support a Democrat unless the Republican alternative is a “pedophile.”
Rural Whites, the ole Reagan-Democrats, became Republicans when Barrack Hussein Obama was nominated. These rural White “good ole boys” are the gun totting, beer drinking, truck driving, and camouflage wearing NRA members who go to NASCAR races. These are what I call “Alabama Dixiecrats.” And they too, for the most part, are indeed “good ole boys.” In Alabama, the Trump coalition is made up of Republicans, “Alabama Dixiecrats” and some extreme Right-wingers, the ones the Southern Poverty Law Center tracks like the KKK and White militia groups. These extreme Trump voters are the Far Right. people who have felt left out because they haven’t had a Presidential candidate to support since Alabama’s Gov. George Wallace ran for president.
Being the last Democrat elected governor in Alabama and the only “liberal “ defeating an incumbent Republican in the heart of Dixie surprised many Republicans. I had built a good base as Secretary of State, Attorney General and Lt. Governor. I traveled in and out of every county and most cities multiple times. I had a persona that was welcomed. I ran a campaign on a platform to give free college education and free preschool to working families- paid for by an Alabama Education Lottery. However, when I put the measure on the ballot, it was soundly defeated with the help of Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed and millions laundered in from the Choctaw Mississippi Indian casinos. The cash was used to suppress the Black vote and turn out the White Christians to vote against the lottery. Their message was “Siegelman’s lottery proposal is immoral.” I argued keeping children ignorant and poor was immoral. Free education lost to a false narrative. That’s Alabama. And that’s rural America.
“Alabama” is a part of every state.
In Alabama 2018 elections, we had some very bright, articulate attractive men and women candidates running for public office. It was an extraordinary line up. Money was raised, hard work was done, hands shaken, speeches made, tens of thousands of miles traveled yet the Democrats were soundly defeated by wave of “Orange” Republicans apparently determined to keep Alabama’s children ignorant and poor.
Voter turnout was nearly as high as a Presidential election.
What we have to recognize is that this Trump coalition will continue to win in places like Alabama and also acknowledge that Alabama is like the rural parts of other states.
To win the Presidency in 2020, if the Republicans nominate Trump, Democrats are in for a hard fight. It’s possible the Trump coalition could fall apart if college educated Republican women won’t go for a second term. If the Republicans nominate a Reagan, Romney or Bush-like moderate, many of the Alabama Dixiecrats and the Far Right extremists will stay at home. Democrats will have a chance to win. But whomever we nominate will have to appeal in some measure to the “Alabama” that’s in every single state.
As for Democrats…
Those of us who believe in democracy and want America to be a partner in progress for mankind also recognize the national Democrats need new leadership, fresh attractive candidates and we must have a message that will be heard by swing voters- the Alabama that’s in every state.
We can win. We can change things and make things better. Nothing comes free or easy. Change for the better requires us all to be involved.
President Eisenhower said,”Politics like war is too important to be left just to the professionals. ” We all must be involved — we all must be soldiers of democracy.
We cannot be stowaways always on the ship of state. We must find candidates we believe in and trust, work for them and hold them accountable after the election. We cannot remain silent.
To remain silent while our country slips backward is not something to be proud of. It’s not honorable. It’s not patriotic- it’s pathetic. To remain silent during times of crisis is a crime of moral turpitude.
Many of my friends- business leaders stood by and watched our state pass up another chance to make life better for others, they maintained their neutrality, remained silent, as Alabama voted for people who’ll takes us backward faster than we’ve ever gone before.
The famous Italian poet, Dante Alieghieri, in his epic The Divine Comedy, put it plainly: “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in times of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”
We can take a little comfort knowing that Dante has their place reserved for them as we recall Dr. King’s words: “In the end, it’s not the voices of our enemies we will remember it’s the silence of our friends.”
