Trump's America

I'm trying to understand those who so wholeheartedly and passionately support Donald Trump, because it can't be because of his sterling character, glibness of tongue, pious faith, astonishing and finessed understanding of foreign policy matters and negotiation, his fight for human rights, or any one of a dozen other absent assets. People straight up either love him or hate him. His interjection into this election cycle has spawned passions I haven’t seen in my lifetime. To be fair, the rhetoric is no better for HRC for a load of other reasons but that’s not my point. What has Trump, as the media says, “tapped” into? I think the whole “Make America Great Again” theme is the clue. As this article written by the controversial Charles Murray illumines for me along with JD Vance’s new book “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis”, it’s the disenfranchised and struggling working class who are primarily rallying for him and passionately trumpeting his message. The separation between the “elite” and the new lower class is a chasm. The middle class is disappearing.

It didn’t use to be this way I don’t believe – I don’t remember it that way growing up, but admittedly my lens is narrow. There is definitely a more noticeable class consciousness. I find it incredibly ironic that one of the so-called elite has become the banner carrier and champion du jour of the struggling masses. It had to be the rhetoric at first which implied something had been lost and he was going to take up the cause of hard-working and struggling Americans and take back the territory. It struck a chord with some of a certain age who remember “how it used to be,” and are in fear of the future, not just theirs, but their children’s and their grandchildren’s.

We are looking back, pining for the old days. It says in Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.” It also says, “Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools.” But angry we have become. Both sides. Even the candidates say heinous things no Presidential candidate has ever said, behave in ways most people would not allow their children to behave, and there’s not even a pretense of decorum. It’s embarrassing to watch and makes me afraid for America. I know it serves no purpose to look backwards at once was, but I find myself doing that all too often. 

These candidates, each grossly faulty and inadequate for the task at hand in so many ways, are sadly all we have. I wonder sometimes if maybe they are what we deserve. They are like a mirror showing us what we have become as a nation. How far down we have gone from the “American creed”. [“Its three core values may be summarized as egalitarianism, liberty and individualism.”] The partisan division; the trickery and parsing of Right, Truth, & Morality; the vitriol with which those who have differing convictions or views are attacked on social media, even brother against brother; the violence and threat of violence – it is as this article states as if we “have detached ourselves from the bedrock that has made us unique in the history of the world."

 (Cheryl Banks, 2016-10-21)


"There’s nothing irrational about Donald Trump’s appeal to the white working class," writes Charles Murray: "They have every reason to be frustrated with the raw deal they’ve received in recent decades."

WSJ.COM|BY CHARLES MURRAY
http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trumps-america-1455290458

A Southern Girl

I’m kinda new to California and lately I've been thinkin’ a lot about home, which for me is North Carolina. Baby James had it right - "In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina." My husband and I recently visited the aquarium in La Jolla and while talking to a lady there she started laughing when I said I was "fixin to" go down to the village. She inquired where in the south I was from. Just today my son busted my chops for saying "over yonder." Seemed pretty clear to me! That made me start thinking about all the south’rn slang I grew up with and added to after living in Dallas for 24 years. Things like what I say to my husband just about anytime we go somewhere - "I swanee, are you gonna park out in the north 40?" I love that in the south you can say just about anything about anybody as long as you add “Well Bless Your Heart!” at the end. My mama would say, "The kids were out gallivantin all day." Or, "I'm madder than a wet hen! Stop that hissie fit and go fetch me a switch cuz I'm gonna tan your hide!" 

I still say "supper" instead of dinner and never thought anything of it until recently a lady in an elevator commented I must be from the south after I told her we were meeting people for supper. Where I'm from, menus list mac & cheese as a vegetable. When I ordered grits in Solano Beach the girl asked me what "a grit" was! Wonder what she'd have said to chitlin cornbread or fried livermush? In their mama’s kitchen young girls learn that just about anything can be fried and how to make homemade pie crust. My daddy was a Baptist preacher and on Sunday’s we had a big potluck under the trees after church. Before you put food in your mouth in the south, you first bow your head and say grace.

Well, I declare! That beats all I’ve ever seen! Quit wallerin around on the floor! Mind yer manners! Quit smackin yer lips! Yer raisin' a rukus. Southern women don’t have purses, we carry pocketbooks. We don’t turn off the water, we cut off the spigot. ‘Right here’ is correctly pronounced ‘rightcheer.’ Looky here, you need to quit yer bellyachin' or I'm gonna give you somethin' to cry about! Fer cryin' out loud, shut the ice box and go staump that mud off your shoes! I'll do it directly! Don’t you sass me or I'm gonna wash yer mouth out with a bar of soap! She is knee high to a grasshopper! My grandma in Asheville once told me I was "cuter than a bug's ear but if I didn't stop growing soon she was gonna put a rock on my head!" When we got warm we’d ‘go crack a winda.’ Ya'll is a proper noun in the south where we call everyone sweetie, sugah, darlin', babe, or honey. I once slipped up and called the President of the College where I worked as his assistant, ‘sweetie.’ He, being from Berkeley, CA looked at me like I'd lost my ever lovin' mind.

Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute! What in tarnation is going on with this election? It's goin' to hell in a handbasket and all cattywampus. Trump's gittin too big for his britches and his chances of winning are deader'n a doornail. He ain't right in the head and thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow - bless his heart! If humility and good sense was lard he wouldn't have enough to grease a pan. If he thinks he’s gonna get enough votes, he’s barkin up the wrong tree. I swanee, I'll be plum glad when this election is over!

A Southern girl, raised on sweet tea and a whole lotta Jesus!

G.R.I.T.S. - Girls Raised In The South

G.R.I.T.S. - Girls Raised In The South

Hey, ya'll! I've been thinkin about home, which for me is North Carolina. Baby James had it right - "In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina." Somebody yesterday at the aquarium in La Jolla laughed when I said I was "fixin to" go down to the village and asked where in the south I was from. My son just now busted my chops for saying "over yonder." Seemed pretty clear to me! Made me start thinking about all the south"rn slang I grew up with and still fall easily into. Things like, "I swanee hon, are you gonna park out in the north 40?" In the south you can say just about anything about anybody as long as you add “Well Bless Your Heart!” at the end. Mama would say, "The kids were out gallivantin all day." or, "I'm madder than a wet hen, go fetch me a switch cause I'm gonna tan your hide!"


I say "supper" instead of dinner and never thought anything of it until a lady in an elevator last year commented I must be from the south. Where I'm from, menus list Mac & Cheese as a vegetable. When I ordered grits in San Diego the girl asked me what "a grit" was! Wonder what she'd have said to chitlin cornbread or liver mush?Who wants to say grace? Well, I declare! Quit wallerin around on the floor! Mind yer manners! Quit smackin yer lips! Raisin' a rukus. Ya reckon! Pocketbook (purse). Cut off the spigot. Rightcheer! (Right here.) Looky here, you need to quit yer bellyachin' or I'm gonna give you somethin' to cry about! Fer cryin' out loud, shut the ice box and go staump that mud off your shoes! I'll do it directly. I'm gonna wash your mouth out with soap! She is knee high to a grasshopper! My grandma from Asheville once told me I was "cuter than a bug's ear but if I didn't stop growing soon she was gonna put a rock on my head!" Go crack the winda! Ya'll is a proper noun in the south where we G.R.I.T.S. call everyone sweetie or darlin'. I once slipped up and called the President of the College where I worked as his assistant, "sweetie." He, being from Berkeley, CA looked at me like I'd lost my ever lovin' mind.

By the way, what in tarnation is going on with this election? It's goin' to hell in a handbasket and all cattywampus. Trump's gittin too big for his britches and his chances of winning are deader'n a doornail. He ain't right in the head and thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow - bless his heart! If humility and good sense was lard he wouldn't have enough to grease a pan. I swanee, I'll be plum glad when this election is over!

A Southern girl - raised on sweet tea and a whole lotta Jesus!