Can we have an honest debate regarding the most divisive president in our nation’s time? I have lived in the post Reagan era where the United States government oversaw the influx of crack cocaine in the urban community. As horrible as that was and as calculated, nothing has been more damaging and divisive as the presidency of 45.
This man with his war against media has incited violence and the lost of life both directly and indirectly. Trump’s base which consist of white supremacist and those who feel embolden by Trump’s words of violence.
Apparently so many of you were ready to talk about the synagogue shooting but haven’t really discussed this and if you did not much discussion goes on:
I didn't hear about the shootings in KY. I know that there have been similar shootings at black churches over the years, though.
Statistically speaking, the crime rates were much higher during the Reagan-Bush era, peaking in the early 90s, then showing a steady decline ever since. (
United States Crime Rates 1960 - 2017)
However, in contrast, hate crimes appear to be on the rise:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...are-still-on-the-rise/?utm_term=.9cb0c82e7ae5
It could be partly due to Trump, although as I've said in the past, Trump is more of a symptom of a deeper problem. I would say a lot of it has to do with the divisiveness encouraged and goaded on by both parties and the media - and it's been going on for a long time, well before the 2016 election. It's almost as if our society is being set up for internal conflict.
I know many of you have selective concern and selective outrage and I know many of you do not care about topics I care about. I think this is why many African-Americans at least those of us consciously aware are wary of our non-African-American so-called allies because so many of you are silent to Trump’s evil.
I think that may be true for everyone, at least as far as selective outrage and concern. Everyone has issues they care about more than other issues.
As for Trump, my main bone of contention with the current debate is this idea that the major political parties are different and the insinuations of some that "this country was an idyllic paradise before Trump came along!" I know that you're not saying that, but when those in the elite ruling class moan and groan about Trump, I take it with a grain of salt.
The thing is, the only reason why Trump is president today is because Democrats turned their backs on their traditional power base - blue-collar workers. Trump's opposition to NAFTA, free trade, outsourcing, and the gradual diminishing of America's industrial base and overall economy - this resonated with a lot of people, but these are things that Democrats should have been doing all along.
The fact that they haven't shown the slightest care for working people, and mostly allowed these problems to fester for decades, has been to their discredit. A few months back, when the Poor People's Campaign was re-launched (something Martin Luther King was planning before he was assassinated), it was noted that there are some 140,000,000 people in America who are struggling to survive (although not necessarily unemployed or below the "official" poverty line).
It stands to reason that, among that number, there are those who would be quite angry and resentful - and looking for some sort of scapegoat. This is where someone like Trump comes in. We might well ask how a country as great, wealthy, and powerful as the United States of America would allow a situation where nearly half of its population is struggling to stay above water. The Democrats could have been asking this as well, but they chose to kiss up to Wall Street bankers instead.
This is the second African-American church targeted but more importantly how can manynof you who hate Hilary that much, can reconcile the embolden racist attitudes that exist in this country? When will So-called white allies stop cowering behind the critique of others?
As one whose perspective is from the far-left, I've become increasingly disgusted with many of the white liberals and moderates who have been living in la-la land all this time. They obviously don't approve of the racist attitudes which have existed in this country since before it even started, but they've disingenuously portrayed the issue as nothing more than just a "Southern white redneck thing."
But they fall all over themselves to try to paint their own faction as being more enlightened, intellectually advanced, and morally superior: "We're the good whites; you should listen to us, along with our benefactors on Wall Street, in Hollywood, in the Military-Industrial Complex, in the mainstream media, while the only bad whites are those deplorable hillbillies from the sticks."
Sure, they're just as shocked and outraged over these shootings and acts of terror as anyone else might be, but their only real solution they propose is to argue for more gun control, yet that's only just another symptom, not the root problem. I don't know that they're cowering behind anyone, though. They're just lost in space.
How many liberal and conservatives will allow this to go on assuming we live in a divisive society because of Obama yet these actions were the direct result of people who voted for Trump?
It's an issue of cause and effect, yet many people can't connect the dots between A and Z. I don't think we live in a divisive society because of Obama, but I've observed divisive attitudes for a long time now, which predates both the Obama and Trump presidencies. I agree that Trump is pouring gasoline on the fire, but the fire started a long time before he came on the scene.
Edmund Burke once said “The only thing necessary for the triumph for evil is for good men to do nothing.”
While Burke may not have actually said this, it's still a good quote just the same. I've heard it often said in relation to Hitler's rise to power and how so many supposedly "good people" just allowed it to happen when they could have disposed of Hitler quite early if they wanted to.
But then, I would also note that these same "good people" could have just easily made it so that people didn't have to carry wheelbarrows full of money just to buy a loaf of bread. The capitalist ruling class (both then and now) could easily snap their fingers and end all this misery overnight, but they refuse to do so - mainly out of pride and greed. That's the true evil which is the root of all other evils which exist in this world.
Evil triumphs because of greed and deprivation.
When so many good men
have nothing, they may be more inclined to "do nothing" when evil promises them they might get "something" in return for their compliance and obedience. The same pattern can be discerned throughout history.
If the so-called "good liberals" truly want to get rid of Trump and stem the tide of hatred and vitriol, then they need to pull the sticks out of their backside, stop being such tight a**es, and put their money where their mouth is. They could have done that to stop Hitler, but they didn't. They could have done it to stop the KKK from rising up in the Postbellum, but they didn't. It almost appears as if the ruling class
wants these things to occur, which is a perception which feeds so many conspiracy theories.
I also think many of you hide behind your faith to blind you from the reality that these issues exist. The morale of this country is low and it’s land is chaotic. The middle class has not changed, poor white people are poor and black people are even poorer. Yet his base which has no problem with him saying he could shoot someone on fifth ave with no recompense will still support him.
Yeah, although poor people live in poor neighborhoods which get more than their share of violence, mayhem and chaos. Morale is low overall for tens of millions. People are getting shot all the time, but most of them don't make the national news. That, too, has been an ongoing problem.
There is honestly a problem that not many of you are addressing at least in the political sections. The sad part is that so many white evangelicals talk about the attack on Christianity yet fell silent when two black churches were targeted. Funny how Christianity is attacked when there is a terrorist attack yet the same cannot be said when these churches are targeted.
I also get frustrated when people seem to concentrate on some subjects while ignoring others. In this forum, there seems to be a lot of nitpicking over minor points. Or, people will just post their perceptions based on what they see around them. For example, someone might post that poverty is a problem in America, yet someone might respond and say "Well, I live in lower Manhattan (or Beverly Hills), and I see no signs of poverty anywhere. America is doing great! Can you PROVE that there's poverty in America?" Attitudes like that abound throughout this forum. But I still come here just the same. At least it's better than Reddit.
