My First Thoughts On The Election
It's a political re-alignment
Over the course of my life, I have experienced 12 Presidential elections where I was old enough to really see and hear what was going on. And lived through another 3 where I really wasn’t old enough to pay attention. During that time, I have worked blue collar jobs (construction, fast food, military) and white collar jobs (security, healthcare leader). I’ve been married, raised children, fought in wars, seen people die, watched heartbreak and elation, bankruptcy and wealth, bought and sold houses, travelled globally, and generally experienced a lot of life.
I was given permission from an early age to manage myself as much as I was capable of and to stretch beyond what considered okay at that age. For example, At some point around age 8 or so, I was getting interested in the Napoleonic Wars. The librarian was very concerned about me checking out a book intended for high school students. My mother told her that it was just fine and I would figure it out. I was able to choose when I was going to be home and when I was going to spend time with my friends. And just, generally, led a Generation X childhood.
This ability to govern myself has shaped my perspective on culture, politics, family, philosophy …. And governs my observations of this election as well.
I have some strong first thoughts on the election of 2024 regarding what I will call the worker class and the builder class.
It is important to understand that this is a re-alignment election. I have now experienced two of these in my life. And no, 2008 was not a re-alignment election. New coalitions were not built and a new approach to politics was not stood up. But in both 1980 and 2024 boy did we see re-alignment. In 1980, Reagan built a coalition of western libertarians, southern conservatives, and christian evangelicals. This coalition impacted the GOP and its political structure for 30 years. By the 2008 and 2012 elections, of course, it was wearing a bit thin and the fractures in it were exploited by Obama.
What led to the re-alignment of 2024, where Trump built a worker class and builder class coalition? The economy (it’s always the economy, stupid).
First, the worker class (which includes blue collar and white collar folks), the people that work hard on the daily at jobs that produce value for their companies, the country and themselves, felt deeply that they were left behind. Academia, Wall Street, Hollywood, and Government had stable, well paying jobs while the worker class were struggling daily. Paychecks were flat, inflation was steep. Groceries, gas, houses, cars, education, vacations, and all the other sundries of a modern life cost more and more every year, but their income was barely breaking even. Or worse.
Next, the builder class (entrepreneurs, inventors, engineers, etc), the people that create factories, businesses, and new ideas, were also struggling. They were strangled by taxes and bureaucracy. Getting a new business going is extremely difficult today. And that is crazy in a country whose entire economy had been built on being able to start a business and turn it into something that would stand the test of time while employing people and earning money for the founders. In many cases, the bureaucracy was being weaponized against the very people that were supposed to be creating the next big thing.
Meanwhile, folks that are important to creating the infrastructure, foundations, and guard rails of the economy and society were transforming themselves into the managers of society. They really contribute very little to the progress of humanity, but they are necessary, confined to their proper sphere, to enable order and prepare the next generation. Academia, Hollywood, Wall Street, Government, were doing well living off the past great creations of the builder class rather than enabling the future great creations.
The coalition that was built for the re-alignment was not based on gender or race or place of origin. It was based on the worker class and the builder class aligning with each other to charge forward into the bright future that is possible if we are just willing to take the chances and reach out to grab them. Rockets to Mars, mining the asteroids, solar power in space, fantastic buildings and engineering on earth. Heck, we have an our own D. D. Harriman to help us get there! Yes, Robert Heinlein would look at Elon Musk and see Delos Harriman, just as I do.
And Trump is a builder as well. He did start with wealth, but he became a billionaire through his own work and toil. He is wealthy because he built hotels and golf courses and resorts, not because he traded stocks on Wall Street. And that gave him insight into the lives and values and needs of those working class folks who actually build his hotels.
This economic combination of stagnation for the worker class and inability to create for builder class led them to see that their needs, values, and wants for the future were aligned with each other. And Trump has created the new Republican Party out of that.
The Democrats were too focused on their Progressive Utopian vision to remember the working class that was the foundation of FDR’s great re-alignment in the 1930’s. They were enthralled by the possibility of achieving their Progressive vision aided by the soft power of Hollywood, Academia, and Bureaucracy.
But America is not a country that kowtows to the elites. We are a country of people like me that reject authority that tells us what we must do. And once it became clear that those elites were trying to rule us rather than help and support us, we found our champion and we put him in power.
And now for the future ….
This:
"...it became clear that those elites were trying to rule us rather than help and support us."
Never again...
An amazing read. Salute!