Reaction to Hillary Clinton’s loss exposed the impotent elitism of liberalism
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| Donald Trump in February 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The rest of us have work to do!
People from marginalized communities cannot pick up and leave the United States. And where would they go? Where would you go? France, where head coverings are banned? Germany, where anti-Semites are out in public again? Where is this mythical better place?
A progressive friend posted that people struggling should move from places like Youngstown, Ohio, or rural West Virginia. Let me understand how that works. You have no money. You lost your job, might be on public assistance, have minimal technical skills.... Surely you can move to an expensive city with no problem.
No. Most of us have to stick around. We have to gather up our resistance to a Pres. Trump and develop a more coherent strategy to salvange what moderates exist in two political parties. For libertarians like me, that means resisting every civil rights violation proposed by Trump, the extremists in the GOP, and (yes) many Democrats. Individual liberty must be defended, and that means staying engaged, not running away.
This Salon column has it right:
Neoliberalism’s epic fail: The reaction to Hillary Clinton’s loss exposed the impotent elitism of liberalism - Salon.comI resist the policies of the left, because they forget that expanded government for "good" can and will be quickly misused. Good ideas under one leader became dangerous under another. I hope Democrats regret changing filibuster rules, for example. There was good reason to require supermajority votes in the Senate.
CONOR LYNCH
SATURDAY, NOV 19, 2016 06:00 AM EST
Hearts pounded, stomachs turned and some of the more privileged liberals started seriously considering whether to flee the country in the face of a national nightmare that had just become a reality (privileged, because the average American doesn’t have the resources to just pack up and run at will).
The surreal night concluded with Canada’s immigration website crashing from too much traffic, as if every alt-right Twitter troll’s fantasy had come true.
Although the instinct to flee from a Trump presidency is understandable, it reveals a great deal about the impotence of modern liberalism and its monumental failure to stop an unhinged and thoroughly unqualified demagogue like Trump.
Elite liberals who vowed to leave America if Trump was elected, which includes a slew of celebrities, are those who would be most insulated from the impact of a Trump presidency — unlike working people and seniors who stand to lose their healthcare, children of immigrants who may soon see their families torn apart, or poor people of color who could face heightened persecution under the already racist criminal justice system. Sadly, fleeing is not an option for the most vulnerable Americans. Their only option is to keep fighting; yet the first impulse that many of their professed allies felt was to do the exact opposite: to escape.
Of course, most of the “limousine liberals” who promised to leave America before the election didn’t actually believe that Trump could win. It was an impossibility. Not in their wildest dreams could the racist, sexist, misogynistic and xenophobic buffoon defeat the most qualified and deserving presidential candidate in history — no less the first women candidate. He had denigrated women, scapegoated minorities and immigrants, offended veterans and mocked the disabled. Not only that, but it was her turn! “It was supposed to be her job. She worked her whole life for the job. It’s her job,” wrote Clinton surrogate Lena Dunham (who had said she would move to Canada if Trump won) in a recent article recounting her grief-stricken reaction to the election, in which she admitted she “never truly believed” that Trump could win.
Policies get out of control, too. Control health care? What happens when choices have to be made, including what won't be covered? What happens when sugar or chocolate is declared a health hazard? What happens to genetic data? Sorry, but I don't trust big government. They have the powers to tax, fine, and imprison.
When progressives complain about the police, the courts, the military... Those are the symbols of government power. I actually wonder what would happen if most (not all) police were armed only with non-lethal force. I wonder what would happen without minimum sentencing of any kind in our courts. I wonder how much better off we would be with less military intervention elsewhere.
No, I'm not about to become "progressive" in response to Trump. I'm going to be all the more dedicated to individual liberty and restrained federal power.
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