#521 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday November 29)
Good morning,
WHAT THE DEMOCRATS ACTUALLY BELIEVE—FROM DEAN SCHRAM
Dean Schram responds to the argument of some that the Democrats are “out of touch”:
“I agree that there is a high level of grievance in this country, particularly among Trump supporters, and that some of these grievances are legitimate; some are not (e.g., this is a White Christian Country and it should stay that way). However, I cannot agree with the notion that the tone-deafness of the “coastal elites” of the Democratic party fail to identify the needs of the disaffected or that the Republican Party “hears” these legitimate grievances…” Democrats by and large attempt to be very responsive to the needs of those who feel aggrieved, while Republicans exploit these grievances by lying to those aggrieved about what Democrats actually believe and what Republicans are actually doing or failing to do. [This is] amplified by the likes of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, among others…. If I were to believe as true what these Republicans and Fox News Commentators say about Democrats, I’d hate Democrats too.”
Dean then responds to Jeremy Rosen’s following comment: ‘The Democratic Party has changed from the party of the working class to the party of coastal elites who often look down on working class people and their values. When Hillary called voters deplorable, she was vocalizing a common attitude...’ First, the Democratic Party is led by President Joe Biden. I don’t think there has ever been a bigger champion of the ‘working class’ than Joe Biden. It oozes out of him; his personal history supports it, his rhetoric supports it and his policies support it… Look at [the Democrats’] tax policy, the infrastructure bill to create massive amounts of working class jobs, the policies to reduce drug prices, lower education costs, make health care more accessible and affordable; many of these things which none to very few Republicans supported and many worked to malign and prevent from happening.
And let’s look at what Hillary Clinton actually said about deplorables. What she said was this:
‘You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.” She went on to say that the other half of Trump’s supporters “feel that the government has let them down” and are “desperate for change.” “Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well…”
With respect to the comments from Bob Lameres, he may be right when he states that the Democrats are identified as the party that supports unlimited access to abortion; but they are identified as such by those who want to mischaracterize what Democrats as a party believe. The codification of Roe v. Wade is the Democratic Party position, at least according to the Democrats who count...
One can always chalk these misimpressions up to Democrats not being very good at messaging; and too often that is true. However, in my view, Democrats can scream a cogent and persuasive message to the rooftops, but as long as there is a demagogue like Trump lying to his followers with the amplification of a huge media megaphone like Fox and other cable or streaming outlets pumping out the same misinformation, the truth will not be heard.
MOVIES WHERE YOU WAKE UP TO A DIFFERENT WORLD
Earlier, I shared Peter Bain’s great review of the equally great movie, Yesterday, when the protagonist wakes up to a world where the Beatles never existed (and how he benefits from this lack of knowledge). But there are other movies that imagine people “waking up” in places and eras different from their own. Midnight in Paris, the Woody Allen classic, is one of these. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and others are visited by a modern day author played by Owen Wilson, which was the “good old days” and then is transported there. They, of course, have their own lament about the past. Regardless of what thinks of Woody, this is a wonderful movie that can be watched over and over again.
For an even crazier reimagining of history, there’s Inglorious Basterds, by Quentin Tarantino. Not an alternative history where the protagonists are aware of the change, but a straight-up alternative history. Violent, yes. Weird, most certainly. But eminently watchable and entertaining.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: