Angry America should own up and follow through

The election is over, and for many people, the unthinkable happened and Trump won.

Looking back now, many people see why an unthinkable candidate could win, where 16 other more experienced republicans and two giant democrats, who looked better on paper, lost. If you don't know it by now, it was the "angry America."

 Who is the Angry America? The white Americans that, in the past 40 years, have gradually lost their privileges, voice, relative hopes, and somewhat their identity.

If your question is why, the long answer may fill 1000 books, but the shorter one is that, with the advent of the new wave of globalization from the mid-1980s, there were winners and losers. White America living away from the coasts paid the high price by seeing their jobs and steady economic life going abroad. Although, everybody loved the cheaper goods, consumer culture took over the entire country; people in charge never figured out how to balance the sheet between the winners and the losers.

Social equality became a hot issue for all the right reasons. Topics like how to help blacks out of poverty and prisons, how to help underprivileged Hispanic families to come to 21st-century education and social benefits, became platforms and battlegrounds for many influential politicians and philanthropists. These created the problem of either an illusion of them against us (white America vs. the rest) or they took away some of that privilege and focus.

To make the matter worse, although white America, who voted for Trump, has a median household income of about $75,000, two factors affected their hope and their psychological peace. Seeing all these foreigners coming to the country, either living the American dream or gnawing away from the money and attention were otherwise given to white America, created hatred and despair. So yes, white America would vote for a candidate like Trump, who, without his billions, looks, sounds, and feels like one of them!

But white America should own up to their decision. It is easy to see all that in hindsight, but it is also easy to see the glass half empty. White America should realize it is not post second world war with the rest of the world in the ashes. Other countries and continents are gaining and gaining fast. The speed of changes is much faster than 50 years ago. The survival of fittest is not a biology theory but economic and political reality. On top, America, due to its political and intelligence mismanagement, ended up in two long wars and got dragged in the fight against ISIS, and survived the worse economic disaster in many decades. Something has to give, and surely defense contractors, countries who get American Aides, and many in the supply chain of war will not pay for it, so it was most of white America to cover the cost.

What now? Well, Trump may mess things up, and it will be on the white America. Trump's tax proposals, presumed leniency for greedy Wall street and financial institutes, and out of touch economic policies may further negatively impact the white America even more.

In this short time, Trump's approach to foreign affairs and the growing power of America's competitors, like Russia and China, may put the World, let alone America, in a situation that will help nobody, especially white America, who may have fewer options than the rest of the America. And alienating our allies will create a vacuum that took many decades to fill.

But the most impact on America’s well-being, especially white America, will be the social divide. America is a stable country, with arguably the healthiest economy amongst its western counterparts and mighty leadership in the world. No matter how much money one has or how privileged and exclusive one feels, once the peace and stability is gone, everybody will suffer. Social divides take weeks and months to be created, but decades to be removed and repaired.

Our democratic system allows white America to make Trump president-elect and to Britain to exist European. And I, for one, truly understand it. Most of white America has been generous and kind, and it is their prerogative to decide their future, but be cautious. Electing Trump is not the end of your quest for betterment of your lives but the start. It is now on you to make sure he takes steps that make America, the entire America, great again; otherwise, there will be no America the way you remember it.

For the rest of America, you got the message. Care for white America and black, Hispanic, Arab, and Asian. Start your efforts grassroots and fight misinformation one person at a time. This is the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and it is on all of us, not just white Americans, to make sure it stays that way.

Later addition

The key for more economic and social equality regardless of which side of America one lands on is education and upgrading skills. Almost 6 million jobs in America are unfilled. The biggest culprit is the skill gap.

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/2016/09/14/almost-six-million-unfilled-jobs-in-america-question-is-why

 Author

Ramin works in the technology industry where globalization and diversity are facts of life. He has lived in more than 7 countries and has seen first-hand the stark differences between America and the rest of the world.

Follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/RaminErfanian