I’m constantly reminded of the general wrong-track numbers in opinion polls even when economic conditions have been improving. Why does there seem to be a nagging sense that things aren’t going well? Two books make a mighty attempt at an answer: “Dignity” by Chris Arnade (a self-described socialist) and “Alienated America” by Tim Carney (commentary editor of the Washington Examiner). Both books elucidate the deep social ills that accompanied the absolute deterioration of civil society in areas frequently referred to as “left behind”. The problem is far, far more than economic. The accompanying review of the books presents the case.
Why the rise of Trump and a resuscitated loony left with a home in the Democratic Party? I’ve heard some Trump supporters call for a government takeover of health care, adopting the nonsense language of turning an economic good or service, governed by scarcity, into a “right”. The loony left is the loony left, always has been, and has an off-the-shelf answer for all that plagues us: big, centralized government; it’s the Progressive way. The two elements have a nexus.
The roots of the current fascination with big, omnipresent government – or looking for saviors in large personalities on the public stage – may be found in the decline of something vital for personal well-being according to Arnade and Carney. Some call it civil society. Others, like Carney, refer to “social capital”. Both recognize the critical role of church, an institution beleaguered by the rising tide of secularization, another by-product of Progressivism. In so doing, the props of connection and support in the vast array of personal social networks have collapsed, leaving behind alienated folks in the vast stretches of the poorer sections of flyover country and young people facing declining opportunities. In our time, the default answer is a savior (Trump, Bernie, the nitwit Squad), vapid sloganeering (“Make America Great Again”, “Structural Racism”, “Make the rich pay their fair share”, “Equal [fill in the blank]”, “There are no illegal immigrants”, and so on), and the elevation of government as a super daddy and mommy. Church and family are replaced by commissars.
I support many of Trump’s initiatives, but he, like Bernie and the nitwit Squad, come to think of it, might be a sign of the times.
RogerG