Since the 1960s there’s occasionally been talk in the black community regarding starting our own political party. The genesis of that notion is based in part on this fact: Neither major political party has adequately addressed our needs on a consistent basis. Of course many would argue that the needs of many other Americans have largely been ignored also.
While I’ve often posited that the failure of Democrats to champion the needs of blacks more effectively is due to successful Republican efforts to block virtually any initiatives or programs that would prove beneficial to blacks and other minorities, there still is some truth to the belief that the party of FDR, JFK, Clinton and Obama could have done more in terms of creating parity and fairness for blacks. Again, some would argue that too much parity has been created for minorities — at the expense of others.
However, the rise of Donald Trump — and to a degree Bernie Sanders — at this particular juncture in American history may offer the best opportunity for blacks (and other groups with kindred agendas) to form political parties that adequately address and fit what they feel are their particular needs, aspirations and belief systems. Admittedly, the mere suggestion of what some would call the “balkanization of American politics” is terribly frightening for many to contemplate, but like it or not, ready or not, it’s about to be thrust upon us. We won’t go back to the old model of politics in this country after the Trump debacle; that’s completely impossible.
Consider this: The one thing Republicans and Democrats have long agreed upon — some would say to the detriment of the country — is there will only be two political parties in the United States, and increasingly, more and more of the citizenry is coming to the conclusion that this construct lies at the heart of our current problems. And no sane person can deny that we have serious problems in these United States, the proof of which is the rise of a character like Donald Trump.
Demagogues can only arise and gain such support when the political waters are deeply troubled, roiled and muddied. While many of us may vehemently disagree with the core beliefs of Trump’s supporters — and certainly with most of the solutions he puts forth — we cannot help but admit that some of their concerns are valid, at least to them. I do believe these folks love America as deeply as you or I do, just as I believe they are seriously ill-informed and are being manipulated because of their ignorance. A master manipulator is playing the lot of them like they are six-string guitars.
But the genie is out of the bottle, and unless Trump retires to his gilded Tower in Manhattan and eschews politics for the remainder of his life, we’re going to be in for a bumpy political ride indeed for the next decade or so. If the upheaval of giving political birth is painful, giving political rebirth will prove more so, but that’s what’s about to happen in America.
Trump knows by now that he cannot win. He’s a loudmouth and a braggart, but he’s not a complete fool. His goal at this point is to cry “foul!” so that he can set up a government in exile right inside the country upon his defeat. If you think the gridlock of Washington has been terrible over the last decade, you haven’t seen anything yet. He’s going to do everything within his power to tie the government into knots, simply to fulfill his prophecy that everything in the country is rotten and he is the only answer — if not in 2016, then in 2020, or even 2024. If Trump can’t run the country, he’d just as soon ruin it. And he’s got millions of backers.
To accomplish his goal Trump will have to coalesce his followers into a third political party. The real Republican Party is not going to allow him to continue to control their levers of power after the election. There are simply too many very wealthy conservatives that are just not going to allow that to happen. But another party is exactly what Trump wants.
So what will happen is the political right will split into two unequal halves: The rich plutocrats on one side and the poorer, less educated masses that constitute Trump’s base on the other. And while some will argue that Democrats should simply stand back and watch the two sides go after each other tooth and claw, that’s the wrong strategy.
The problem with American politics is that it has become a total zero sum game: One party wins and the other party is ass-out until the next election — and there is no cooperation for the good of the Republic. Partisanship rules Washington. But what those we elect to do our business have lost sight of is the fact that we’re all Americans, and when half of Congress is attempting to ensure the other half fails, we all fail.
What if there was a Black Party, a Hispanic Party, a viable Green Party, a Progressive Party, as well as a Reactionary Party and, yes, even a Skinhead Party? Similar to other well-functioning democracies around the world, coalitions would have to be built for any party to win power and function. No one partly could rule without assuring that all — or virtually all — of the needs of the various constituencies needs are addressed.
Would setting up such a system be imperfect and messy at the outset? Of course it would; but just look at what we have now, and what the future portends absent us embracing real change.
The problem is, most people fear change, but some relish it, knowing that it’s inevitable and usually better than the old, outdated methods. I fall into the latter category. Sticking our collective head in the sand and wishing that we could maintain the status quo is foolhardy.
Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is about to bring about the most severe and cataclysmic changes in American politics in generations, and yes, there is going to be some pain — it’s unavoidable. But how we manage the change, how well we get out in front of it, how well we adapt to it, that’s going to be up to us as citizens.
If we do this right it just very well may be that Donald Trump’s rise was the best thing that could have happened to us as Americans. And if that proves to be the case we all will owe the demagogue a deep debt of gratitude. We are living in interesting times indeed.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Thank You Mr. Trump”
Peanuts
Vote Libertarian…I have since 1996 & sleep well at night.