Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, emerge from Trump’s plane as they arrive to tour the flood-damaged city of Baton Rouge last month. (Max Becherer/Associated Press)
J.D. Vance, the author of the surprise best-seller “Hillbilly Elegy,” writes about running into a hometown acquaintance who said he had quit his job because he was “sick of waking up early.” Mr. Vance subsequently saw him complaining on Facebook about the “ Obama economy.” This man, he comments, is not a victim: His situation is “directly attributable to the choices he’s made.” But nothing in his environment forces him to look in the mirror and ask tough questions about himself. On the contrary, Mr. Vance insists: “There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains adherents by the day.”
The author of “Hillbilly Elegy” is a self-described conservative, but he criticizes his fellow conservatives for failing to tell their constituents the truth. Instead, the message of the right, Mr. Vance says, is: “It’s not your fault that you’re a loser; it’s the government’s fault.”
Even worse, Donald Trump is saying it’s the immigrants’ fault. It’s China’s fault. It’s “globalism,” which means free international markets. It is almost as if these whiners would have preferred a left-wing agenda — protectionism, nanny statism, unionism — in order to prevent the “horrors” of creative destruction, affordable food and clothing, and unprecedented gains in the worldwide prosperity and life span.
It is, of course, lazy thinking and moral abdication to hold government responsible for your woes. After years of denying that minorities were entitled to perpetual victim status, they now demand it for white males. If you want families, communities and individuals to have the lead role in building a vibrant and prosperous economy, it is best not to infantilize them.
In addition to a nasty strain of racism and xenophobia (and economic illiteracy that would horrify Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan), there is the matter of culture, something that used to concern conservatives before evangelicals decided to give Trump a bear hug.
Here Robert P. Jones has it right: The reduction of white Christian protestants to minority status has freaked out a good chunk of white America. Why must everyone say, “Happy holidays!”? Why can’t we go back to the 1950s? It’s the theme of loss — which infers entitlement — that permeates Trump’s message. The apocalyptic vision of the end of America and bemoaning that Christianity is under assault bear virtually no relation to actual economic results or to flourishing Christian worship. It is rather a sort of primal scream in recognition that they no longer are demographically or culturally dominant. They aren’t mad at government so much as they resent secularism, diversity and new demands (e.g. multi-lingualism, technological sophistication, willingness to move to where jobs are).
Even the search for the hidden white view is an expression of demographic denial. How can whites not be able to determine the president? They are entitled to a certain standard of living regardless of their education and skills. They are entitled to have everyone assume that everyone else is Christian. They are entitled to discriminate against gays. Actually, they are not.
America is defined by ideals, not race or religion. Ironically, these foundational beliefs are understood more thoroughly by immigrants, who have risked the security of staying put for the unknowns of a new country. It is the promise of self-realization, the freedom of self-expression and the right to be judged on who you are and not where you came from that define America. Conservatives who understand this look upon the blame-casters in horror as if the latter are pining for the Lost Cause, as the South did 150 years ago. A false memory built on white entitlement is not a sustainable vision for the party of Lincoln. Either they must go or the rest of the GOP must go its own way.