07-30-2016, 02:52 PM
(07-27-2016, 03:26 PM)Anthony Wrote: Could it be that instead of slaying the dragon of Social Darwinism, the Trump phenomenon has refocused its fire on a different target?
Where previously the wrath of the Social Darwinists was directed at the poor in this country, it is now being directed at poor countries and foreign entities - Mexicans. Muslims, etc. There is still the same call for "rolling up the drawbridge against the peasants," as per a comment that appeared in The Weekly Standard some two decades ago.
It is no longer about the wealth and poverty of persons. It is now about the wealth and poverty of nations.
This might not be the only relevant perspective on where we are, but it's a perspective worth remembering. I'm not sure I'd use the word 'nations' here, at least when talking about internal cultural resistance to new immigrant groups. It's about cultures and a perceived threat that the new people are taking something better held in reserve for established people.
It's also emphatically nothing new. Any culture immigrating into America in large numbers is apt to draw resentment and prejudice. There are always those who seek political gain by throwing gasoline on the fires of hate. For a while, it's vicious and ugly. Eventually, everybody is drinking green beer on St Patty's day, and visiting a Chinese restaurant the next day.
Nothing new. We are just too close to it to associate the history with what we see in the mirror.
In the old days, Boss Tweed's Democratic machine was waiting on the docks when an immigrant ship came in, telling the new folk where to find a place to stay, where to find a job, and who to vote for if they wanted to keep a good thing going. The Republicans, as ever, were with the Robber Barons, were supporting the owners of the long hours low pay mills rather than the People. Today, things are not nearly so ritualized, but there are towns where various cultures have enough numbers to make people from far away feel at home, and the art of assimilation continues.
Some things do change. I think we've cut down on the level of corruption and the abuse of the common man considerably. However, things don't change enough. You still see classic racism.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.