How would being anti-woke unify the country? Updated 9 5 23

Updated: 9/5/2023

 I am puzzled. I often hear from GOP wannabe nominees for president claim that if they get elected, the country would be unified. A  unified country is a lovely idea, but what is their definition of unified? How would they accomplish it? Explain? What and why is woke considered evil and anti-woke their ideal?  Do not let them get away with such platitudes. The answers to these questions are keys to the future of this country. Will it be peace and prosperity or conflict, violence, chaos, and uncertainty? This is probably the most important blog posting I ever wrote.

Our nation is somewhere around a 50-50 split, deeply divided on cultural issues and listening only to their preferred media outlets. We will, in a short time, be a nation of what is now a minority of black and brown that will soon be a majority. We have candidates who dog whistle to fellow white nationalists and even to those who have not identified themselves as such intellectually but who respond to fear, fear of immigrants, fear of those of different religions or races, or even sexual identity, and support candidates who channel and give voice to their inner-selves they know is not politically correct. There is loose talk about civil war, retribution, and the ending of democracy, as we have known it, as well.  The Trump factor and the MAGA control of the GOP,  and even defining what is woke and anti-woke, fascism, and democracy on the ballot, are currents swirling around the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. These are not just idle talk, but debates and elections will profoundly shape how we will be governed after 250 years of the great experiment in democracy.   Discussion follows.

THE TRUMP FACTOR

.We have a past president, now the leading candidate for their party's nomination for president,   Donald Trump, who has a long history of supporting violence to accomplish a political goal, and pledges to pardon, the perpetrators of January 6, and failed even to summon the national guard while the riot raged.. Street violence committed by white people is fine, but violence committed by black people and their supporters should be put down by active military, as the George Floyd Summer and Lafayette Square illustrated. His fellow travelers, the MAGAs,  applaud his view of violence. His favored political tools: fear and retribution.These are the ones who  have identified the enemy as "woke."  How does electing them or leader Trump bring our country together? Their approach lays the groundwork for more strife, violence, and racial conflict, not unification. Trump, if the GOP candidate in 2024 and loses, his view of unification of the country of the loser was not only exhibited in 2020, his view is to fight like hell and defy peaceful transition of power.  He is the opposite of a unifier, the singular exception since 1860.  All others delivered acceptance of the outcome of the election for the purpose of honoring the peaceful transfer of power. 

THE MAGA GOP FACTOR 

It isn't just Trump:So explain to me, GOP wannabe presidents, most who pledge to support Trump if he is convicted of a crime and if he is the party candidate, what you mean by national unity. I see some possibilities, some more likely than others, and they are ugly. It involves suppression and violence, the election of a "strong man".  Some even claim civil war will erupt if they do not get their way. Maybe, GOP presidential hopefuls, you can give me a more positive spin.  Here are the uglies:

a.  Elect a strong man to run the country. Eliminate institutional liberal democracy. Choose one who believes he is not bound by any laws. He'll take care of the protestors just like Putin does.  That approach is the one to fear the most, but there are other,  more likely possibilities.

b. Elect a strong man like Viktor Orban who achieves a dictatorship by consensus of his 99% pure ethnic Huntary by buying out opposition media so he can continue hiding the corruption of those supporting him without nosy investigative reporters. It is mind control of the willing. The GOP, now Maga GOP, fawns over the Orban prospect and holds conferences in Hungary to favor that approach. While the US is hardly 99% ethnic or racially pure, many long for such purity that mirrors themselves, and there are many fellow travelers motivated by business interests and taxation advantages. There are those with blue-ribbon education who seek political power with the zeal and talent of modern-day demagogues.. They know their constituents and exploit them for political gain. There are others who do not care and who ignore or who are ignorant of the lessons of such history. They are in real danger of being groomed by those who manipulate the education system so that history as it really happened is no longer taught. There is a  correlation between deep red states and the low education level of their populace, as well.   

c. Control the executive branch by purging opposition and eliminating civic service, gerrymander even more, keeping the dark campaign money flowing as they honor Citizen's United, which gives coverage to secret contributions by our own  US version of oligarchs. Suppress opposition voters by manipulating existing election structures. Undermine confidence in an independent judiciary system or sabotage it with appointees loyal to one ideology or leader instead of following laws. Hmmm.  That sounds familiar. It should. It is happening now before our very American eyes. It is how the Orbans and Erdogans of the Western world got power and are keeping it despite democratic institutions and safeguards.  This is mostly the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation who, after gaining control of the Supreme Court, now are want to control the executive branch, returning to a spoils system, and eliminating civial service. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/conservative-groups-draw-up-plan-to-dismantle-the-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trump-s-vision/ar-AA1g0dTK?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=b3e3db3ba23e4af09b5ce90592832212&ei=12  This also echoes prior statements of intent by Trump to eliminate career and civil service in the executive branch and to use the DOJ to get "retribution" against those who have opposed him.   https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+proposed+ending+civil+service&sca_esv

WHAT IS A WOKE PERSON?

 As a person who falls into the "woke" category, I am white,  of the silent generation, a straight, protestant woman who sees being "woke" as the only way to achieve peace or domestic tranquility .In 85 years, history is not abstract to me.. I have lived it. I don't get it. this anti-woke talk.. I believe the anti-woke is making sure in the future that if they have their way, domestic peace is not on the agenda. On the other hand,  the woke provides an ethic, an approach to tolerate and respect differences, and a path to get along together in a fractured,  racially and demographically diverse future.

While I am not a great fan of memes, I saw this one defining what being "woke" means.  It is a pretty good definition of the positive attributes of being "woke" and  gives some substance why being woke has a better chance of unifying the country than trying to accomplish it with an iron fist of defanging the "woke" by whatever means possible (A,B, or C)     

Another factor that underlies all of this is a growing divide in the education level between Democrats and Republicans.. It is a reverse of years of Democrats appealing to the blue-collar, high school educated while Republicans had more support from those with higher degrees. It is the opposite now. It has happened recently and quickly.  Why and how this has happened will be the subject of many opinions and academic dissertations, but my own theory is that the more education you have, the more you can put matters into perspective and, indeed learn from history. Education increases the ability to use critical thinking.   MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Critical thinking: a misunderstood term that fueled the obsession with CRT     This is why Desantis' anti-woke campaign and the attempts at revisionism of history he advocates and implements in Florida schools is so dangerous.  It is a way of shaping future minds, painting a false view of slavery, is a way of combatting the "woke". The approach is the brainchild of Praeger U. It is also now spreading to other states, including Oklahoma.

CIVIL WAR?

What is this talk about civil war? I was startled by conversations with my late 20s, something grandchildren. They fear the country may break apart with violence sometime in the future, not because they would be the perpetrators but because the racist white nationalists would gain the upper hand.    I had only heard advocacy of a civil war from the current ultra-right wing, but never predicted by those I thought were "woke," as my grandchildren are. Their attitude is, yes, we'll vote, but it won't stop anything, so why do more. It is kismet. Needless to say, they got a stern lecture from me, as I also accused them of being nihilists. Here is how they rationalize their attitude: We don't talk to others directly. We are captive of algorithms and social media. We are just a speck and are powerless. Thoughts run through my head. They have to be watching too many doomsday movies and sci-fi,  yet both can know much and hear snatches of conversations among their peers. Yowwwser.  Organize, activate, I said. Two can play the social media game. Just don't vote, but get your fellow generalists together. We are not a dictatorship yet. You still have a chance, so do it now while you can. You can still head off doomsday. I will not be here on this earth much longer, but I am counting on you, zoomers, I say.

  The 1860 election of Abe Lincoln resuledt in a civil war, as five southern states formed the confederacy.  In that conflict, 360,222 Union and 258,000 Confederate fighters died. {Wikipedia) 

https://wapo.st/44zBbiB   The Only US ‘Civil War’ Will Be a War on Democracy - The Washington Post

Trump appears to break with 124-year history of concession speeches, experts discuss - YouTube

Who's signed the GOP loyalty pledge? - ABC News

Trump Just Broke Through the Last Level of Neo-Fascism (yahoo.com)

 MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump fans the flames of violence, yet calls himself the law and order president updated

, The GOP candidates were asked if they would support Trump as the presidential nominee if he was convicted. Here's how they responded. - CBS News

https://time.com/4665755/donald-trump-fear/

Majority minority in the United States - Wikipedia

 https://www.politico.com/interactives/2022/midterm-election-house-districts-by-education/

What Is PragerU: Controversial Conservative Platform Entering Classrooms In Florida And Oklahoma (forbes.com)

 

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Sander's rebuttal to Biden's State of Union . 2/12/23 promoting divisive "cultural values"

Revised and updated: 2/12/23

 I have seen something very troubling lately. In this kickoff season to 2024, the GOP wants voters to choose culture over pragmatic problem-solving public policy considerations since cultural issues they support are all good stuff that means "freedom." The position of the right wing that now controls the GOP is that cultural issues are now being promoted as a  political platform to offset Biden's bipartisan legislative success aimed at helping improve the middle-class standard of living. It is that bipartisan and Democratic platform they vow to overturn, from infrastructure to diabetes medicine and health care affordability. More troubling than that attack on Biden's successful agenda is the GOP  promoting cultural issues as an official platform. They begin by twisting the meaning of freedom as a hook to consolidate political support for their cultural platform initiative. This approach was a strategy attempted by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the GOP rebuttal to Biden's State of the Union Address. 

  In the GOP rebuttal to Biden's State of the Union Address,  Sanders defined freedom regarding cultural issues. The issues she calls freedom are dear to the belief system of certain Christian evangelicals. Hers is a twisted definition of freedom, a word usually referring to being free from government control, which she turned upside down to mean freedom for fellow believers, but not for others, that is coupled with the use of government power to promote and enforce specific cultural rules of which they approve. Her view is the "normal" one, she said, and the other view is held by "crazies," she asserts, revealing a sensitivity to charges by opponents that the insane are now running the asylum in the House of Representatives and the Republican party.    The GOP tools to spread this form of "freedom" from government control are the use of dictation by the government itself of media content and school curriculum and the official, governmental banning of such practices as the right to choose. Among those banned are rights to express honesty about personal sexual identification.  The GOP is not about more government "hands off" of individual freedom, but more government control limiting individual freedoms. Sander's rebuttal vowed to advance her twisted view of cultural freedom that increases government control of the thought and speech of others who do not share religious ultra-conservative ideals.      Her definition of freedom is far from the normal one held by those on the more libertarian left she now calls "crazies." She shrilly proclaimed, "your freedoms are being attacked by the radical left. They are the crazies; we, the GOP, are the normals,"  That is a sales pitch only the choir to which she was preaching can readily buy.  

Sanders also promoted the concept of the GOP supporting the new generation of leaders. One wonders if she referred to herself as a younger person who is now eligible. She was ironically promoting ideas that were already old hat in the MAGA world, some of which accounted for the poor GOP showing in the midterms. This appeared to be a slap at both candidacies of Trump and Biden in 2024. In reality, it was in lock step with Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis' implementation by government action and policy of "don't say gay" speech, school book banning and curriculum control, and anti-choice initiatives.   The left began the culture wars, Sanders proclaimed, not the right, in a revisionist view of current events. These culture wars have been simmering for a long time. Still, the spark that set off the hotter culture wars was the overturning of 50-year-old Roe and a reactionary right-wing crusade to use the government's reins of power to enforce and roll back any gains in civil, women's, and gay rights. These religious and cultural conservative activists like Sanders saw government as protecting too much freedom, and in reality, they have launched their strategy to roll back freedoms as a party platform.

What is wrong with the promotion of cultural values as a political party's platform?. The values included in those promoting cultural conflicts today fly under the radar disguised with a variety of buzzwords, all of which push back on rights that have been won after long struggles by those who have not been favored by the majority-dominating government and demographics. It is more than just a clash of values. This route foresees a likelihood of future conflicts that could become destructive of domestic tranquility.   Economies can not flourish during civil conflicts and turmoil. This is not the legacy I want to leave for my children and grandchildren.  The more hopeful view of constructive cultural values is that a  majority of people are still choosing: the accommodation and power-sharing route, which will benefit all. We have a choice of which road to continue following.

 What are examples of the buzzwords of current advocates of bigotry-based cultural issues?. Some we hear are "Anti woke",  "don't say gay speech and teacher rules," anti-transgender athletes and bathrooms, .anti- public self sexual identification by LGBTQ people, and book banning.  anti-CRT ( a trumped-up bogeyman, not taught except to graduate level students), and political suppression at the ballot box of suspected opponents miss -named "voter integrity".  Some hate-driven concepts are not even thinly disguised, such as blaming some Jewish conspiracy for woes. "Jews, black people, will not replace us" is the slogan of neo-Nazi activists, but "replacement theory" is supported by more than just neo-fascists. White nationalism is even supported by some Congresspeople.   Such divisive crusades in the name of Christianity ironically fly in the face of the message of Jesus and make a mockery of the Golden Rule, yet white Christian nationalism has many open adherents. 

One racially divisive issue has been police reform. The Tyre Nichols death at the hands of Black police officers in a Black-dominated police force has had the effect of taking the Black Lives Matter/Defund Police advocacy out of the bucket of strictly racially biased issues.  Police brutality is now a separate issue from racial one since it is a problem facing law enforcement of both races.  Biden's strong opposition day one to the slogan "defund police" has eclipsed the GOP's earlier outrage at the term.

 https://www.axios.com/2022/02/26/marjorie-taylor-greene-white-nationalist-event

Deep Divisions in Americans’ Views of Nation’s Racial History – and How To Address It | Pew Research Center