American flag | Photo: APDo you know whom I voted for? My blonde colleague, who dislikes chauvinistic males, supports same-sex marriage, and is somewhere in the middle between a staunch conservative and a free-minded liberal, stunned me with her answer.
Trump, she cried!
I soon understood that the difference between urban America and the rural heartland is mightier than a wedge fry.
Trump’s victory has launched a Yankee Spring, a new political revolution in the United States, a control, alt, delete against elitism, a revolt against the old, privileged White guys club that has been ruling Washington since the mid-1700s.
It draws parallels to the Arab spring except that in a democratic society you get grief counselors if you go overboard and start burning tires.
This election has brought into fore the anger of Trump’s silent majority, a lower middle class, less educated White population in this country who have been given false promises by previous administrations, both Democrats and Republican.
America is witnessing an intense fight between the urban, well-heeled blonde chic with purple lipstick and the apron-clad rural blonde baking cookies in her farm.
My colleague left her tiny town in the rural mid-West for an urban education and got a slice of the American economic pie, partly made in China. However, those she left behind have merely survived. They are living among the shambles of old prosperity, the once-upon-a-time steel mills, coalmines and large decrepit buildings in the middle of nowhere.
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Millions in rural America left the moral sayings of their crumply old Bibles and voted for Trump hoping that they could get “Bigly,” jobs and a bright future. Trump told them in the eye that he will bring manufacturing jobs, overhaul immigration and get them better healthcare. He has promised them lives that can afford suburban homes with well-manicured lawns, nine to five steady paying jobs, well-funded schools and great communities.
They are impatiently waiting for a revolution in the manufacturing sector, often forgetting that everything they wear, from undergarments to sweat shirts are being made somewhere else. They voted for someone who spoke their language and gave them not just hope but stories of success in business, of cutting deals, and making profits.
But, who on earth wants to build another manufacturing hub in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for example? The old steel mills and their relics still stand amid rolling meadows, and people drink Yuengling beer hoping that very soon they will get another maker hub.
Sadly, their lives have been swept under the rug by globalization, by trade deals that have always favored urban America’s materialistic dreams.
According to Trump, his silent majority has spoken and their first step was to elect him as president and he will never let them down. However, just three days after being president-elect, he has picked members of the same old White guys club and lobbyists in DC to craft his transition. In less than 72 hours, he has promised to reach a compromise on Obama-care and said he will retain key provisions of the law.
Trump will soon be the CEO of approximately 4.2 million federal government employees, and manage multiple governmental departments from healthcare to immigration. Powerful lobbyists and gray haired Republicans will force him to hand pick and choose a few departments for the first four years and if he does the job right, he will bring change.
Meanwhile, for the less educated Whites in rural and suburban America, the immediate hope for new jobs will come from a rapid infusion of funds into infrastructure development. New bridges, roads and ports will bring them some short-term gain but the long-term gain will come for folks like Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who was among the first to call Trump and congratulate him.
High-speed trains will soon roll in from Japan and will need American assembly workers. The bridges and roads will be built by Chinese material, and powered by German technology. The outside help will bring a temporary respite for those who supported Trump.
Isn’t the American dream bigger than a story of fixing nuts and bolts on a system that has been rigged by politicians for the last several decades?
This is just the beginning of an Yankee Spring. The real revolution is coming.
(Sarat Pratapchandran is a US-based writer whose career spans content management, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. A master’s in mass communication from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and Kerala University, he now works as a fund raiser for a major US-based health sciences university)
