On Nov. 8, at nearly 63 million Americans told their fellow citizens that they were sick and tired of being ignored and increasingly fed up with those running our political system.
Few would argue that the voters who supported Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE and President-elect Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE were not voting for dramatic change and for complete rejection of the status quo. They were not alone.
A great many other Americans chose not to vote at all, and many did so because they do not believe anyone is listening to them, that they have no voice.
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Some election analysts have described these groups of citizens as “disaffected.”
Really?
They run our plants and build our roads; they police our streets, do our laundry and grow our food; they deliver our mail and paint our homes. They build communities, and care for their neighbors. They don’t drive luxury cars, they fix them. And yet it seems to them that no one in Washington or New York knows they exist.
How else can you explain the fact that plant gates slam shut and the world just moves on? Or that crime and drugs continue to destroy their community, and nothing changes?
It is critically important that the new Congress and new administration continue to understand and respond to the breadth and depth of the sense of abandonment felt by tens of millions of Americans, as they did on the campaign trail this year.
These men and women weren’t just a tool for electoral success, they are the foundation on which our nation, and its economy, is built and they are crying out for change.
The sentiments these voters and non-voters feel is very real.
In elite circles in Washington, New York, and San Francisco, too many of their fellow citizens can’t empathize because they rarely know or associate with individuals who have these fears or feel this anxiety.
The Upper East Side, Georgetown, and Nob Hill are part of America, but they are not most of America.
In hundreds of other communities we cannot name, black, brown or white, all these and more, have been left behind. These individuals are not racists. Some are poor. Many others are not.
Most are concerned about the pace of change and it’s effect on them and their families. They feel the institutions of society, public and private, do not work. Most do not believe their children will have the opportunities they have had. They are not unfamiliar with hardship, and they see first hand the signs of real decay — joblessness, boarded up storefronts, flat or falling incomes, failing schools — all with no response from those they elected.
The rumbles of unease are deep and troubling. If it’s obvious they have no voice in the “system,” why support it, why believe in it, why trust it, and if things don’t change, why keep it?
For the past year, tens of millions of men and women sensed that most of the nation’s media establishment viewed them as unworthy, even “deplorable.”
Day after day, the charge was repeated that Donald Trump was getting his votes from largely racist, misogynist, xenophobic or homophobic white males — and horror of horrors, those who probably never finished college.
It was not entirely true, of course. Yet even today many of those among the so-called “establishment” apparently believe it was framed by hate. It was not, and to believe and say so is dangerous for our politics, and our policy.
The men and women who spoke on November 8, and those who stayed at home, want solutions. They have asked to be part of the America they have always believed in.
Will we hear them? Will we listen — really listen?
Will we offer solutions that do more than redistribute, reform, or repeal? Will we offer significant action that will restore hope, optimism and opportunity to those who demand real change?
These Americans deserve an answer. Black, white or brown; union worker or manager; rural man or urban woman; Jewish, Christian, Muslim or non-believing, these individuals are our fellow citizens and this country needs them. Period.
Bill Brock was a congressman, senator, RNC Chairman, U.S. Trade Representative and Department of Labor Secretary. He regularly comments on politics and policy. You can find him on Twitter @bbrock67.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.
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