Mike Johnston
Aug 31, 2018 · 4 min read

Did It Ever Occur To You That Some Of The Obama Voters Were The Trump Voters

I admit that my evidence is scant and I have not seen anyone else writing on this particular concept but it feels right when I think about it. Obama was elected on promises of change for the better for the average person. Poor and blue collar workers took a chance and believed and made him President. I was one of those people and so was my wife.

Four years later I voted for him again still hoping for change. I felt a bit disillusioned by the end of his second term, especially since Obamacare and the threat of penalties in the thousands of dollars made me abandon some of my dreams and get a job again just to get health care. As an independent business owner I could not afford and extra $1,000 a month or more for health insurance and I was making too much to get any subsidy. Plus, I am not someone who willingly seeks government assistance as anything but a last resort.

In the most recent Presidential election I was not impressed by either major party candidate. I would gladly vote for a woman as President but I do not believe in dynastic Presidential lineages. Plus Hilary was already in the White House for 12 years and I didn’t want to put Bill Clinton back in there even though I like him as a person.

On the other hand Trump was to me a kind of weird looking guy who grew up with a trust fund who blustered and bluffed and bullshitted his way through life. Even though he seemed to have some talent in that respect another entitled rich person was not what I wanted as our leader.

Trump promised hope and change though in his own way. Just like Obama he promised to make a difference in the lives of everyday Americans. Obviously millions believed him. My wife was one of them. I knew she believed that supporting him was the right thing to do so I took her to a rally in Harisburg PA and even got us VIP tickets to the event.

I never voiced support for him. In fact I maintained my viewpoint as described above but did post to social media about taking my wife to a Trump rally. As a result I lost 90% of my fiends in the music and film businesses in Hollywood and New York literally overnight.

I think that is where the Left and the Progressives to some extent were very wrong. Almost immediately after the election the Resistance was everywhere attacking (online and in some cases physically) Trump supporters. Many if not most of those supporters were not racists or fascists or anything else that they were being called (although a tiny percentage obviously were). Most were just average people, like my wife, with opinions who wanted to Make America Great Again.

I think that going into the midterms and looking toward the next Presidential election what needs to be done is for someone to come up with an actual, real world plan that addresses the concerns of average people living day to day in America. I don’t think that we need a new party, especially one with as much baggage attached to its name as the Democratic Socialists.

The Progressive mindset especially has an unprecedented opportunity to gain prominence in the minds of the people. In order to do that though they have to actively seize the moment and initiate a public discussion in the media and online about what a Progressive America would look like and how it would benefit all Americans.

As it is now, because the term Progressive is trendy, anyone and everyone is adopting the label. This only serves to muddy the water. At its most basic level the idea of being a Progressive is accepting the concept that all three segments of our society (Capital, Management and Labor) contribute valuable parts to the whole. None of these three groups should be in total control as it never seems to have worked out very well for the other two when one dominates totally.

We need a formula to figure out what is a fair wage for Labor on a job by job basis. This could be based on company profit or a percentage of the company CEO’s compensation or really whatever seems to work and pay the worker a livable wage that reflects the type of work that they do and does not cause the employer to go out of business.

Health care for all is another thing who.s time has come. The only question is how to pay for it. It used to be that employers bore the cost of employee healthcare and retirement. Then under Reagan they began to shift those costs onto the employee without any increase in compensation. This enabled a period of boom times for businesses who were able to significantly reduce operating expenses by these cuts in labor costs. But this was a false boom which saw working class people become poorer.

A free, basic education for every child in the world is another thing that should be a priority. Free college for anyone who qualifies and can not afford to pay for it is also a worthwhile goal. I think that much of what we do as Progressives now should be done with an eye toward global application. Both Capital and Management have always been global (since like the 1400’s anyway). The Internet has enabled Labor (the masses) to be globally connected too. We have just not figured out how to utilize this amazing tool yet but I think that now is a good time to start doing so.

Let’s make America and the world great again! And let’s not forget to leave the door open for everyone including the Trump “Deplorables” who want a better, more equitable America.

Mike Johnston

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Longtime freelance writer with a love of the road less traveled. Also likes using photos and video to tell a story. Member of MENSA.