I understand you’re scared. The nation we knew is rapidly changing. And change can be frightening.
When I grew up in America, we were still enjoying the post-war economic bounce. That would soon change. Beginning the day rifle fire was heard in Dallas the Ozzie and Harriet days started sliding away. The differences didn’t come overnight. They crawled in like a thief to take our naiveté.
Our environment consisted of a little house, a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, a dog and a wood paneled station wagon.
You knew the next-door-neighbor ― and their next-door-neighbor. You didn’t bolt the door when you left home. First, Jack Paar and then Johnny Carson rocked us to sleep with laughter, and each Saturday morning we followed Roy Rogers as he made the world safe.
We played Little League baseball, spin the bottle in the basement of the Methodist church and put on a Thanksgiving sketch every November ― decked out in crepe paper vests, and cardboard hats.
We made construction paper chains for the Christmas tree at school and hid Easter eggs under the swings, in the coal bin and out by the monkey bars.
Those days are passed; they only breathe in the back roads of our memories.
Things are changing.
Same-sex marriage is rapidly becoming the law of the land ― it already is in many places. Marijuana is legal ― many places and environmentalists are propelling the country to more solar power.
But change doesn’t have to threaten you. It can be ― it should be ― it must be welcomed.
And not just change for its own sake, but to make the nation a better place.
Conservatives want to “conserve” the status quo. Conservatives want to keep things, not as they were, but as they want to believe they were.
Trump makes this obvious with his “Make America Great Again.” Other than for white bread America, America has never been that great.
When you support Trump, you agree with his slogan. Tell me: Returning to what era do you believe will make America “great” again.
Will it be the 1860s when the nation tore itself apart? Will it be the 1920s that saw blacks still living under the slave system ― only by now it was called Jim Crow.
How about the 1930s when America was still in the grip of the great depression, and people were driven from their homes and starved? What about the 1940s? Surely that was a time America was great. Let’s see, we fought Hitler and his demagoguery that said Jews were bad and should be kept out of Germany ― that was a good thing. People were too deaf to hear what Hitler was saying. The apathy and belief that it “couldn’t happen in the Fatherland” ―led directly to his rise and then to war ― Hitler routinely spoke about Making Germany Great Again.
And when the war was over, we put blacks back in the rear of the bus; we denied them equal opportunities. Sure we said blacks were equal, but there was a glaring mismatch between what white bread America said and what it did.
What about the 1950s?
Yeah, that was a grand time ― if you were white and straight and non-Catholic. People owned big fin cars, danced to Buddy Holly and started to graduate from the colleges we went to thanks to our GI Bill; at least if you were white. If you were black, you were pushed back into your corner, ignored on the street when you weren’t beaten. Blacks couldn’t sit at the lunch counter, share the same bathroom or watch a movie anywhere from other than the “colored” balcony. MMmm….maybe America wasn’t so great then.
Then the 60s roared into view and Bobby, Martin and John were murdered ― by a scared white man who fought against change.
In the seventies “Tricky Dick” was in the White house ― yeah, wasn’t that a “great” time for America? We lost Vietnam; oil was impossible to get as lines stretched around the block for just a few cents of gas.
I could go on the 80s and beyond.
But you get the picture.
There never really was a time that America was ‘great.”
Other than for white-bread America.
Now, the nation’s demographics are changing. African-Americans are rapidly coming into their voice as are all of the people who identify with the LGBT movement ― if I left out a letter, I apologize. It’s not meant as disrespect for anyone that identifies here, but rather my 60-year old mind that can’t keep up with the — wait for it — changes.
But instead of being scared and angry, I choose to embrace the new season as it comes. I could be hurt and bitter because “my generation” and “my kind” is losing control of the nation. Or I can celebrate the changes. I choose to glorify instead of hurling vitriol and hate at someone who speaks a different language, than I do, worships God in ways that are strange to me and has a different color skin than myself.
Be intellectually honest and do some research on Trump. Be open minded enough to study the man and his history. I’m not encouraging you to change your political ideology; I’d just like to see you be able to carry on a conversation without resorting to name calling when somebody asks you why you support Trump.
I see Trump as the result of generation after generation insisting on voting for the lesser of two evils.
I can see why you’re scared. I get it.
Jerry Nelson is an American freelance writer, ghostwriter and content provider, now living the expat life in South America. Never without a cup of coffee or Marlboros, You can join the million-or-so who follow him on Twitter @ Journey_America and email him at jandrewnelson2@gmail.com.
"McChavezmo" is his latest book about the political instability in South America and who is behind it.