One of my favorite TV
sitcoms is “Frasier.”
Kelsey Grammer
(himself a well-respected conservative in Hollywood) played the nerve-racking Frasier
Crane. This character gained compelling notoriety in “Cheers”, then headlined the
award-winning spin-off sitcom for eleven more years.
Grammer’s
well-educated shrink demonstrated erudition and flair, but still ran into the
roadblocks of lives. He also bore a pompous air about him. For all of his
education and elite nonchalance, he ended up failing, making mistakes, and just
plain messing up—just like the rest of us humans.
There was one
particular scene from the sitcom which struck me the most, and still makes me
laugh when I think about it.
Frasier, a clumsy
guy when it came to the rough-a-day activities like fishing and connecting with
regular people, was visiting a coffee shop in a rural town. He reminisced out
loud, like a self-absorbed Shakespearean actor, how he wanted to meet with “the
locals” and take in the rustic air of the town coffee shop.
Straightaway, he
turned to a rough-looking man sitting next to him at the lunch counter: “So
tell me, my good man, how is it today? How are things with you?”
The response from
this “country bumpkin” was fantastic and spot-on (and I am paraphrasing):
“So you want to
learn more about ‘people like me’, do you? Well, guess what? I have thoughts
and feelings, and struggles just like other people. I am a complicated, complex
person with depth and determination. And I am very offended by your
condescending remarks and attitude.”
 |
| Frasier Crane |
The gruff man then huffed off from the lunch counter. Frasier backs away, blinking at the sudden, articulate rebuke from an “Average Joe.”
This scene
encapsulates why Trump defeated his GOP rivals and the Democrats in the latest
election.
The Democratic
Party and the Republican Establishment have identified with the limited concerns
of a few special interests. As a result, they are completely removed from the
fears, needs, and challenges of “Average Joes.” They look down on “We the
People”, the ones who actually form this more perfect union called America.
They are convinced they know better, and their plans for themselves are better,
regardless of the consequences waged against the rest of us.
This conflict
surpasses the 99% rhetoric of the Occupy Movement. This conflict is about more
than money, but about an arrogant vision of the politically connected
chattering classes which everyone else is supposed to pay for.
Recall this plea of the black woman during the second debate from Election
2012. She had voted for “hope and change” for middle class families such as
herself. She plainly explained her plight to Obama: “I am exhausted of defending
you.” Her family worked hard to achieve a comfortable level of living. The
economic downturn, much of which resulted from Obama’s disastrous domestic
policies, were forcing her family back to eating beans and hot dogs.
He pushed off her
down-home concerns. He tried the same platitudes of most politicians: “I
understand your frustration.”
No he didn’t! He
helped create it, though. His rambling answer conveyed what many of us figured
out sooner: Obama did not care. His proto-socialist utopia was more important.
His plans on how the world should work were more important than the upsets of a
middle-income mother who was helping veterans for her day job.
Romney was not much
better. He talked about “binders full of women,” then remained stiff and unrelatable.
The country later learned why when his true sentiments floated out from a
private event. He mocked and derided the “47%
who will never vote for me”
because they get something from the government or blame someone else for their
troubles.
Sorry, Mittens, but
that’s not me, and that does not describe the widowed mother, the veteran
returning from his third tour in Afghanistan, or the minority parents of our broken
inner cities. Those remarks exposed the latent arrogance of a political class
that blames the peons of Lunch Counter America and ignores the poor national
security, a bad economy, and a declining social order.
The men and women
who have built—and continue to build—this country are not flat, static
characters in a TV sitcom. They are men and women of diverse backgrounds,
different skills, and deep concerns. They are not “victims of globalization” or
bitter clingers who run to their Bibles and clutch their guns.
We are Americans,
and we should be treated with respect, not disdain.
Even the
conservative intelligentsia have missed how deep their disconnect has grown
with the discontented millions upon millions of American voters. Consider George Will’s off-hand remarks about the illegal alien minors
swarming our borders: “We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America,
you’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans.’”
A friend of mine
reacted to Will’s arrogance about this wave of illegal immigration: “What an
a—hole! He does not have to pay the taxes to provide an education for those
illegals!”
My sentiments
exactly!
I would further
add: “What would you like to tell the parents, and the friends and family
members who lost loved ones to illegal aliens, Mr. Will? What would you like to
tell them?”
Unlike the GOP-e
and the Democrats, Donald Trump connected at a heart-level with the angry and
forlorn, vast anti-Establishment conspiracy in this country. His charm connected
with working people of Middle America. A solid resume, a convincing grasp of
conservative principles, and flashy rhetoric were not enough. Trump responded
to the concerns of us “lunch counter Average Joes” and respected us.
And Trump won.
Indeed, Election
2016 was truly a historic election.
A real estate
mogul, then reality TV show host connected better with Americans than the most
experienced—and even the most conservative—presidential candidates.
And how? Trump did
not treat them like second-class oddities whose concerns did not matter.
And yes, he could
probably sit at the lunch counter next to them and say “Hi” to show he really
cared.
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