Every time I lapse into a funk over the prospect of Donald Trump as president I chide myself to remember we live in a democracy and must accept the election’s outcome. Yes, Hillary leads by 2.8 million in the popular vote, but Trump has secured those necessary in the Electoral College. A recent devotee of “The Crown,” the mini-series on Queen Elizabeth (“Lilibet” to family), I have come to appreciate the purpose of convention.
I respect those who cast their votes for Trump in the hopes of it being one of protest against the status quo. The United States has not pulled away from the Great Recession of 2008 as was hoped, though it has fared better than much of Europe. Coupled with the effects of globalization, per capita growth in the United States is a little less than 2 percent, meaning that for most Americans they will not enjoy financial rewards on par with their parents. Economists reason it takes 3 percent annual growth in per capita GPA for incomes to double every 25 years; at 2 percent, every 35 years, at 1 percent, every 70 years.
Trump is credited with winning the election on the promise of reversing this trend in part by bringing back jobs outsourced to cheaper labor markets overseas or, as with the coal industry, hampered by environmental regulations. Both are still in their relative infancy for making the world as a whole cleaner and more economically viable. Our challenge here in the United States is to replace those lost jobs with new jobs and new skills — not go back in time.
The greatest threat to America is the growing gap between the haves and have-nots. Of all the countries in the world, the United States ranks second (to South Africa) to having the largest concentration of wealth in the fewest hands. The danger lies in bequeathing this class the power to ignore the needs of those left behind. Trump campaigned on reducing income taxes on the wealthy so as to spur private investment in new jobs. Such trickle-down economics have failed miserably in Kansas under our current governor. If Trump can effect policy that forces the wealthy to direct those tax breaks to job development, more power to him.
AS WITH ANY new president, Donald Trump faces a formidable challenge in following through with his campaign trail promises.
President Obama is said to have kept 47 percent outright promises and reached a compromise on another 27 percent, which is significant considering throughout his two terms Republicans in Congress made it their collective goal to categorically oppose his agenda, no matter its merits.
I’m not in favor of Democrats returning the favor with Trump in office.
But I would ask that we as a nation keep tabs on Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” and see that it includes everyone — not just a select few.
