Bernie Sanders lambasts 'absolute failure' of Democratic party's strategy

[BlueMTexpat]

58. The majority of MT Republicans

I knew in my youth were decent people. I attribute much of that to the fact that they - or close members of their families - were either recent immigrants to the US, or had either experienced the Great Depression or fought in the horror that WWII was or both. I also attribute that to the fact that rail transportation still linked this country to an extent difficult to imagine today.

In my little rural town of 1000+ people, we had many cultures, albeit Western European for the most part, five religions (Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, Mormon and Baptist) and even more bars. (!) Even there, we looked outward towards the bigger picture and we believed in a national identity even though we were also proud Montanans who were committed to our close-knit communities. That was true of the majority of members of both parties. I saw this begin to change inexorably in the 1970s, replaced with "me-ism" in the 1980s, only to become the full-blown GOPer madness we have today.

Since the end of WWII, we have had no profoundly similar shared national experiences to bring us ALL together, except briefly perhaps, for 9-11. With rail and bus transportation - little of it public - less available to the working class, people have tended to travel - when they do at all - in automobiles where they are alone or with close family members or friends and are subjected to a barrage of RW hate radio. They have tended to isolate themselves into parochial enclaves, dependent on religious teachings which have been in too many cases radical RW evangelical. This has all exacerbated racial, social and economic divisions so that some regions of the US truly resemble "developing nations" and let stereotypes instead of actual individuals guide their reactions to the world.

In so many ways, the US has gone backwards while the rest of the world - including many "developing nations" - has moved forward. I mourn this profoundly and I fear that what happened in November 2016 could be the beginning of the end of our great experiment. I cannot forgive ANYONE who actively voted for Trump or who enabled this situation.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong about this being the end. But I am not optimistic.