@Wherrsmaclickypen
RedToothBrush
thank you for such a considered reply. I wholly recognise this description. I am a 'middle class intellectual liberal' who is literally terrified of bible bashing, faith based anti-abortionist reactionaries and what they would wish for the world, but I do understand and respect the defending of their values. I also understand why 'socialism' is such a dirty word in the US, despite the poverty gap, all part of the American Dream. I like to think however that the common denominator is decency. It can be hard to articulate what decency looks like, but you can see it in a persons face, as well as their actions, and decency crosses the divide of all moderate views. For the rest of the world it is enough that decency has been restored today. It is the American people who now have to find their own way to a consensus and I hope and believe that decent Republicans will take up that challenge.
I think part of the problem is a lack of self awareness and how we sound to people who are different to us. When you only speak to and value people with views like you, you lose a skill. The ability to understand and empathise with others. The trap thats been fallen into is that tolerance is somehow a one way system and only relevant to certain groups and for certain views.
People are comfortable with different paces of change and thats not being recognised either.
Those on the 'progressive' side (and tbh I find some of these views far less forward thinking than they profess to be) are pushing hard for fast change and thats always going to led to resistance because whilst you do have to push for change you also have to conscious of how you do so especially how quickly you do it.
You have to bring people with you and reassure them that the change is ok and is going to improve their world rather than shatter it into a thousand pieces at break neck speed. The need for patience in an instant world of social media and 24 hour news is completely forgotten. You have to persuade the majority of people that change is worthwhile and of benefit to them too rather than force them into it against their will, in an authoritarian manner.
Liberalism is slow and rather boring and isn't about radical change because it very nature is about recognising this type of obstacle and how you can tackle them by building consensus through trust. Its founded on good communication and mutual respect between different groups.
I think the instant world has eroded the value of this and altered people's expectations and demands.
With a long term erosion of trust in politics, journalism and authority in general you do tend to get this problem of social fracturing too. It allows people to exploit this and the fractures in society by producing alternative explainations or simple easy quick 'solutions' that seem to make sense on the surface. They are much more attractive to make to complex, convoluted debates about ethics, grey areas, unintended consequences and inconvient truths that render what initally seemed a good idea a really rather shit one.
Trump is the ultimate product of a breakdown in communication and trust and a blame culture that discourages taking responsibility and ownership of problems and mistakes.