In a democracy, messaging is the critical element in building voter support. The Republican Party has been the standard bearer of business interests for over a hundred years. The Great Depression focused the Democratic Party on social well-being. World War II revitalized the nation from its lingering economic doldrums, and America became a global power, both economically and militarily. “Butter and Guns” and a thriving middle class became the American identity. Lyndon Johnson signed the Voters Rights Act. But his War on Poverty fell victim to the ill-advised war in Vietnam. Richard Nixon promised peace but bombed the hell out of Cambodia and Laos, and considered a nuclear strike on Hanoi, a step thankfully not taken, which brings us to the malaise of the 21st Century. Donald Trump has glued White Christian Nationalism and the worship of wealth to the Republican Party, which in turn created a media firewall, its AM radio echo chamber broadcasting Right Wing political messaging all across the nation. Big money craves a status quo of freedom from federal regulation and taxation. “Greed is good. Technology will cure all our ills”. Trump became a cult hero endowed with magical powers amid claims that climate change and global warming were a “liberal hoax”. With his support, Israel is forcefully “setting” the West Bank, bombing the hell out of Gaza and Lebanon, and, with Trump signing on, beginning a prolonged war against Iran. Vertigo has become a spiraling American ethos in which the Democratic Party appears as a roadside deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car, focusing attention on Donald Trump, which he loves having. The messaging has been, at best, vague and uninspiring. Enter then a diverse selection of Social Democrats whose message, echoing that of Bernie Sanders, is clear and to the point. The difficulties people are facing are endemic in the long-standing structures of government. The system is rigged in favor of the moneyed classes, individual and corporate, especially since the Supreme Court allowed deep pockets unlimited political power by deciding that campaign spending was protected as free speech. Liberty and justice is for the well-heeled, average folks? Not so much. By stressing the inequity of the economy, Social Democrats are winning in primaries over mainstream Democrats across the nation. Conservative media is thrilled at this turn of events, reviving Cold War fears of authoritarian Communism. The Democratic establishment is nearly as alarmed over its leadership losing its meager political power. In all, Americans have historically arrived at a point of determining just what truly is”a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Is there adequate economic and environmental momentum capable of carrying the nation forward into the existential challenges of the 21st Century?

RP