Sunday, November 15, 2020

No matter what you think of President Trump, demon or savior, he has led one of the greatest populace movements of modern times: the “Deplorables.”

There are many misconceptions about the “Deplorables.” Since they comprise half of the US population, and I consider myself to be one of them, I would like to begin this series of posts on the Black Madonna by correcting two important myths:

Myth 1: The Deporables are “Rednecks who support the Klu Klux Klan.”

The Deplorables are, despite popular abuse, the backbone of America. They are the steelworkers, coal miners, and auto industry workers of the Eastern and Mid-Atlantic states and the American farmers who were “left behind” when industry, supported by every administration since Regan, advocated outsourcing to China, India, Mexico, and other countries what used to be “made and grown in the USA.” Within a decade of this trend, these areas of the US became wastelands, such as the steel mill town where I was raised. Once a bustling boom town where a train ran through the main street and with a different ethnic parish on every corner, the blast furnaces and locomotives are now long gone and the wind blows debris through the deserted store fronts. It is a ghost town. The “Deplorables” who lived there were victims of the new global economy and corporate greed and became invisible to the urban elites. The “Deplorables” passionately wanted to “drain the swamp” of corrupt Washington politicians who ignored them. Trump became their voice.

Add to these “Deplorables” the 20th Century immigrants from countries like Cuba, China, and Eastern Europe who suffered under Communism and came to the U.S. to escape the poverty and oppression that resulted. They know from lived experience that Socialism, with all of its well-meant intentions, becomes Communism.

Add to these “Deplorables” the traditional religious groups like the Hassidic Jews who are the recipients of discriminatory covid-19 practices in New York and the Little Sisters of the Poor, who must financially support abortion, despite their religious beliefs. We, who treasure religious freedom, watched in horror this summer as numerous religious statues were destroyed by mobs and our lawmakers and police were impeded from preventing the plunder. Finally, President Trump declared that those who destroyed public statues would serve up to a 10 year prison sentence. Where was everyone else?

Add to these “Deplorables” the Black Americans courageously represented by Larry Elder, Candice Owens, Conway West and recently, Leo Terrell. They don’t want free stuff because they know that nothing is ever free. They don’t view themselves as victims and want to continue to achieve through their own merit, not the color of their skin.

The Black Madonna is the symbol of hope for all of these deplorable groups.

Myth #2 “Don’t worry, Biden will help the Deplorables by giving them entitlements.”

This is the last thing these groups want. Most of them did not grow up with the entitlement consciousness. They know the cost of “free stuff for all” in the form of universal college education, medicare for all, and undocumented immigrant entitlements is the downfall of our country. As the ancient Kabbalists realized: “What is not earned becomes Bread of Shame and eventually creates resentment and rage from the recipients, until, ultimately, and most horribly, results in the the despair of indifference.”

We must ask ourselves: Do we want a country of coastal elites living in their protected, gated communities with the rest of the country comprised of a “Wasteland of Hollow Men, leaning together with headpiece filled with straw.?” (T.S. Elliot)

We will need much intervention from the Black Madonna if the polarization that has been created in our country is to be healed. In my next post, I will explore who She is from the perspective of “Alone of All Her Sex”, by Marina Warner, a historical researcher.

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“Hello Darknesss My Old Friend.

I Come to talk with you again.”

(Sounds of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel)