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I was mad.

I was listening to a cabinet minister on the radio this morning. He was invoking the penultimate progressive political totemic, the vaunted “middle class.” (The ultimate progressive divinity being “progressive values,” which no progressive can define, and which therefore makes it the very problem it seeks to address.)

He went on and on and on about “the middle class,” apparently secure in the knowledge that we all know what that is. “Nobody knows what the middle class is,” I yelled at the radio, but the radio didn’t listen. “It’s a political fiction. It’s a bumpersticker phrase. It’s an illusion that breeds cynicism.”

But the radio ignored me.  The cabinet minister kept blathering on about “the middle class.”

I remembered that I have written about this, many times before. Here’s one thing that I’ve written, plucked from my book Fight the Right:

Along with the right words, and better focus on values, progressives also need an alternative narrative. More particularly, we need a narrative that connects with the values of citizens in a way that they understand.

The great global recession of 2008 – and the cataclysm of despair that it unleashed – has receded somewhat. But its effects are still felt all over, and nowhere as much as among what we once called the middle class. Foreclosures, layoffs and broken dreams are everywhere to be seen. The ongoing legacy of the recession is pain and misery, and a rising tide of anger.

Where, in the midst of all of this, has been the Left? What have liberals had to say about all of this gloom and despair? Mostly, nothing. Progressives have been virtually invisible at the very time when the old dogmas and old fixes of the Right are, to many, a cruel joke…

“There are several reasons for [the] lack of Left-wing mobilization,” writes [Francis] Fukuyama, “but chief among them is a failure in the realm of ideas. For the past generation, the ideological high ground on economic issues has been held by a libertarian Right.”

What does that mean? It means that Western democracy (and the middle class that at one time gave it purpose and legitimacy), are at risk of vanishing entirely if the Left does not get its act together. For instance: median incomes in the United States and other Western democracies have been stagnating since the 1970s. “[The middle class] may today benefit from cheap cell phones, inexpensive clothing, and Facebook, but they increasingly cannot afford their own homes, or health insurance, or comfortable pensions when they retire,” Fukuyama writes.

The centre of capitalism, as everyone from the Occupiers to the billionaires at Davos have lately observed, cannot hold. To many, it is a well-intentioned but essentially failed theory. But the Left, Fukuyama declares, is absent from this crucial discussion, and is also AWOL from offering cogent alternatives. “One of the most puzzling features of the world in the aftermath of the financial crisis,” he says, “is that, so far, populism has taken primarily a Right-wing form, not a Left-wing one. In the United States, for example, although the Tea Party is anti-elitist in its rhetoric, its members vote for conservative politicians who serve the interests of precisely those financiers and corporate elites they claim to despise.”

The academic Left, the feminist theorists, the post-modernists and the professional multiculturalism advocates all have plenty to say, Fukuyama concedes, but not to those they most need to achieve real democratic (and economic) change. “It is impossible to generate a mass progressive movement,” Fukuyama dryly notes, “on the basis of such a motley coalition: most of the working-and lower-middle-class citizens victimized by the system are culturally conservative, and would be embarrassed to be seen in the presence of allies like this.”

The biggest problem for the Left, Fukuyama would agree, is a lack of credibility, a lack of authenticity – and the lack of a values-enriched narrative. What is needed is an ideology for the future. Fukuyama, again:“Politically, the new ideology would need to reassert the supremacy of democratic politics over economics and legitim[ize] government as an expression of the public interest…It would have to argue forthrightly for more [wealth] redistribution and present a realistic route to ending interest groups’ domination of politics.” 

The task, of course, is immense, and the rewards uncertain. Why bother? Because, Fukuyama says, “Inequality will continue to worsen. The current concentration of wealth has already become self-reinforcing: the financial sector has used its lobbying clout to avoid more onerous forms of regulation. Schools for the well-off are better than ever; those for everyone else continue to deteriorate. Elites in all societies use their superior access to the political system to protect their interests.”

The Left must step up.

But here’s the thing: as evidenced by the ritual invocation of “the middle class” on the radio this morning – without defining what that is, and who makes it up, and why it is so important in a civil society – it is just so much political prattle.  It is words.

The Right don’t even pretend to represent the middle class.  But as Brexit showed us in June 2016 – and as Trump showed us in November 2016 – the middle class aren’t offended by that, not in the least.  They will vote against their own economic self-interest, every time, if someone comes along and talks to them in the values-laden lingo favoured by the Right, and abhorred by the Left.

Want to reach the middle class, and mobilize them?  Reach their hearts, not just their heads.

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What can you do?

How can you – a regular person who isn’t all that involved in politics, and who lives in another country, no less – oppose the unethical, immoral, hateful policies of the Trump regime?

In 2012, I wrote a book about how the Right seize power. It’s called Fight the Right. It talked about how the new batch of conservatives, like Donald Trump, manipulate words and values to win.

Progressives like me believe in the power of ideas and facts. Progressives like me sometimes get tongue-tied talking about values. Conservatives like Trump – and Rob Ford, the Tea Partiers, and the Brexit cabal – benefit from that. They know that the political brain is an organ that is fired up by emotion. Voters think with their guts – and logic plays only a supporting role. Guys like Donald Trump therefore always use the simplest words, and the gut-level appeal. It works – obviously.

But that doesn’t mean we should give up. That doesn’t mean we should become like them, either, and get down in the sewer. There are ten things that you can and should do to help oppose the global Trump/Brexit agenda – even if you’re a Canadian. They’re the ten things the Tea Partiers, and Donald Trump, did. You can make them work for you.

1. Grassroots advocacy works. That’s how the Tea Partiers stopped President Barack Obama so often. So, take a page from their manual. Start talking to other concerned progressives online. Form small, dedicated groups of like-minded activists where you live. And don’t get into internal battles developing your own policy agenda – simply have one goal: stopping the Trump/Brexit juggernaut, wherever it manifests itself. It’s a defensive strategy, sure. But it’s what we need to do in the hard years ahead.
2. Organize yourself. Say you want to form a group to push the Trudeau government to accept those seeking refuge from Trump’s bigoted executive orders. So, decide to form a group. Identify co-founders. Email everyone you know ask for help – people like to be asked for help. Invite them to the kick-off meeting. Manage it. Decide on a name; agree on principles. Get volunteers for specific roles. Communicate with each other regularly – and get to work.
3. Show up. In the Internet era, where trolls sit in their jammies in their Mommy’s basement and spew hate at women and Jews and Muslims and anyone who isn’t like them, you need to do one thing above all: show up. A tweet isn’t enough. A Facebook link isn’t enough. In Canada, with those who are pushing the Trump/Brexit plan – those like Kellie Leitch or Kevin O’Leary – that means peacefully confronting them on the stump or at their offices, and doing all that you can to put their election or re-election in peril. That’s what keeps them up at night. Show up, and make them worry. As Tip O’Neill said: all politics is local. So give the other side a problem that is local and that isn’t going away.
4. Stall, then stop the Trump/Brexit agenda. I’ve run war rooms for the winning campaigns of Jean Chretien and Dalton McGuinty, and this is always the winning war room strategy: get the other side to redirect energy away from their priorities. Mess up their day and their plans. Sap their energy, and demoralize them as they seek to impose their reactionary policies on the rest of us. Every day that you get them to focus on something that isn’t on their agenda is a day that you are winning. If you have enough days like that, they will give up and move on. Fight for every inch of territory, every single day.
5. Be what they aren’t. Don’t be like them! The other side aren’t diverse. They are overwhelmingly white, angry old men. Do all that you can to be unlike them, and reach out to others who are as concerned as you. Be diverse. Be positive. Be like a modern, civil society. Be what the Trump/Brexit cabal want to destroy. Your very existence, on an ongoing basis, reminds them they are losing the war.
6. Confront the other side where they are. It’s like hockey: get up in their grill. Get up close. That doesn’t mean breaking the law, or alienating the people you need to get onside. It means organized, localized, energized advocacy – because the other side knows that takes more effort, and poses a far greater threat to them. You need to show up at town halls, and public events, and political offices. Get prepared, get there early, get your people asking questions – and don’t give up the microphone until you get a straight answer. And make sure to record the exchange, so you can share it with those who weren’t there.
7. Reach out to media. Let the media know you are going to show up. Let them know when you show up. And, afterwards, show them that you showed up. Don’t assume the media is omnipresent, and is aware of everything you and your group do – there are now far fewer reporters doing far more stories. Help them do their jobs. Send them audio and video clips. Keep them in the loop on your activities. And, when they write about you, send that out to your people and others. It’ll create an outsized impact, and that’s what the other side fears most. Advertise your media successes, always.
8. Use social media as a sword, not just a shield. There’s a couple things we know about Donald Trump and his supporters: one, they don’t like to be confronted with opposition or facts. And, two, they use social media, a lot. So, troll the Troll-in-Chief. Push back, online. Don’t be angry and hateful like he is, however: use creativity and links and facts to drive the other side nuts. And remember what James Carville once told me: “When you are punching the other guy, do it with a great big smile on your face.” It’ll drive him crazy.
9. Astro-turf them. Bombard them with social media. Overwhelm them with letters and emails. Suffocate them with an avalanche of targeted, smart, effective communications – repeating your message, over and over. Use the tactics Trump so often used against us: overpower them with words and images, and make it so they’re gasping for air. Keep your foot on their figurative necks until we all know we have won.
10. Finally, remember this: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Barack Obama said that while he was still President – and never have his words been truer than they are now. No fairy-tale impeachment is going to take place. No Trump/Brexit voters are going to magically come to their senses, and say they were wrong to vote the way they did. This is going to be a grinding, tough war every step of the way.

The only way we can stop the forces of division and hate is to get organized, go grassroots and show up. The only way we are going to prevail is by being what the other side isn’t (diverse) and stalling (and then stopping) their hateful agenda. Confront them where they are, astro-turf them, reach out to media, and use social media against them for a change.

And, most of all, don’t give up. This will be a long war. But if we focus on winning the key battles?

We will win that war.

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My fridge claims Iran is violating the nuclear arms deal. My stove was testifying before Congress and couldn't verify. #KellyAnnePolls

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 13, 2017

Always wondered what that button on my microwave was for. Thanks #kellyanneconway pic.twitter.com/4pDWuw8vQG

— Melvinder Singh (@MelvinderSingh1) March 13, 2017

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Quote:

Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway is suggesting that alleged government surveillance of Donald Trump during his campaign may have gone beyond the president’s accusation that former President Barack Obama had his phones tapped.

Conway tells New Jersey’s Bergen County Record that “there are many ways to surveil each other.” She says “you can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets — any number of ways.”

Conway went on to say that the monitoring could be done with “microwaves that turn into cameras,” adding: “We know this is a fact of modern life.”

Team Trump are all certifiably insane, of course. That’s a given. But this latest grievously self-inflicted wound cries out for comedic interpretation.  Be sure to share yours in comments!

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As I am certain you know, among Sikhs, wearing a Dastaar, or turban, is mandatory for all Amritdhari (or initiated) Sikh men and women. For the Sikhs, the Dastaar is an article of faith that represents honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety.  It is central to the Skin identity and is to be accorded respect.

By all but the BC NDP’s pals in the BC Federation of Labour, that is.

My Huff Po bit on the BC Dips resulted in a number of emails from a number of folks in God’s Country.  One told me a noteworthy story, with supporting evidence.

“Warren: As I’m sure you’ve heard, BC Fed is running an attack ad campaign on the BC Liberals and Christy Clark.  The first ad they ran showed the Christy Clark cartoon character actually jumping on a Sikh person wearing a turban.  When the Sikh community objected, the BC Fed people quickly deleted the scene.  You should put up the two clips I’m sending you on your blog.  They are incredibly disrespectful to the Sikh faith.”

I agree.  Here’s a bit of the slowed-down “before” ad, which I uploaded to YouTube:

 

And, here’s the “after lots of complaints” ad, with the anti-Sikh crap mysteriously absent:

 

BC Fed/BC NDP: we’re working to make life more culturally insensitive!

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Truer words not yet spoken:

All you Black folks, you must go
All you Mexicans, you must go
And all you poor folks, you must go
Muslims and gays, boy, we hate your ways
So all you bad folks, you must go

Somewhere out there, right now, a 16-year-old punk grrrrrl is writing the next anti-Trump Smells Like Teen Spirit anthem, and it’s a song that will change the world.  In the meantime, anticipate lots of punk rock (like this) and hip hop (like below) railing against the New World Disorder.

Bad time for people, but a good time for great rebel music and investigative journalism.

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