The construct of ‘Two Americas’ has changed

In speeches at Stanford University in the mid-1960s,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr coined the term “Two Americas.” He described the
then starkly different lives and opportunities of social classes in America.

Like many cool things, that term was stolen from an
African American and co-opted by white liberal Democrats. It was used as
divisive political rhetoric. But the gaslighting of middle America by
opportunist politicians has caused the meaning of the term to change. It no
longer means Republican America bad, Democrat America good.

Democrats have become a party that pushes victimization,
providing perpetual excuses and anger in those who do not want to work for the
American Dream. Entitlement, exemplified by people who are slow to go back to
work after the government sent out all that “sit at home money,” is now
justified. As small business owners cannot staff their businesses and find
themselves dependent on a flawed supply chain, America sinks deeper into
socialism. Oddly, socialist policies cause those very maladies that Democrats
blame on capitalism.

Today’s Democrats are right. There are “Two Americas”:
one that works and pays taxes and one that doesn’t. One that wants to protect
our Southern border from illegal crossers and one that wants to register them
as reliably dependent Democrat voters. There are “Two Americas” in Democrat
minds and, apparently, one is Mexico.

It is the electoral philosophy of such voters that put
one-party Democrat rule into power and created Gary, Indiana; Detroit, Michigan;
Baltimore, Maryland; and now the floundering Atlanta, Georgia. Democrats value their
power more than they love their country or the cities they govern.

It is a “woke” leftist America that now forbids
comedians like Dave Chappell and Bill Burr from making fun of the absurd reality
the Democrats have created. Our humorless society will not be fun to live in.
The left decides what is funny, not you. Chappell’s statement that there are
two genders sparked a lot of “ he said, she said” and “she/he said.” Plus, some
“he/she said.” It’s all very confusing.

I was boycotted from a radio station after a
discussion about Disney now pushing for more “plus-sized” actresses to play
their characters. I suggested they change the name of Tinker Bell to Taco Bell.
Fortunately, I do not do this for a living and my house is paid off, so I can
withstand the “cancel culture” so carefully cultivated by the left. I enjoy a
freedom that most comedians working today cannot risk; they must conform to the
will of the “woke” left.

We live in a world where the leftist tech oligarchs at
Facebook and Twitter decide what we can say. If we do not fit their PC
narrative, we are taken down.

In the “Two Americas” narrative that Democrats like to
throw around are concealed basic truths, such as the Draconian shutdowns of
Democrat-controlled cities during COVID and the resulting economic devastation
of small businesses. Democrats have not empowered their disciples but rather
have indentured them to the all-powerful, big socialist, big government of
which they are in charge.

Dems love to indoctrinate followers with a philosophy
of entitlement, dependence and victimhood. The result is seething anger at
those who have succeeded instead by the gumption and independence that results
in self-worth.

They trumpet equality of outcome in America as
a right. They ignore the fact that some people work harder than others and
therefore results vary. And they should. It is demonstrably false that one
man’s success comes at the expense of another’s.

Biden and Kamala Harris stoke these resentments. They
like to focus on issues they cannot be judged on (climate, racial inequality,
etc.) instead of basic, common-sense issues like keeping gas prices and
inflation under control and getting our military equipment out of Afghanistan
when we withdraw – or even just keeping crime off the streets. Even crime has
become political. When someone breaks into a house, the tone of Democrats has
become that the victim, because he had something worth stealing, is actually
the one at fault.

Liberal elites are a lot of wealthy people trying to
convince poor people to vote for their rich people by telling poor folks that
Republican rich people are the reason they are poor.

The first presidential campaign theme to use “Two
Americas” was that of liberal elite plaintiff’s lawyer John Edwards. It turned
out that out he was indicted for six felonies covering up an extramarital
affair that purportedly spawned a pregnancy. So there were “Two Americas,” and
John Edwards had a family in both of them.

Ron Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist,
award-winning author, and TV/radio commentator; you can reach him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or
Twitter @RonaldHart.