Liberal guilt?

[mothra1orbit]

Having met with so many Trump supporters up close, I am ashamed of myself for my elitist view of them. I watch Hillary on tv, with her ease that comes with being intelligent, having had an excellent education, being a lot like me--we are of the same generation--and I feel close to her in a way, I understand what she means when she speaks, I think things are funny that she thinks are funny. I feel the same kinship with Michelle Obama, with Gloria Allred, with Joy Reid. I don't mean that I think we could be friends or anything stalkery like that; I mean that if we encountered each other at a cocktail party we'd be able to exchange pleasantries.

And I feel totally alienated from the nice Trump folks--and they really were sweet as pie (of course I'm a nonthreatening old white woman)--I don't feel like I could spend five minutes in conversation with any of them, and I frankly wouldn't want to. And I feel terrible about this.

I think part of the unthinking rage that underlies support for Trump is the understanding that we liberals, many of us, or at least some of us, really do feel superior to them in terms of intelligence or at least education. And the suggestion that they don't understand what they are supporting when they support Donald Trump must be infuriating to them. How dare we?

Speaking only, god knows, for myself, I am troubled by this. I don't want to feel separated from this great population; I liked those people, even while wanting absolutely nothing to do with any of them personally.

I want to blame education for this. I know I said "so what" about Common Core, I do believe that there are things every one of us should know, if only to provide our country with a shared background on which to paint our various lives. And I hold every kind of work as honorable and valuable, it's not that. I don't want everyone to have to go to college, or even to read the books I deep down think they should read. It just seems to me (at the risk of sounding like an old fart, which I own I am) that the public education I received did make sure that everyone, no matter which "track" he or she was on, knew at least a little bit about Shakespeare, understood the way our government works, could do enough math to get by, and understood evolution. We all also learned to sew, to make mechanical drawings, to cook and to use power tools. Maybe I'm just out of touch, but I'm not sure kids today get exposed to as much stuff as they need to be.

I will appreciate any comfort anyone can offer.