As soon as the election results in 2024 started flooding in on that November day I had the same confused feeling that many like-minded privileged voters had……How? Why? Am I dreaming? How? Is this real life?
People were walking around in a silent panic – The bleeding heart liberals were heart-broken and in a deep psychological pain: Do people not care about women’s rights and the transgender community? What about Black Lives Matter? What about this social issue and that social issue? Doesn’t anyone care?
I had to ask my inner conservative to slap myself across the face quickly in order to realize that Democrats need to pull themselves together and face the hard reality:
The answer is No….Most people don’t care….. And it doesn’t mean that people who voted for Trump are bad people.
I would challenge that they don’t care not in an “I hate you” kind of a way, but more of an “I feel indifferent or disinterested about this topic” kind of way. They may actually be a great person and have a diverse set of friends and maybe they even have a transgender grandchild who they love dearly….. But they still didn’t vote with the social issues. How can that happen?
Because the price of eggs is too high.
There is a basic concept in psychology called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Never heard of it? Maybe it is because you chose a more challenging degree path than psychology and I commend you for that :). I’ll break this simple concept down as this is time for the “soft sciences” to shine!:
If you are worried about how much your groceries are and whether or not you can pay rent in a week, you have limited mental room to think and show concern beyond that, and especially not about complex topics.
I mean, think of how incredibly complex the transgender issue is for a minute: We are talking about humans that are born into bodies that don’t match their heart and minds. That is a wild concept, right? To truly understand this concept you would need to understand the social construct of gender on a deep level and study biology and have the ability to think beyond the binary world you have spent your whole life living in. To some people, understanding the concept of being transgender is almost as difficult as seeing an alien appear on their doorstep. They can see it is there but they just can’t quite believe it… and some may go so far as denying it is there. Being born in a body that doesn’t match your mind is such a foreign idea to some people that the very notion of its existence challenges their ability to believe it can even be a possibility…. Wow. That is some deep sh*t.
And half the country is going to think "Why are we even talking about this when I am just hungry for fried eggs?"
And no, I don’t think this is an issue between the very rich and the very poor, because Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is not exclusively about economic class – it is about a deep psychological feeling of having your needs met.
- It could be a business owner that is worried about making their next payroll.
- It could be a high wage earner that has a mortgage they are in over their heads with.
- It could be someone that was sexually assaulted in broad daylight and they are worried about their physical safety all day.
- It could be a college graduate that is worried they can’t find a job while watching their student debt pile up.
Trump’s message spoke to all of these deep fears – he spoke to the biggest base of the pyramid….and he did it well.
The bottom line is that if you go ask the mom in rural Kentucky about how she is supporting her transgender kid she might punch you in the mouth because you are in her way of feeding the backyard chickens. It doesn’t matter if her “son” likes to wear dresses when she can’t afford to buy milk at the grocery store. And when she shows up to the polling station and she has to think of whether she wants food in the cupboard or for her kid to be able to use the right pronouns at school….I think scrambled eggs will trump pronouns every time (yep, pun intended).
The Republicans are simply better marketers and they won the idea war over basic needs. Whether it is true or not, the red side convinced enough of the general public that if they are voted in, then they will solve everyone’s physiological and safety needs. That’s a big claim and I truly hope they do.
Meanwhile, Democrats need to rethink their marketing strategy, because while the blue side went after the top of the pyramid, appealing to humanity’s highest sense of self and deep desire to find harmony and peace and understanding in the world, the Republicans were smart enough to go after the people that just want to be safe and well fed….and they won.
It is easy to villainize red voters in a “How could you?!?!?!?” kind of way, but I’d argue that we can’t fight against the core desire of people. Democrats have to find a better way to appeal to everyone and not just those that are privileged enough to be “self-actualized” and sit on the top of the pyramid with their mortgage paid and savings in the bank and the mental space to have complex discussions about gender ideology over a glass of wine at night. Dems: you already won with that group so please move on to the chicken farmers instead.
So now what?
My plea to Democrats: Don’t stop the fight, but we need to be smarter. I love how Democrats fight for the oppressed and appeal to what is good and just in the world….. Keep going. But how about we start a few campaigns talking about how the blue side ALSO cares about your breakfast.
Hey, we can do a whole campaign about how not only do we care about the price of eggs, but you can have your eggs any way you want them… and the government shouldn’t tell you how to make your eggs just like they shouldn’t tell you how to dress your kids…..ever.
Why can’t it be “we want to save the economy AND we believe that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect?”. I think that is a concept that appeals to all the pyramid levels while not losing sight of what half the country cares about:
The price of those damn eggs.
Change It Anyway 