The Roaring ’20s all over again
America’s Roaring ’20s of the 20th century were primarily about the pursuit of pleasure. Also called the Jazz Age, that decade brought new musical rhythms, the short-skirted flappers, and the dangerous but profitable profession of gangsters.
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1919, prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Instead of strengthening traditional values, the amendment ushered in the age of the bootlegger. From 1919 to 1933, when the amendment was repealed, the bootleggers, the flappers and the countless imbibing fiction writers were disillusioned by the 18th Amendment, but enjoyed each other’s company. To traditionalists, America was no longer Eden. The nation had become racy and unconventional.
Had the Depression and the looming World War II not curbed the Roaring ’20s’ enthusiasm, the rebellious, anti-establishment spirit of the ’60s would have prevailed 40 years earlier. Indeed, the ’20s and ’60s were much alike. The pace of the ’20s led author Willa Cather to write, “Men travel faster now, but I don’t know if they go to better things.”
Today, exactly 100 years later, we’re in the ’20s again and they’re already roaring.
Not about pleasure, but about politics and governance: not just who shall govern but what kind of governance we really want. Questions are being raised which even 10 years ago were unthinkable: Is capitalism bad? Are reparations realistic, making us responsible for our fathers’ fathers’ mistakes? Should taxpayers pay off the debt of those who thoughtlessly accrued it? Should we punish those who make billions even though they improved the standard of living of the rest of us? Is it the role of government to tell us what to think — whether about science, sexuality or obesity — and to label us bigots if we don’t think a certain way?
The current roar is ideological. It appears that, ideologically, the nation may well be just about evenly divided. The current roar, though, is totally unnecessary. It exists all because a considerable portion of the electorate refuses to accept the results of a presidential election. Interestingly enough, that refusal has not been led primarily by the losing political party, but by its media arm. Who beats the drums louder, the Democratic National
Committee and elected Democrats or five television networks and several national newspapers that hardly need to be named?
Barack Obama ran as a centrist. Before his first term ended, it was obvious he was a socialist lite, if not a socialist. But when he was re-elected, did those who opposed his reelection weep, then pronounce the imminent death of America, then set out to remove him from office? They did not. They set their sights on the next election, which is what the opponents of President Trump should have done in 2016 instead of trying to remove him.
Today’s roaring ’20s pit the Trumphaters against a quiet army of Americans. That army isn’t a silent majority but is at least a silent 50% of the nation’s voters. Conservatives are never as loud as liberals or radicals, but they vote and they hold strong beliefs. They also realize they are part of a great revolt that is nothing less than a populist uprising. They’re revolting against media disdain for non-elites, against the corporate embrace of the LGBTQ bullying machine, against the failed promises of globalism, against the stupidity of teaching transgenderism in elementary schools, and against big companies like Delta and others weighing in on social issues, but always on the liberal side.
To be against something means you’re for something else. In newspapers across the country, these silent “again’ers” have been dubbed the red-blooded and blue-collared. A sizable percentage of them are, and they will outlive Donald Trump because their movement is bigger than Donald Trump. Not always sharing his values, they share his concerns and are grateful he emerged to speak for them. Liberals cringe, but Trump is loved.
The big question is how will the 2020 election affect our current roar? The answer is it depends on whether or not voters accept the result of the election. Voters should, and if they don’t like the results, they should work hard toward the next election instead of behaving as Trumphaters have been doing for almost four years. It’s the roaring Trump-haters who have divided the country, not the quiet, hardworking deplorables.