By abandoning values, we created Donald Trump
What must be said about Donald Trump, a savvy media personality, and his thrust into national politics? His narcissism destroys camaraderie; his bombast crushes civility. Trump’s political success is energized solely by angry populism, and his candidacy is championed by those who justifiably fear political estrangement within a rapidly changing global economy.
This fear generates deep anger and frustration in those inhabiting a vanishing middle class and results in the scapegoating of others, especially the poor, the homeless and the migrant. Greed on a global scale — what has been called “a great vampire squid” — has infected our values and now threatens to control our electoral processes.
What does Trump’s candidacy tell us about ourselves? Mainly, I believe, that we have created him. How? By worshiping media, by abandoning our spiritual values, by neglecting middle-class families and their communities, and by assuming rights and freedoms without shouldering the corresponding responsibilities of citizenship.
Dan Biezad, San Luis Obispo
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 9:36 PM with the headline "By abandoning values, we created Donald Trump."