In many ways, Trump played to America's dissatisfaction with the intelligent elite. In some ways, Americans with great privilege, education, and leadership roles and responsibilities talked down to and ignored people with less education and privilege. Over time, this narrative became a source of oppression, bad feelings, and struggle for less fortunate Americans--Americans who didn't enjoy a similar level of education, privilege, and success.
Trump took advantage of this, and manipulated people who were turned off by intelligent-elites, people who felt unheard, and people who were looking for a leader who believed in them. Sadly, Trump was not a champion for these people's health and welfare, instead, he used them to simply prop up his own wealth, power, pocketbook, and privilege.
I have always been in a quandary about the role of intelligent elites. As a child, I grew up in a home that honored and inspired education while also demonstrating distrust of intellectual elites. So, on one hand they encouraged me to get a good education, but on the other hand many stories were told that pointed out the oppression that intellectual elites created.
Throughout my career, many who you might refer to as intellectual elites both condemend and uplifted my perspectives, questions, ideas, and work. I've always been met with a good level of mistrust from both sides to this story, and that misstrust has kept me thinking about this topic. This experience has also given me a unique voice when it comes to these political discussions.
Some caution me about being an alarmist. One boss once called me a "police officer" since I questioned the ethics of the efforts that occurred in the work place. Yet, there are some truths I hold onto no matter what people think, and those truths are the following:
- Be unafraid to trust your intuition, but also regularly question that intution and flexibly be ready to change your point of view if your learning points you in that direction.
- Be unafraid to value your unique experience of living--too often the voices heard do come from privileged and elite segments of society. Everyone's truthful experience matters.
- If your position is unique, don't worry about it, but keep an eye on it. For example, overtime, I am often questioned about my point of view only to learn that five years ahead what I've said is greatly accepted by many.
- Be honest, question, and engage in civil discourse and debate. The truth is that none of us have the monopoly on truth and knowledge, and we all have to help each other with grace along the journey towards truth.