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Showing posts from June, 2019

"The Little Guy" Reimagined in the Age of Trump

My Dad would talk about “The Little Guy” all the time...   He would say things like: “No one is thinking about ‘the little guy....The unions exist because of the little guy. ..Political parties that cheat and only serve the rich are out to get the little guy....” It’s the idea that the little guy gets shoved aside.   Richard Nixon talked of the silent majority, and Ross Perot championed the middle class engine that was the middle class worker who drove the economic train. Bernie Sanders speaks of a revolution for the underserved, and Donald Trump spoke to the working class, middle of the road workers in the heartland who were underserved since the Great Recession. There is a fascination in our country with the underdog and the little guy. Frank Capra spoke to this mythos in “It’s a Wonderful Life” with the creation of George Bailey and the idea that hard work and perseverance are the backbone of the country and the essence of what makes America and Americans