Trump is a sign of the times - more symptom, than just problem.

[Beaches & Nature fan]

Hi everyone, here is my take on why Trump is president. I will begin by talking abou what I think is a serious decline in culture since the 1960s. I talked about this privately with Ernest but am reproducing it in full here:

I think America never really got over the  the 60s revolution.

A lot of good things came out of the 60s revolution: civil rights, increasing spiritual introspection in more diverse ways, greater respect for the environment. Technology for so many things has become so much better than those years and back. A wonderful diversity of people of different ethnic groups, religions, cultures, etc. 

But a lot of bad things came out of that time too: increasing divorce rates, greater single-parent homes, instant gratification (both physical and in terms of profit) became a much higher priority over values than it should be, which probably caused those divorces, etc. More drugs, more crime. It's true that the divorce rates have decreased some, since 1980 - but also, single-parent homes have increased since then too. Which leads me to believe, a major reason divorce rates are decreasing is because there are less 2-parent homes to divorce from. (Not to mention, some people, men, or increasingly women, just value career over marriage).

And while the good things from the 60's's still remain, we've been in a constant cultural and family structure decline in the ways I mentioned, since that time. And it hasn't gotten better.

There was a New York Times article recently, that compared the 60's revolution to today's "revolution". The writer said that the big difference is, back in the 60's the attitude was, that change is possible. However, today, it's more about doors closing on certain people. I would add, it's also about increasing political violence, and benefits being taken away from people, and catering to the rich. That's why today's "revolution/protests" are considered worse by this writer. And I agree, due to the factors I mentioned in these times, it probably is worse. 

(Although of course, recency bias makes people forget that the Vietnam War created a significant amount of violence on the streets in those days).

But that writer - and this is why I do not identify as Democrat or Republican, and never will - is biased, and left out all the bad things that came out of the 60s, in that article.

This leads me to Trump. I am not sure where many of you are regarding him, but I am not at all a Trump supporter. But while I am disappointed people voted for him, I also do not harbor any bitterness or resentment toward them either. I am someone who (with some notable exceptions) generally always keeps sane with perspective.

 No doubt, Trump is "the problem" causing all this angst on the streets, the violence, the bitter discourse, etc. But he also is very much the symptom of the cultural and values decline we have had for decades. And this decline is not just for any one party. It's the whole country. Democrats act like they are so out of the woods from this problem, like they are not a big part of the reason Trump won. That is NOT true. I don't even know where to begin, as far as how much the Democrats have gone downhill.

I honestly don't believe Trump would have ever won elections from the year 2000 on back. Maybe he would have, but I highly doubt it. But these days, the way the country and world is, it is not surprising at all. 

It is my hope that through these times, we can learn positive lessons from it and move forward better, as a society. It's possible, but I am not so sure. We either must take good lessons (what to do and what not to do), or we go further down the hole of decline.

While  am not suggesting we "reinvent the wheel", we do seriously need to think of how we do politics and business today, in a way that is adjusted to 2025. Not 1985. I think the old Democrat/Republican models are either decaying, or are way too out of touch with today's times. I don't know what the answers are though. No idea at this point.

So, let's see what happens. We stay tuned.

Peace,

Vik

[Ernest Prabhakar]

Amen! Thanks for sharing.

On the one hand, it’s heartbreaking how so many people seem obsessed with finding blame rather than
learning how to find solutions.

On the other hand, this implies that if we can get over our own blind spots there might me a simple (if extremely painful) solution staring us in the face….

Love,
Ernie
Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 19, 2025, at 09:43, Beaches & Nature fan <mountai...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 

[Beaches & Nature fan]

Thank you Ernie. Feel free to share my writings with anyone, even beyond this group, if you are interested in doing so.

All the best,

Vik