Golis: Donald Trump, Brexit: Result when political elites live in a bubble

The factory and mill towns of America have been declining for decades. There's nothing new about the effects of globalization - or the losses that follow a hometown company's decision not to invest in training, equipment and technology for a changing world.

Until Donald Trump came along, however, no national politician was willing to speak up for these towns. The folks who live there felt abandoned by the political elites of both parties.

This is not to say that Trump will resurrect these towns - he won't - but he knows how to tap into their anger. When Trump heaped scorn on the Washington establishment and its bipartisan trade deals, people felt recognized.

Never mind that a trade war would lead to a recession and the loss of additional millions of U.S. jobs.

Republicans, in particular, were shocked by Trump's success. For years, they have been telling voters to distrust people in government, only to be surprised when voters chose Trump over Republicans with experience in government. Now the party has a presumptive nominee who promises to abandon the foreign and economic policies that have guided the GOP for more than 50 years.

If you're like me, you know people with an unvarnished revulsion for one or the other of the presumptive nominees.

One group, mostly Republicans, despises Democrat Hillary Clinton. It may be because she's a woman, or it may be because she's been a political insider for a very long time, but their feelings are not disguised. They don't like her.

The second group, mostly Democrats, fears for the well-being of the country if Trump is elected president. They view him as racist, sexist, demagogic and unreliable.

So here we are. Clinton and Trump are poised to become the two most unpopular candidates ever to win the nominations of their respective parties, and Americans will be asked to make the best of it.

A national survey published Thursday found the highest level of voter dissatisfaction in two decades. Only 43 percent of the Democrats and 40 percent of the Republicans say they are satisfied with their choices. Forty-one percent of the electorate believes neither would be a good president.

The poll also found that voters are more likely to view their vote as an expression of opposition to the rival candidate than as an expression of support for their own candidate.

As proof this is becoming an election like no other, a Republican senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse, said Thursday he would continue to withhold his endorsement from his party's standard bearer. His spokesman explained: “Mr. Sasse continues to believe that our country is in a bad place and with these two candidates, the election remains a Dumpster fire.”

We were reminded last month that the disenchantment of voters is not unique to the U.S. When a majority of voters in the United Kingdom decided they wanted to withdraw from the European Union, many of the same grievances - immigration, globalization, a declining standard of living for working class people - came into play.

In Britain, too, politicians seemed to be living in a bubble, isolated from the people whose economic standing doesn't match what they had been taught to expect.

The same stories are told in small towns in California and in countless other American cities once dominated by manufacturing, mining, lumber or textiles.

Young people go away to college and never return - because the jobs they want are to be found in the growing and prosperous urban centers. Those who remain are left to get by with less, whether measured in income, public services or health care.

It would have been better if political elites, Republican and Democratic alike, were willing to engage in straight talk about economic change - and about how government might help these communities make the transition to a new economy.

But there are political risks associated with telling people how change will disrupt their lives, and there are political risks associated with acknowledging that government can't bring back the world that used to be.

So, political elites spend a lot of time talking with (or past) each other.

Representative government is coming face-to-face with a crisis of confidence. We are obliged to choose a future president from two candidates many dislike. We are obliged to imagine how self-government works in an era in which distrust of government is rampant. We are obliged to overcome our apathy, or watch as money from special interests replaces the will of the people. And we are obliged to recognize that a large, diverse and often divided country can only sustain itself when people understand the need for compromise.

These are not obligations likely to make us feel more enthusiastic about our responsibilities as citizens. But we should be beyond grammar school civics lessons by now. Elective government requires our attention and our understanding of its imperfections. From now until forever, you can be sure that indifference becomes the surest path to more of the same - or worse.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.