Demographics -- rethihnking

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 2, 2015 at 17:47

Michael was right about the demographic change in the US; I was wrong. There has definitely been a change, though (1) it is not what people generally think, and (2) it does not explain Obama's getting elected. Some figures:

Racial Make-up of the US (2010):

• Non-Hispanic White: 64%
• Non-Hispanic Black: 12% (17% in 1940)
• Hispanic: 16%
• Other, incl mixed: 8%

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

Obama was not elected because whites in the US suddenly got deluged by an influx of nonwhites. Look at the numbers: 64% is a significant majority; and the majority among voting-age Americans is considerably larger. Obama was elected largely by WHITE Americans, who have changed INSIDE, not by some new demographic group.

Concerning marriage, 52% of Americans in 2010 were married, compared with 61% in 1940. That's a decline, but not as great as one would think from watching TV sitcoms

Never married: 35% in 2010, 33% in 1940 -- hardly any change

Divorced: 10% in 2010 vs. 1% in 1940. That IS a significant change (It almost single-handedly shows why there are 9% fewer married people now than 70 years ago); but again, it is a change happening between people's ears. Spaceships did not invade us and fill the earth with divorced people.

The US has been gradually getting older and more educated; and white people are having fewer children. Over the years, this has taken a toll; but the US does not look like it does on TV: Yes, half of the two talk-show hosts on PBS (consisting of Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley) are black: but Charlie speaks for some 70+ % of the viewing audience, and Tavis for about 10%. Latinos are not represented at all; they're just talked about, even though they outnumber Blacks.

Maybe that's why it's hard to find a straight, married white person on "regular" TV programming (homosexuals make up less than 5% of the US population), but the "oldies" on MeTV and This are nearly all white: Modern viewers, who live in a fantasy that all the white people have disappeared in the US can watch the "regular" programming; but because most of the audience are whites, they throw in the "nostalgic' shows.

I won't pretend that the US hasn't changed; but it's ridiculous to think that we got a "black" President because we've suddenly become a nation of black people. I'm white, and so is most of my extended family. My grandchildren are half Chinese; but they aren't old enough to vote yet. They did not vote Obama into office: The ones who voted him in were largely white Baby Boomers like me, who had their minds deranged by drugs and professors in the 1960s and 1970s, and by their children some of whom never heard of Noah or Moses, and who think Jesus is a rock star on rehab.

Shalom shalom :-)

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