Mourning the 'death' of 'traditional America'

>>> how do you think it got this tight?

>> it's a changing country. the demographics are changing. it's not a traditional america anymore, and there are 50% of the voting public who want stuff.

>> welcome back to "the ed show. the" republicans like bill o 'reilly with whining about the death of what they call traditional america . o'reilly claims these are signs that america is falling apart. fewer people go to church regularly. more babies are born to unmarried minorities. women get abortions on demand and two states legalized recreational use for marijuana. o'reilly says americans voted for a man who won't be good for the country. he thinks voters just didn't understand the issues.

>> secularism is an eroding traditional power. no question about it. the sps don't care did bakz. they don't want limitation on private behavior, no judgments. want to smoke drugs? fine. want to abort a fetus? we'll drive you to the clinic. want to have a kid when you're 16? no problem at all. we'll support you. i believe the majority of american can be persuaded that the far left is a dangerous outfit bent on destroying traditional america and replacing it with dependence and poverty.

>> all right, folks, give you a chance to consume that. if this sounds familiar, doggone it, it is. republicans like o'reilly have been trying to sell the same traditional america message for decades.

>> don't look now, young man, but somebody has his hand in the pocket. it's the hand of big government .

>> i ask you to join me in helping to restore the individual freedoms and initiatives this nation once knew.

>> goldwater, nixon, reagan, bush, mccain and romney complained about big government . complained an awful lot about big government but supported laws against abortion, marriage and pot. it looks like republicans still haven't learned what real american values are after all. let's bring in joan walsh editor at large for salon.com and author of "what's the matter with white people ." michael eric dyson is with us today from georgetown university . professor, you first. what are traditional american values . pretty generic question but pinpointing the answer was it.

>> no doubt about it. i heard once a division that tradition is the living faith of dead men and women, and the traditional is the dead faith of living men and women. since he said traditional, it's the dead faith of men and women. this harkening back to a gold enera is predicated on the desire to control the president by pro jkting a past that never was what they claimed it was. when "father knew best" and american white men were at the helm of american society in television and beyond, women were abused and the silencing of minorities happened and there's an extraordinary inability of america to recognize freedom for everybody. for me, tradition is democracy, freedom, justice, equality, and the ability to project the best of the american spirit to the world. i believe in american traditions, just not the ones that bill o 'reilly wants to celebrate.

>> in your book you say ronald reagan lied about poverty so he could succeed. you wrote middle class folks didn't centhave to worry they were indulging resentment. they were doing it because those programs hurt poor people . reagan said so. do the republicans still believe this message?

>> i don't know if they really believe it. i don't know if they care. they don't care about the poor, but they've been selling it for a long time, ed. i'm with michael. he is looking backwards to an america that wasn't as wonderful as he thinks, and he's becoming kind of like a glenn beck figure. he's really not leaving it alone. when he went here on election night , i thought maybe he'll get over it. the majority of americans voted for barack obama . we have values. the majority of catholics voted for barack obama . a vast majority of jews voted for president obama . he has a problem with white protestant southern evangelical people, but he doesn't have -- it's not his whole coalition is secular. we have values, too.

>> professor, how can we not come to the conclusion that bill o 'reilly thinks diversity is the root of all evil in america after listening to that?

>> well, it's hard not to conclude that, because what is happening here is a kind of refrenchment, a kind of politics of panic and fear. it's not what we believed it to be. it's now how we believed it to be. it's not the kind of society we believed in because we don't see ourselves reflected in the broader society. it's a matter of trust. we don't trust these people. we don't know who barack obama is. they spent the last four years trying to define obama outside of the arc of american identity . they've tried to define african- american people , latinos, women, gay, lesbian people outside of the arc of america . guess what? after 2050 the majority of america will not be white. the majority of america will be diverse and not only racially but beliefs and ideas about what makes america great. you do not have a copyright on what it means to be an american. it means to be skeptical of those who claim that their variety of patriotism is the only route to redemption for america . i say open the doors, bring us your teaming masses, and allow the great ideals of the world to nourish american identity .

>> joan, how insulting is it to voters that decided to vote for president obama on election day ?

>> it's deeply insulting. he's saying that we want stuff. that we're dependent. that we're lazy. the fact is, you know, bakz in the '60s and '70s and said love it or leave it. i want to say to them, america love it or be left behind . you don't love america if you can't embrace this change. you're going to be a very sad, grumpy old man, and you're going to turn out like bill o 'reilly, and that's not pretty.

>> great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much.

>> thank you.

>>> now that the election is over, donald trump has found yet a new target. i'll show you who it is next. stay with us. mr.