Why the Working Class and the Left Fail as a Couple and What to Do About It

[Javaman]

https://www.thenation.com/article/why-the-working-class-and-the-left-fail-as-a-couple-and-what-to-do-about-it/

>snip<

In my neck of the woods, the liberal left is NPR, expensive things made from tree stumps and backyard junk, yoga, TED talks, market produce, clean-lined furniture, and artisan anything.

>snip<

I grew up working class in Upstate New York. Early in grade school, I envied the kids who got picked out to participate in gifted and talented activities. We accepted as absolute truth that they were smart and the rest of us were not. It took me a long time to understand that the only thing those kids had that we didn’t was a leg up on the socioeconomic ladder. They were the kids who had houses, lunch from home, new clothes, and pocket money for pencils and candy. They made up a unicorn club at recess. We were not allowed in.

>snip<

And then came Donald Trump.

>snip<

Throughout the course of the long and painful election cycle, the hidden resentments were brought to the fore and magnified. Donald Trump dished out one idiotic idea after the next and the left gleefully piled on the ridicule. Unfortunately, so many of my neighbors felt they were the targets of the derision. The fires of white supremacy were fueled. Where before there was a divide between the rural working class and the left, Donald Trump successfully built a wall.

more at link... good read that all dems should read.

[lake loon]

1. I grew up in a blue-collar, solid Dem town

Sadly, the folks who are there now think all the left cares about are groups they don't identify with. I blame hate radio and all the years of message mangling by the likes of Limbaugh, Wiener-Savage and the rest. Too many folks in my town now think the left is anti-worker, anti-military, anti-farmer, anti-family, etc. It breaks my heart. Our message is 1) not being delivered by our "leaders" and 2) being ignored by the corporate media whenever it is delivered.

And it's bigger than the corporate media on TV. Small town newspapers carry nothing but right-wing columnists. There's no voice from the left on radio at all. The churches and VFW halls are full of RW propaganda. So many people are buffaloed into not fighting for their labor rights, their drinking water, their schools, their transportation systems.

The "election" of this sociopathic Congress and an illegitimate non-president is final proof.

[duffyduff]

2. We never had these guys, not since Nixon.

Nixon pandered to them using racist code. They were called "hard hats" then.

The "identity politics" term is a smear term used to trash minorities and especially women for not kowtowing to white males.

We are not going back to the 1950s, folks.

[Javaman]

3. well we have to start getting them back.

emphasizing that Unions and workers rights are important.

and it's no mystery that since nixon union membership has gone down year after year.

we dems let that happen.

we can blame anyone we want but at the end of the day, it's we Dems fault.

[thejoker123]

5. It's true

The left doesn't have a voice like the right. The right wing media industry is a single, massive, national booming voice without a counter, and that's the problem. As a result they control the messaging everywhere.

This is why the only areas where liberals have been successful is with social issues like equal rights. And that's because these are simple to understand, black and white (no pun intended) issues about basic human rights.

[brush]

4. One word explains it: racism.

It's been drilled into their heads by Limpbutt and Savage and FOX for decades and it has worked.

The very people who should be favorable towards the left and unions hate them because of the constant, 24/7 right wing, racist, misogynist dog whistles that dominate the air waves of our country.

Trump's "make America great again" code words penetrated the thin veneer of respectability and got down to the not deeply buried white identity politics of those who want their country back, who want the black guy out of the White House, and the woman candidate back in her place.

[hughee99]

10. Obama seemed to do much better among this group

Than Clinton did. After decades of having it drilled in, did a chunk of these people finally just become affected by it sometime after the 2012 election?

[brush]

11. Cali is still voting an Clinton's numbers are just about the same as Obama's in 2012

The vote suppression and Putin and Assange's hacking and Comey's underhanded, calculated machinations turned some of them but in my opinion, bought out a lot of people who didn't vote before.

He taped into a fear that their white privilege was going to be permanently gone after two terms of a black guy in the White House followed by a liberal woman who would appoint a liberal majority to the Supreme Court.

That was just too much for many of them and they heard his dog whistle ("Make America white, er ah, great again" and the hiring of white supremacist Bannon to his campaign staff) loud and clear and they turned out to vote and did their duty.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. I have to admit that some kinds of liberals make me ill, such as...

... the students shown in this video:

I come away thinking they haven't suffered enough if that's a focus in their lives. I certainly don't dislike them enough to put them in a "Khmer Rouge Killing Field" setting, but their elitism (as I perceive it) annoys me and I wouldn't want to be in their company very long.

I always went through a little culture shock when I worked my way through college. I'd work at some hellhole factory for awhile to save money, then I'd enroll in more classes at a nearby university and need some time to adjust to the "soft" people.

Nevertheless, even liberal elitists are better than conservatives. The conservatives will gladly exploit you and not even feel guilty about it.

[PassingFair]

9. I love those kids!

And I love Triumph, too.

[alarimer]

7. 30 years of Fox/Limbaugh propaganda

And too much corporate influence.

And don't give me that crap about "well, they're all racists, so who cares?" Well, it's a numbers game for one thing and, given the Electoral College, it's also where those votes are located. And it's also about redistricting. We need a certain amount just to win and win on the local level to avoid electoral annihilation on the state level, where districts are drawn.

Democrats can't afford to abandon them or they will never make gains on the state level or in Congress. It's simply pragmatism at this point. And of course, it's also about increasing turnout among those who do not vote. That matters as well.

Listen to Thomas Frank, who identified this problem years ago (he's not the only one to do so, however). I don't know what the solution is, exactly. We are battling ignorance, fake news, and propaganda from the right. It's hard to counter that when people are so vested in not believing the facts.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. "Free" trade agreements...

that took their jobs away (and talk of more such agreements) didn't help.

[phylny]

12. If I never her the phrase "liberal elites " again, I'll be happy..

I was reared on Long Island in a lower-middle-class home. From the time I was in high school, my high school-educated parents let us know college was where we were going. They sacrificed a lot for us. I have a graduate degree, my husband and I hav worked out butts off, and I'm liberal in that I want fair government, a social safety net, and the same kinds of opportunities for my kids and people their ages as I had.

Elitests are the Waltons, the Koch, the Trumps. Big difference.

[Bill USA]

13. the GOP is expert at conning those who most need the Democratic party. the author seems to have

swallowed the "Democrats are the party of the elite intellectuals - who look down on you working people" Big Lie. ( Athough, I wasn't able to read the article as the Nation said I had used up my allotment of free reads.)

Dems need to get the message out better that the Democratic party has always fought against the GOP for working people - to get better wages, working conditions, safer environment and trying to make college more available/affordable for all people.

Here is where DUers could help. Post the following on FB & all over the internet - It's a Classic:


[font size="+1"]A Day in the Life of a Joe Six-Pack Republican[/font][div style= "border: 3px solid #aaaaff;padding:10px;"]Joe gets up at 6:00 AM to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It's noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dad's; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republicans would still be sitting in the dark.)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

He turns on a radio talk show. The host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn't tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day)

Joe agrees. "We don't need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I'm a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."




here's another that needs wider distribution

What have Republicons ever done for America's middle class? - Thom Hartman

These are the 35 things the Dems have given the middle and lower class which Thom read on air on Wednesday's show.

John's 35 Reasons To Appreciate The Democratic Party - With All Their Faults

1) Democrats Fought for Social Security (F.D.R.)
2) Democrats Fought for Medicare (L.B.J.)
3) Democrats Fought for Medicaid (L.B.J.)
4) Democrats Fought for Welfare Benefits (F.D.R.)
5) Democrats Fought for Civil Rights (L.B.J.)
6) Democrats Fought for Unemployment Insurance (F.D.R.)
7) Democrats Fought for National Labor Relations Board (F.D.R.)
8) Democrats Fought for 8 Hour Work Day-5 Day Work Week- Work Place Breaks & Overtime Pay (F.D.R.)
9) Democrats Fought for Workers Compensation (Woodrow Wilson)
10) Democrats Fought for Americans with Disability Act (101st Democratic Congress - over G.H.W. Bush veto)
11) Democrats Fought for Holiday Pay(F.D.R.)
12) Democrats Fought for Medical Leave Act (Bill Clinton)
13) Democrats Fought for Prevention of Child Labor (F.D.R.)
14) Democrats Fought for Minimum Wage Act (F.D.R.)
15) Democrats Fought for Work Place Safety (OSHA) *** (Nixon)
16) Democrats Fought for Affirmative Action as it relates to Racial Discrimination (J.F.K)
17) Democrats Fought for Women's Rights (L.B.J)
18) Democrats Fought for Tax Fairness (Platform Issue)
19) Democrats Fought for Veterans Pay & Benefits (F.D.R.)
20) Democrats Fought for Consumer Protection / Consumer Bill of Rights (J.F.K.)
21) Democrats Fought for Gun Law's / Background Checks to prevent felons from getting Weapons (L.B.J) (B.Clinton)
22) Democrats Fought for Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights (Barack Obama)
23) Democrats Fought for Funding Our Schools (L.B.J.)
24) Democrats Fought for Grants for low income people to attend college (L.B.J.)
25) Democrats Fought for Environmental Regulations - Clean Water Act / Clean Air Act (Dems Override Nixon Veto)
26) Democrats Fought for Financial Regulations keeping Wall Street Wizards Accountable (Dodd/Frank - Obama)
27) Democrats Fought for Affordable Health Care for Everyone (Obama Care)
28) Democrats Fought for Hate Crime Legislation (Matthew Shepard) (Barack Obama)
29) Democrats Fought for Children's Health Legislation for 11 Million Children without Health Care (Barack Obama)
30) Democrats Fought for Voting Rights Act (L.B.J)
31) Democrats Fought for National Voter Registration (Bill Clinton)
32) Democrats Fought for Largest Deficit Cutting Plan in History (Bill Clinton)
33) Democrats Fought for Clayton Anti-Trust Act (Woodrow Wilson)
34) Democrats Fought for Securities & Exchange Act (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
35) Democrats Fought for National School Lunch Program (Harry Truman)