Working class whites - when did we lose them?

[ljm2002]

67. We have some very powerful myths in this country...

...the myth of self-sufficiency, the strong man who depends only on himself, makes it only on his own merits, and of course, who practices personal responsibility in all things.

Not that these are bad ideals in and of themselves. But then when you want to manipulate those who have invested their own identity in that powerful myth: they see themselves as embodying the myth; so all you have to do is to paint the Others (city folk; or black folk; or wimmin; or pretentious liberals; or stupid idealistic youth... you get the idea) as people who are not virtuous and do not adhere to these obviously superior values.

So Republicans play on the myth, never acknowledging what any rational person knows: that if nearly everyone in a very rich society is struggling -- well that means by definition, there is something wrong with how society is set up. Instead they push the myth of the individual, as though any of us exists in a vacuum. Of course we must honor the individual; we must also honor the group, the larger body of which we are all part.

That's part of it. The other part of it is that the Democratic Party has, in a very real way, stopped being the party of the working man and woman. They mad a choice to court the more liberal elements of corporate America, in exchange for financial support; and that is where the party now looks when considering policy matters. Unions have been relegated to second-class status, and blue collar (so-called uneducated) workers get little respect, much less good paying jobs, at least in this country. So people aren't stupid, they see where they stand with the so-called "liberal" party. They see the hypocrisy of the liberal elites who do little to help avert the slide into poverty for society's losers, which is becoming more and more of us. And once they see that hypocrisy, they are more likely to buy into those aforementioned comforting myths, from people who at least seem sure of themselves and who don't try and hide who they are.

JMHO