2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: The Rise Of Bernie Sanders And The PANIC Of The Third Way Democratic Centrists [View all]bravenak
(34,648 posts)You really do have to live it to understand it. Yes. The 'oligarchy' takes advantage of it but they are merely taking advantage of human nature and the inherent tendencies of mankind. Your academic- market-economic based explanation does not address it from our point of view. It feels like a rationalization and a justification for individuals to blame a mysterious force for forcing people into behaiviours that they would have anyway. To blame the rich for things a poor man does to another poor man feels empty and phony. The worst thing to ever be was a slave of a poor white man. To live in a Jim Crow area where you do slightly better than a poor white farmer nearby. They would poison your cows. The day to day aspects are not addressed. Some say the oligarchy is oppressing blacks through the police force to protect themselves, but really it was to oppress us for ALL white folks to be above us. So if the rich is the poor white mans oligarchy then the poor white man along with all others are the black man's oligarchy, once we help you fight them, we still gotta fight YOU for equality if you chose to ignore it and just blame the rich.