Time for Democrats to shun the "white working class"?

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Is it time to give up on trying to appeal to this demographic, and focus exclusively on wealthy suburbanites and urban minorities?

[Sumner 1868]

Wealth suburbanites and minorities can't build an alliance because their interests are at odds.

[The_Doctor]

Not really no. White working  class people vote on pocket book issues, like everyone else.

[The_Doctor]

Why would a political party categorically shun any large and diverse demographic group?

The "white working class" in the US includes large numbers of people who are young, unmarried, irreligious, or enrolled in public benefits - all groups that vote heavily for Democrats, to the extent that they vote at all.

The Republican Party ignores minorities and see how that helps them? (Not). These white working class voters are natural Democrats, in many ways. The Democratic Party should be smart enough to bridge the Silicon Valley types with the white working class types.

[Maxwell]

absolutely not - I think Dems have to keep trying.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

lol

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Only in private.

Why would a political party categorically shun any large and diverse demographic group?

The "white working class" in the US includes large numbers of people who are young, unmarried, irreligious, or enrolled in public benefits - all groups that vote heavily for Democrats, to the extent that they vote at all.

The Republican Party ignores minorities and see how that helps them? (Not).

Republicans have the trifecta in Washington.

[Technocracy Timmy]

Good morning (Torie)

Well this topic already escalated.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Well this topic already escalated.

[windjammer]

I think it's possible to get them back at Obama2012 level

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

What'd Evergreen say?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

What'd Evergreen say?

you can see it in nix's thread on the atlas board ^^

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

What'd Evergreen say?

you can see it in nix's thread on the atlas board ^^

I did. You can do better than that. Boooorrrrrriiiiinnnnngggg.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I think it's worth mentioning that there is a handful of states where white deaths outnumber white births.  I used to feel kinda sad about that, but you know, there's this novel thing called "personal responsibility" that fewer people are taking advantage of these days.  You know, "personal responsibility" - that buzzword that Republicans and olds on Facebook throw around when ever they feel like taking out their grievances out on minorities and young people?

I do not like to make light of most people's deaths, but perhaps it is time these folks started practicing what they preach.  Instead of blaming the blacks or the gays or the Muslims or the Jews or any other "baddie" for your own shortcomings, try owning those things yourself.  And if, for what ever reason, you cannot contribute anything of value to the community you live in, then at least have the courtesy to not pass on your legacy to future generations who might otherwise have a better shot at life than you did.  That's what I've been, uh, "practicing," and it's worked quite well for me so far.  It will work as well for anyone regardless of their race or their gender or how much of their lives they've spent sitting in a cubicle, or wherever.

For disclosure: if saying all of this makes me a Horrible Person™, I'm fine with that classification.  I accept it.  But at any rate, my own health problems (which I have tried not to make too big a deal about in public... not anymore at least) are going to kill me by middle age anyway, so it's not like it really matters.  I don't use that as an excuse to sht on everybody who doesn't look like me or engage with the metaphysical the same way that I do.

Live a simpler life.  Take responsibility for yourself.  Don't have children out of wedlock.  Take care of your own family (if you have any) and what goes on in your own backyard.  Turn yourself over to something greater than yourself.  Quit idolizing celebrities.  Those things are what's in the best interest of the "white working class," and more.

oh, and stop watching porn.


Oh, and on a final important note, my disdain for WWC yahoos should not be taken as a nod to Silicon Valley yuppies/elitists, who have as much a role in America's cultural decay as anyone else.

[RINO Tom]

Democrats of all races, genders, education levels and income levels tend to agree on most issues these days, including economic ones.  Even if they're more moderate than poor inner-city minorities on fiscal issues, wealthy liberals are largely on board with a more government regulated economy; there simply aren't these socially liberal Reaganites in the Democratic Party that this board imagines.  Period.  Democratic leadership knows this, which is why even in an election like 2016, Hillary Clinton relied HEAVILY on populist economic rhetoric, even if she threw a few bones to disaffected Republicans regarding Trump's "sanity" or whatever.  The Democratic Party can't abandon liberalism and remain viable, and any party with liberalism as a tenant must represent the interests of the working class.  Period.

[parochial boy]

I think it's worth mentioning that there is a handful of states where white deaths outnumber white births.  I used to feel kinda sad about that, but you know, there's this novel thing called "personal responsibility" that fewer people are taking advantage of these days.  You know, "personal responsibility" - that buzzword that Republicans and olds on Facebook throw around when ever they feel like taking out their grievances out on minorities and young people?

I do not like to make light of most people's deaths, but perhaps it is time these folks started practicing what they preach.  Instead of blaming the blacks or the gays or the Muslims or the Jews or any other "baddie" for your own shortcomings, try owning those things yourself.  And if, for what ever reason, you cannot contribute anything of value to the community you live in, then at least have the courtesy to not pass on your legacy to future generations who might otherwise have a better shot at life than you did.  That's what I've been, uh, "practicing," and it's worked quite well for me so far.  It will work as well for anyone regardless of their race or their gender or how much of their lives they've spent sitting in a cubicle, or wherever.

For disclosure: if saying all of this makes me a Horrible Person™, I'm fine with that classification.  I accept it.  But at any rate, my own health problems (which I have tried not to make too big a deal about in public... not anymore at least) are going to kill me by middle age anyway, so it's not like it really matters.  I don't use that as an excuse to sht on everybody who doesn't look like me or engage with the metaphysical the same way that I do.

Live a simpler life.  Take responsibility for yourself.  Take care of your own family (if you have any) and what goes on in your own backyard.  Turn yourself over to something greater than yourself.  Quit idolizing celebrities.  Those things are what's in the best interest of the "white working class," and more.

oh, and stop watching porn.


Oh, and on a final note, my disdain for WWC yahoos should not be taken as a nod to Silicon Valley yuppies/elitists, who have as much a role in America's cultural decay as anyone else.

Even if I understand your frustration "personal responsibility" is a nasty, nasty snakish phrase and should be rejected wherever it comes up.

We should never, ever allow someone's own personal "failures" to justify their suffering, because, you know what, people suffering is a bad thing, and is unneccesary in a society as wealthy as 21st century America.

[RINO Tom]

A little off-topic, and I'm NOT being facetious, I promise:

In what ways is America overly wealthy?  I mean, I *know* we're one of the wealthiest countries on Earth just living here and having traveled to several other countries, but are people mostly just talking about GDP?  It seems the same people who will talk about our problems and compare us to the likes of Denmark or Sweden in one category or another will turn around and say our economic problems are inexcusible because we are so wealthy, so I'm just curious what the usual metric used is.

[parochial boy]

I was thinking in terms of GDP per capita adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity.

The comparison with the Nordic countries usually works because they are countries with similar levels of economic development (all are in the region of $50k), but have significantly lower levels of people living on low incomes, living in relative poverty, in poor health, dying young etc...

You could argue for HDI as a measure (or even income inequality adjusted HDI), but it is a little subjective as the US has much higher inequality, and lower life expectancy and literacy, relative to other countries with similar levels of GDP per capita.

Gross GDP would be a completely useless measure for obvious reasons...

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The Democratic Party can't abandon liberalism and remain viable, and any party with liberalism as a tenant must represent the interests of the working class.  Period.

I mean, this is obviously the correct answer. Not to be rude, but the position seemingly put forward by the OP is completely bonkers. Remove 'working class issues' from the liberal program, and you're left with  a creepy dystopian party of technocratic elites like something out of Brave New World, micro-managing society 'for the greater good.' I'd vote for Trump before I supported a party like that.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Even if I understand your frustration "personal responsibility" is a nasty, nasty snakish phrase and should be rejected wherever it comes up.

This is part of the problem.

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No, but a person who uses their failures to justify open hostility to minorities deserves no sympathy, as far as I'm concerned, from anyone.  The left becomes complicit in this when they write these attitudes off as "economic anxiety."  If anything, they are completely fine with suffering as long as the people they hate suffer more.

We did not get people like Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, and Greg Gianforte in our government by accident, remember.  People had to vote those guys in.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The left has an imperative moral duty to appeal to working-class voters, regardless of whether doing so is a "smart" electoral strategy.

[Xing]

Shunning large swaths of voters isn't really an option for Democrats, at this point.

[parochial boy]

No, but a person who uses their failures to justify open hostility to minorities deserves no sympathy, as far as I'm concerned, from anyone.  The left becomes complicit in this when they write these attitudes off as "economic anxiety."  If anything, they are completely fine with suffering as long as the people they hate suffer more.

We did not get people like Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, and Greg Gianforte in our government by accident, remember.  People had to vote those guys in.

But I think the dynamic is a little more complex than that - the hostility towards minorities comes out of things like feelings of insecurity, of losing out in the modern world; basically it is an inevitable consequence of economic liberalism (using the European definition of liberalism). When you see your own life going backwards, it is not exactly surprising to see people blaming other people for it; after all, everyone has a tendancy to blame other people when things have gone wrong.

The fundamental reason the left exists is to stand up for the least powerful, which includes the WWC, and if it lets down these people then it is not doing its job at the end of the day.

On the back of that, I really think that shunning the white working class because we dislike their culture, or the way they have reacted to a negative set of circumstances, is just falling into the same "divide and rule" trap that the right use, and always have used, to keep themselves in power.

[Reaganfan]

No, but a person who uses their failures to justify open hostility to minorities deserves no sympathy, as far as I'm concerned, from anyone.  The left becomes complicit in this when they write these attitudes off as "economic anxiety."  If anything, they are completely fine with suffering as long as the people they hate suffer more.

We did not get people like Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, and Greg Gianforte in our government by accident, remember.  People had to vote those guys in.

But I think the dynamic is a little more complex than that - the hostility towards minorities comes out of things like feelings of insecurity, of losing out in the modern world; basically it is an inevitable consequence of economic liberalism (using the European definition of liberalism). When you see your own life going backwards, it is not exactly surprising to see people blaming other people for it; after all, everyone has a tendancy to blame other people when things have gone wrong.

The fundamental reason the left exists is to stand up for the least powerful, which includes the WWC, and if it lets down these people then it is not doing its job at the end of the day.

On the back of that, I really think that shunning the white working class because we dislike their culture, or the way they have reacted to a negative set of circumstances, is just falling into the same "divide and rule" trap that the right use, and always have used, to keep themselves in power.

Exactly. They'll take in the gay community, the black community, single moms and women, muslims and all of their problems....but if white voters have problems they'll call them "deplorable".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3-uNxmNj5o

Bill Maher got it right.

[ReaganLimbaugh]

They already have.