A Question About The Democratic Narrative
President Lyndon B. Johnson once said: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”What kind of Democratic narrative will it take for Mr, Mrs , and Ms White Working Class America to wake up to the fact that they’ve been had by Trump and the Republican Party?
koshersalaami
06/30/2019 @ 6:35 am
Start with taxes. The taxes on average people have risen while they’ve fallen drastically on the very wealthy.
06/30/2019 @ 9:55 am
I think it will take a full court press of healthcare reform (and not just tying pretty ribbons to Obamacare), REAL support of unionization, stringent enforcement of the laws dealing with corporate greed, STRONG climate change laws and ending our multi-decade wars (to include neutering the MIC). In other words, DOING all of the things that Bernie proposes, rather than the normal Democratic BS of saying the words, then acting like a bunch of Republicans.
06/30/2019 @ 1:29 pm
Almost everyone who has significant 401K investments has seen the value of those investments rise dramatically along with the stock market. Of course, that will only last until the market crashes again…and there’s no easy way to offload a 401K by converting it to cash. In fact, once into a 401IK, you are trapped in it. That’s why cash profit sharing is always a better option.
So, while lower middle class tax payers have seen their taxes go up instead of down, those losses were offset by the paper profits in their 401ks. In fact, most of the people I talked to about this said they netted out better rather than worse.
Of course, if you don’t have a 401K or other market holdings, the Trump market has done nothing for you, in which case, yes, you got burned on your tax returns.
So, no, the people voting for Trump who aren’t outright racists aren’t necessarily voting against self-interest. On the other hand, they are getting a pittance compared to what the ultra rich are getting.
Amy, with respect to the health care debate, the democratic imbeciles who are talking about basically outlawing private insurance have not learned the bitter lesson of Obamacare: don’t fuck with things that work.
I support a public option. I think Medicare for all who want it makes sense…but I do not see any reason to dismantle the private insurance system. I believe that a self-paid public option in which consumers can buy into medicare at any age by paying a much lower monthly premium for better care would eventually force the private insurance companies out of business.
Unionization: government cannot support or oppose unionization. That is a free market function. Of course,. government has worked against unionization many times…but theoretically at least unionization has to come from within. What we can do is outlaw the right to work laws, which would require a constitutional amendment (because the Republican controlled Supreme Court won’t do it.)
The bottom line, however, is that we have to reclaim the state legislatures, and then the congressional districts…because I doubt that the Democrats will win the grand prize in 2020.