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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
irony is dense here, the traditional party of hard working blue collar factory folks are the pro Union Democrats! i always find it hilarious how this constituency within the Republicans has more or less been voting against their own economic interests since Reagan!
its why i don't believe Trump or any Republican has ever actually tapped into the shifting demographics of the American economy. that is a pretense claimed by the constituents to look less toxic. reality is whether we're talking about Trump, Reagan, or even Pete Wilson we're talking about what Nixon tapped into. racism. bigotry. xenophobia. simple as that. these people have no legitimate grievances which the GOP ever addresses. its just post-modern jingoism.
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I don't know, I think there's a lot more to it than "race" and such bullshits. I mean that is there of course, I'm not denying it, but it's just not the only thing.
There's this 60s (or early 70s?) movie, "Joe", that kinda epitomizes the working class revulsion and conflict vis a vis the 60s revolution. Check it out some time. It's illuminating at least as a document of its time (though it's fiction).
The thing is though, any group that feels under siege is going to lash out stupidly, and look for scapegoats, and do stupid shit, and get all xenophobic. Just look at the Brexit. Worker's unions have a history at least since the XIX century of embracing their immigrant working brothers during times of expansion and asking to send foreigners packing during times of contraction. So this is not new.
Anyway you might be curious about those papers I like re: democrat strategies to regain the working class (Ruy Teixeira et.al.). One of them mentions the limit of appeals to "race" etc. Which actually I agree with--I identify more with an economic class than with my presumed "ethnicity". And where is that in the Democratic Party? Bernie touched it a bit.
Long story and a tangent for a different thread but think of this as history in the making so I highly recommend looking under the hood of that site.