7 ms·
https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061574/the-new-nationalism-of-brexit-and-trump-is-a-product-of-the-digital-age https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061574/the-new-national
by lingben 10y ago
https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061574/the-new-nationalism-of-brexit-and-trump-is-a-product-of-the-digital-age https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061574/the-new-nationalism-of-b...
- emodendroket 10y agoBrexit and Trump and Syriza and Bernie and all the rest of it point to the collapse of the middle class across the industrialized world more than anything else.
- enraged_camel 10y agoThe middle class is doing fine. It's the working class that has been suffering, and they are the ones who voted for Trump in overwhelming numbers in swing states.
- emodendroket 10y agoSure, whichever. The terms are imprecise and many of the people we're talking about probably could have reasonably considered themselves middle-class in the past.
- gozur88 10y agoIt has less to do with "the digital age" and more to do with governments ignoring large numbers of voters. This is what's supposed to happen when the ruling class gets out of touch.
- linkregister 10y agoThe idea of a unified "ruling class" is laughable. The current president is constantly at odds with the political party that controls the Senate and the House of Representatives. I also disagree with the notion that most congressmen are out of touch with their voters. Each individual congressman is pursuing the agenda he or she was voted into office by his or her constituents. An example: some constituents want to repeal Obamacare while those in other districts want to preserve it. Each set is affected differently so it is reasonable for different districts to have different opinions. Deadlock is a feature of this Republic; the founders considered it to be superior to a tyranny of the majority over minority interests.
- emodendroket 10y agoOf course there are multiple elements of the ruling class with different interests. But I think it's also safe to say there are a lot of issues where Republicans and Democrats are in complete agreement and their constituents are not.
- linkregister 10y agoWhat would be an example of one of these issues?
- gozur88 10y agoImmigration.
- emodendroket 10y agoHow to handle Wall Street post-meltdown or various military ventures seem like the most glaring examples to me.
- gozur88 10y ago>The idea of a unified "ruling class" is laughable. The current president is constantly at odds with the political party that controls the Senate and the House of Representatives. Sort of. Not really. The political parties do represent different power factions. But they are unified in the sense that people in the "deep state" - mid-high level bureaucrats, academia, and the media have more in common with each other than they do with you and me. And anything that threatens their collective control will be dealt with more harshly than they deal with each other.
- linkregister 10y agoCan you go into more depth? Also I believe you are leaving out a group; high-level business leaders, who often do a tour in government posts. (I'm not criticizing the practice; we want competent, subject matter experts working in government)