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You only speak for yourself when you say that "life has never been better". It's the same kind of numerical arrogance that made the left ignore the plight of ru

by webkike 10y ago

You only speak for yourself when you say that "life has never been better". It's the same kind of numerical arrogance that made the left ignore the plight of rural America, because the unemployment rate is technically very low. There are many people under thread by the Trump administration, many of them are students that I personally know. And so is the environment. In what measure has the environment never been better? By any measure I have read it is the worst it has ever been, and we live in it.

234dd57d2c8db 10y ago
Stop being so dramatic. Name a single concrete thing that makes your life worse than 1930s era depression bread lines. Have you had to stand in any breadlines recently? Ever been ruled by a communist dictator? 100 years ago hot water was a luxury for only very rich people and the average lifespan was some ~30 years. Yes we have environmental challenges from our modern lifestyle but if you want to go back to being dead at 30 on average be my guest. I'll take the "never been worse" environment, the internet, self-driving cars, and everything else that's going really well. Yes a leader with some policies you might not agree with got elected. Guess what? I've had 8 years of that. Did I go around posting how "threatened" I was by Obama? No. I could have, after all, the extra-judical drone strikes, fast and the furious scandals, increasing race-baiting and racial tensions were all prime candidates. Stop letting people make you so fearful and scared.
okreallywtf 10y ago
I hear this a lot and I'm not saying its totally wrong but everyone seems to be placing a lot of blame on "the left" for ignoring the plight of middle class workers and rural america, but do you have specific examples of this? In many of these places the republicans have been in power for a long period of time, why have they not addressed their issues? We've even had long stretches of time where all branches of the government were controlled by the republicans and why were these issues not addressed? "The left" has hardly been able to implement anything for years due to total opposition, how are they supposed to help their opponents constituents when they can't even address their own? Acknowledging the economy is changing is not necessarily "ignoring the plight". I would argue that trying to find ways to use the increased profits and efficiency that has been created by globalization to benefit everyone is not ignoring the plight, its a totally reasonable idea. Basic income is an example of this but it is a complete non-starter in america largely because of the party that these specific rural blue collar Americans vote for. Is it the governments job to guarantee good factory jobs to everyone (the irony being what made a lot of these jobs good was unions, also opposed by "the right" generally)? I think it is wrong to totally legitimize the viewpoint of rural middle class blue collar whatever Americans that resulted in our current political circumstances. That isn't to say they don't have grievances (I say they, growing up it would have been we) but that doesn't validate the decisions they've made. Rural Americans have voted against their interests for decades and now blaming the left for their plight is a stretch. It goes both ways, I think that the left should pay attention to rural Americans just like non-rural Americans, but that doesn't mean their conclusions are totally valid.
st3v3r 10y ago
No. This idea that the "left" ignored rural America is completely unfounded. The left did no such thing. The left did, however, choose not to make idiotic and unfulfillable promises that things would go back to the way they were when someone could drop out of high school and get a $30/hour manufacturing job. The left is constantly trying to help rural and middle America. Job retraining programs, expanding healthcare, providing more for education. These are all things the left has done.

by webkike 10y ago

234dd57d2c8db 10y ago

Stop being so dramatic. Name a single concrete thing that makes your life worse than 1930s era depression bread lines. Have you had to stand in any breadlines recently? Ever been ruled by a communist dictator? 100 years ago hot water was a luxury for only very rich people and the average lifespan was some ~30 years. Yes we have environmental challenges from our modern lifestyle but if you want to go back to being dead at 30 on average be my guest. I'll take the "never been worse" environment, the internet, self-driving cars, and everything else that's going really well. Yes a leader with some policies you might not agree with got elected. Guess what? I've had 8 years of that. Did I go around posting how "threatened" I was by Obama? No. I could have, after all, the extra-judical drone strikes, fast and the furious scandals, increasing race-baiting and racial tensions were all prime candidates. Stop letting people make you so fearful and scared.

okreallywtf 10y ago

I hear this a lot and I'm not saying its totally wrong but everyone seems to be placing a lot of blame on "the left" for ignoring the plight of middle class workers and rural america, but do you have specific examples of this? In many of these places the republicans have been in power for a long period of time, why have they not addressed their issues? We've even had long stretches of time where all branches of the government were controlled by the republicans and why were these issues not addressed? "The left" has hardly been able to implement anything for years due to total opposition, how are they supposed to help their opponents constituents when they can't even address their own? Acknowledging the economy is changing is not necessarily "ignoring the plight". I would argue that trying to find ways to use the increased profits and efficiency that has been created by globalization to benefit everyone is not ignoring the plight, its a totally reasonable idea. Basic income is an example of this but it is a complete non-starter in america largely because of the party that these specific rural blue collar Americans vote for. Is it the governments job to guarantee good factory jobs to everyone (the irony being what made a lot of these jobs good was unions, also opposed by "the right" generally)? I think it is wrong to totally legitimize the viewpoint of rural middle class blue collar whatever Americans that resulted in our current political circumstances. That isn't to say they don't have grievances (I say they, growing up it would have been we) but that doesn't validate the decisions they've made. Rural Americans have voted against their interests for decades and now blaming the left for their plight is a stretch. It goes both ways, I think that the left should pay attention to rural Americans just like non-rural Americans, but that doesn't mean their conclusions are totally valid.

st3v3r 10y ago

No. This idea that the "left" ignored rural America is completely unfounded. The left did no such thing. The left did, however, choose not to make idiotic and unfulfillable promises that things would go back to the way they were when someone could drop out of high school and get a $30/hour manufacturing job. The left is constantly trying to help rural and middle America. Job retraining programs, expanding healthcare, providing more for education. These are all things the left has done.