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Increased focus on racial and sexual minorities to the exclusion of working-class interests (which has been going on for decades), spilling over into outright c

by jaspax 7y ago

Increased focus on racial and sexual minorities to the exclusion of working-class interests (which has been going on for decades), spilling over into outright contempt of lower- and middle- class whites (which has mostly become prominent in the past 10-15 years).

dragonwriter 7y ago
You've got that all wrong. The former didn't happen and didn't spill over into the latter, the Democratic Party abandoned working class interests (not just “white working class”) pretty sharply after Clinton's election. It didn't really accelerate on the other fronts, it just didn't back off of them as hard because racial/sexual/etc. equality is compatible with the center-right neoliberal capitalist economics that became the focus of the new dominant faction of the Party. OTOH, there's evidence that that faction of the party is losing dominance to one focussed on working class interests again.
pjc50 7y ago
> Increased focus on racial and sexual minorities to the exclusion of working-class interests Are these actually in conflict? Are they also not part of the working class? What sort of policies do you think should have been enacted against this?
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Not being from the US I don't know how Democrats view this, but in general, yes, it seems to me they are somewhat in conflict. Diversity activism tends to pit working class members against each other. Meanwhile, the rich don't have to care either way, except to occasionally be seen as backing the more popular view.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  There's only so much time, attention, and energy. If your focus is on, say, trans rights, you're not spending that time focusing on working-class economics. And even if you can do it all, there's only so much attention the voters have. If all they hear about you is on trans rights, they don't perceive you doing anything about their economic problems. The Democrats' central message used to be "we care about the working people". Now their central message is "we care about illegal immigrants, minorities, and trans people". If your biggest problem is that you have no money because you have no job, that doesn't resonate. More: As the Democrats become dominated by the coastal elites, the party has too many people leading it who don't even know about the working-class problems in the middle of the country.
  - CalChris 7y ago
    The population of the United States is dominated by the coasts. The GDP of the United States is dominated by the coasts. The tax base of the United States is dominated by the coasts.
    - joejerryronnie 7y ago
      You’ve perfectly summarized the OP’s final point.
  - youdontknowtho 7y ago
    Are you saying that as the Democrats became distanced from working-class issues, the republicans got closer to working-class issues? Could you explain that in terms of the policy that they adopted or is it a response to Dems adopting minority rights issues? What I mean to say is that if they are both bad in the same way on working class issues, what is it about minority rights that would make you vote R? Genuinely trying to understand here...not trolling.
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      > Are you saying that as the Democrats became distanced from working-class issues, the republicans got closer to working-class issues? I don't know that the Republican actually got closer to working-class issues. In the last election, though, they at least got to the point of talking about such issues, in the same election that the Democrats didn't bother to do so. So if I were a working-class minority person, whose major pain point was economics, in the last election I still might vote Republican, because they at least were talking about the thing I cared most about, even if the Democrats were talking about my secondary issue.
    - username90 7y ago
      R said that they will bring back working class jobs and give them something to be proud of. R also said that they will limit low skill immigration which will help reduce competition for working class jobs. R said that they will reduce taxes for working class people (and they even increased taxes for better paid workers, so it is not like they just reduced it overall). All of these are typical leftist talking points, Democrats just left those votes on the table and R just swooped in and took them.
- TOGoS 7y ago
  Democrat [poltiicians] represent the ruling class just as much as Republican [politicians] do (evidenced by the fact that except for a few exceptions such as Bernie Sanders they go about fundraising in the same way: primarily from large donors). Given that, taking a more moderate stance regarding minorities is one of the few ways to differentiate themselves in a way that looks good to their base. In their ideal world 5 CEOs still own 95% of the country's wealth, but 3 of them are black, and maybe one's a lesbian.

by jaspax 7y ago

dragonwriter 7y ago

You've got that all wrong. The former didn't happen and didn't spill over into the latter, the Democratic Party abandoned working class interests (not just “white working class”) pretty sharply after Clinton's election. It didn't really accelerate on the other fronts, it just didn't back off of them as hard because racial/sexual/etc. equality is compatible with the center-right neoliberal capitalist economics that became the focus of the new dominant faction of the Party. OTOH, there's evidence that that faction of the party is losing dominance to one focussed on working class interests again.

pjc50 7y ago

> Increased focus on racial and sexual minorities to the exclusion of working-class interests Are these actually in conflict? Are they also not part of the working class? What sort of policies do you think should have been enacted against this?

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Not being from the US I don't know how Democrats view this, but in general, yes, it seems to me they are somewhat in conflict. Diversity activism tends to pit working class members against each other. Meanwhile, the rich don't have to care either way, except to occasionally be seen as backing the more popular view.
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
There's only so much time, attention, and energy. If your focus is on, say, trans rights, you're not spending that time focusing on working-class economics. And even if you can do it all, there's only so much attention the voters have. If all they hear about you is on trans rights, they don't perceive you doing anything about their economic problems. The Democrats' central message used to be "we care about the working people". Now their central message is "we care about illegal immigrants, minorities, and trans people". If your biggest problem is that you have no money because you have no job, that doesn't resonate. More: As the Democrats become dominated by the coastal elites, the party has too many people leading it who don't even know about the working-class problems in the middle of the country.
- CalChris 7y ago
  The population of the United States is dominated by the coasts. The GDP of the United States is dominated by the coasts. The tax base of the United States is dominated by the coasts.
  - joejerryronnie 7y ago
    You’ve perfectly summarized the OP’s final point.
- youdontknowtho 7y ago
  Are you saying that as the Democrats became distanced from working-class issues, the republicans got closer to working-class issues? Could you explain that in terms of the policy that they adopted or is it a response to Dems adopting minority rights issues? What I mean to say is that if they are both bad in the same way on working class issues, what is it about minority rights that would make you vote R? Genuinely trying to understand here...not trolling.
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    > Are you saying that as the Democrats became distanced from working-class issues, the republicans got closer to working-class issues? I don't know that the Republican actually got closer to working-class issues. In the last election, though, they at least got to the point of talking about such issues, in the same election that the Democrats didn't bother to do so. So if I were a working-class minority person, whose major pain point was economics, in the last election I still might vote Republican, because they at least were talking about the thing I cared most about, even if the Democrats were talking about my secondary issue.
  - username90 7y ago
    R said that they will bring back working class jobs and give them something to be proud of. R also said that they will limit low skill immigration which will help reduce competition for working class jobs. R said that they will reduce taxes for working class people (and they even increased taxes for better paid workers, so it is not like they just reduced it overall). All of these are typical leftist talking points, Democrats just left those votes on the table and R just swooped in and took them.
TOGoS 7y ago
Democrat [poltiicians] represent the ruling class just as much as Republican [politicians] do (evidenced by the fact that except for a few exceptions such as Bernie Sanders they go about fundraising in the same way: primarily from large donors). Given that, taking a more moderate stance regarding minorities is one of the few ways to differentiate themselves in a way that looks good to their base. In their ideal world 5 CEOs still own 95% of the country's wealth, but 3 of them are black, and maybe one's a lesbian.