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It's widely recognized by the actual American left that neoliberals have taken over the Democratic party, but it's less often said that the Republican party is

It's widely recognized by the actual American left that neoliberals have taken over the Democratic party, but it's less often said that the Republican party is mutating into a worker's party, differentiated largely on social class. Political correctness: it's just a social class differentiator; keeping the filthy workmen off of our proverbial lawns. Democrats are now the party of the managerial/professional/muh collitch class and minorities, and Republicans are the party of the working class and ... I guess its historical association with small businessmen holds. The history of who passed NAFTA (back almost 30 years ago now, mind you) is pretty irrelevant: nobody in the present day Democratic party is talking about revoking it (2016 Bernie might have; I miss 2016 Bernie); it was the modern worker's party, not the past workers party who wants to renegotiate this disaster. Lasch saw this at work in the 1970s, FWIIW, which is why Gurri is talking about him. Lasch was an actual Marxist, though he eventually made common cause with Paleocons because he saw the cheerful "left wing" atomization of the family as incredibly destructive for working people, which, of course, was true.

pjc50 6y ago
Putting "working class" and "minorities" in separate buckets is explicitly racist. By whatever definition you use, minorities are more likely to be working class.
p1necone 6y ago
Republicans might be the party of pandering to the working class via rhetoric, but their actual policies and actions certainly aren't helping the working class. Trying to claim that the Democrats are in bed with big business any more than the Republicans strikes me as dishonest.
- scottlocklin 6y ago
  The Democrats policies don't help the working class very much either these days. That's why the republicans have an opening, even on social issues. The 'whassamadda kansas' guy has made an entire career of noticing this, but nobody listens to him. Particularly hilarious in his last book, "Listen Liberal" was his skewering of the "microfinance" fetish of the "left" -aka, let's get the third world in hawk to American userers. It's a titanic shift; I'm old enough to remember guys like Walter Mondale and Tip O'Neill who made Bernie look like an Ayn Rand fan; they were mainstream democrats who actually did help the working man. Now, even the far left are screeching ninnies who are obsessed with things which would actually destroy the working man's life more than the last 40 years already have.

pjc50 6y ago

Putting "working class" and "minorities" in separate buckets is explicitly racist. By whatever definition you use, minorities are more likely to be working class.

p1necone 6y ago

Republicans might be the party of pandering to the working class via rhetoric, but their actual policies and actions certainly aren't helping the working class. Trying to claim that the Democrats are in bed with big business any more than the Republicans strikes me as dishonest.

scottlocklin 6y ago
The Democrats policies don't help the working class very much either these days. That's why the republicans have an opening, even on social issues. The 'whassamadda kansas' guy has made an entire career of noticing this, but nobody listens to him. Particularly hilarious in his last book, "Listen Liberal" was his skewering of the "microfinance" fetish of the "left" -aka, let's get the third world in hawk to American userers. It's a titanic shift; I'm old enough to remember guys like Walter Mondale and Tip O'Neill who made Bernie look like an Ayn Rand fan; they were mainstream democrats who actually did help the working man. Now, even the far left are screeching ninnies who are obsessed with things which would actually destroy the working man's life more than the last 40 years already have.