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It's unclear what kind of political message we can take from this one person's life and death story. After all, the title says he died from loneliness, but I'm
by lapcat 4y ago
It's unclear what kind of political message we can take from this one person's life and death story. After all, the title says he died from loneliness, but I'm not aware of any political party that has a proposal to directly address this real issue.
Of course there are various political policies that could have improved Mike's life in several ways, but whether they would have changed the ultimate outcome, who knows. "He had stopped trying to meet a woman by his late thirties." I'm not saying there weren't any economic aspects to that, but the author doesn't explain exactly how his partisan political analysis is relevant to that, how either party would have or could have helped. There's no obvious, conclusive logical inference from Democrats forgetting about the working class — which may be true! — to Mike's loneliness.
- didgetmaster 4y agoPlenty of partisans will look at a story like this and tell themselves 'if only my party (R or D) just had more power, this wouldn't happen'. Although government policies can definitely have an effect on the lives of all Americans; cases like this one cannot be solved by government programs. The people we surround ourselves with (family, friends, neighbors) have a far greater influence over our emotional and social well-being than some faceless bureaucracy in Washington D.C.
- hattmall 4y agoDemocratic policies have consistently squeezed the working class into a perpetual grind. We are seeing that to an extreme level now with the current inflation. There is essentially no time for self actualization and the pursuit of happiness. If you can't break out of the working grind into being wealthy and you don't want to go into the bottom and become reliant on the government then you are increasingly fucked. The barrier to rising into wealth is ever increasing as well. Life expectancy is quickly falling to intersect the retirement age. The median household income is about half of what's needed to own the median home. The student loan crisis has many starting out in tremendous debt just to be able to work until they die!
- watwut 4y agoMike was not exactly economically unsuccessful. He had a job, had no debt, had a condo. It was "in a faceless St. Louis suburb" per author taste, but there is no mention of Mike actually complaining about that. There is no mention of Mike saying anything or having opinion on anything, except brief interest in Holocaust and failing to find a job with the Texas Democratic Party. Mike is not example of squeezed working class. And even less example of being squeezed by democrats specifically.
- folsom 4y ago[flagged]
- red-iron-pine 4y agoYeah I didn't Mike was particularly bad off. Squeezed by a capitalist society that didn't give a damn, but he also had enough options and was in a big enough city to try to give shit a try.
- Convolutional 4y ago> Democratic policies have consistently squeezed the working class into a perpetual grind > The student loan crisis has many starting out in tremendous debt just to be able to work until they die! You might want to check on recent votes, there is a party that does not want to help with tremendous student loan debt, and it's not the Democratic party.
- jemmyw 4y agoBoth political parties are equally to blame. They've both had about the same amount of time in power. They hardly represent different interests except on fringe issues. I'm not American though I have lived there, but it's the same issue everywhere in democracies. The left political parties have stopped representing the working person. The right pretend they do but never have and never will.