Billmon, an economist, talks about the disconnect between reality and Republican campaigning on class division in his post today.
"Class warfare!" the conservative choir shouts on cue. The choir knows that dividing the voters into socioeconomic groups is evil, destructive and downright un-American - as opposed to dividing them by race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and/or "traditional cultural values," which is the Lord's work.
...The DLC types will never admit that class warfare works - their entire political premise is based on the notion that Democrats have to talk like smarter Republicans when campaigning on economic issues.
Supply-side ideologues will also never concede the point. They're still dreaming of their "opportunity society" of citizen capitalists, in which the corporate cornucopia showers its blessing on a fruited plain of 401k accounts - from sea to shining sea. Just today I noticed the National Journal's Rich Lowry flogging the whole nation-of-shareholders myth - a fantasy I demolished several weeks ago.
...Rovians are falling back on the time-tested GOP tactic of muddying the populist waters. They're trying hard to switch the focus from the economic uncertainty and raging inequality that swing voters see all around them, to the allegedly "elitist" personal characteristics of Kerry and Edwards. Team Bush hopes the cultural contrast they're trying to create between Boston Brahmin John Kerry and brush-cuttin', cowboy boot-wearin,' Jesus-lovin' George W. Bush will outweigh the generations of dynastic power and privilege that have made their candidate the closest thing yet to an American dauphin.
...The DLC types will never admit that class warfare works - their entire political premise is based on the notion that Democrats have to talk like smarter Republicans when campaigning on economic issues.
Supply-side ideologues will also never concede the point. They're still dreaming of their "opportunity society" of citizen capitalists, in which the corporate cornucopia showers its blessing on a fruited plain of 401k accounts - from sea to shining sea. Just today I noticed the National Journal's Rich Lowry flogging the whole nation-of-shareholders myth - a fantasy I demolished several weeks ago.
...Rovians are falling back on the time-tested GOP tactic of muddying the populist waters. They're trying hard to switch the focus from the economic uncertainty and raging inequality that swing voters see all around them, to the allegedly "elitist" personal characteristics of Kerry and Edwards. Team Bush hopes the cultural contrast they're trying to create between Boston Brahmin John Kerry and brush-cuttin', cowboy boot-wearin,' Jesus-lovin' George W. Bush will outweigh the generations of dynastic power and privilege that have made their candidate the closest thing yet to an American dauphin.
Well, that's just it, isn't it? They're counting on the stupidity of the American public (and it's a pretty safe bet) to not notice the difference between being wealthy and making policy that keeps wealth from the masses.
While it would be a mistake to ignore the GOP's considerable success at this, it's equally incorrect to downplay the power of economic inequality as a wedge issue.
Even in the white-collar world of my day job, I'm surprised by the venom some of my fellow drones I now direct at our ridiculously over-paid corporate lords and masters. The last few years have been a real squeeze (at least by middle-class standards) in our office - no raises, shitty bonuses - and some of the guys who used to say they voted Republican (because "they keep the taxes down," or "the Democrats will take away my guns") aren't talking that way now.
Even in the white-collar world of my day job, I'm surprised by the venom some of my fellow drones I now direct at our ridiculously over-paid corporate lords and masters. The last few years have been a real squeeze (at least by middle-class standards) in our office - no raises, shitty bonuses - and some of the guys who used to say they voted Republican (because "they keep the taxes down," or "the Democrats will take away my guns") aren't talking that way now.
Which is encouraging, and I think a lot more prevalent than the loud screamers and the polls would have you believe. And, actually, the polls are slowly reflecting it. (Read Billmon's post for details.)
I think the Lord's Appointed's faithful are being steadily whittled down to the fanatic. The dangerous group.
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