How the Democrats Lost the Working Class(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
How the Democrats Lost the Working Class
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/us/politics/democrats-working-class.html
7 comments
You cannot insult people and expect them to vote for you.
I wholeheartedly agree with most of what you have written - however this part is suss because the opponent of the democratic party does this same thing and during the campaign often to their face ("I would not even be here if I didn't need your votes" kind of things...). dem party has a lot of issues to work through but "the other side" is just better at politics. if a party that could not give two shits about "working class" is getting working class votes you know there is magic happening politically...
I wholeheartedly agree with most of what you have written - however this part is suss because the opponent of the democratic party does this same thing and during the campaign often to their face ("I would not even be here if I didn't need your votes" kind of things...). dem party has a lot of issues to work through but "the other side" is just better at politics. if a party that could not give two shits about "working class" is getting working class votes you know there is magic happening politically...
> I wholeheartedly agree with most of what you have written - however this part is suss because the opponent of the democratic party does this same thing and during the campaign often to their face ("I would not even be here if I didn't need your votes" kind of things...).
Yes! I agree. It's a problem. This is the ticket --
> "the other side" is just better at politics
combined with
> that could not give two shits about "working class
It is radically un-hard at this point. People _still_ quote 'deplorables'[0] to me, after nearly ten years. Combine that kind of attitude from the left with right-wing's ability to use rhetoric to make folks feel as though they're welcomed by the republican party in spite of democratic messaging, and you've got your magic. The left is doing half of the work for them, ironically.
We've got a penchant in the states for viewing the whole of the 'working class' as these 'right-wing, nutcase deplorables'. A gang of under- or un-educated people just waiting to be radicalized. We look down on these people and disregard their concerns ( see the article's dignity of work re: removing jobs vs creating lower prices ). When you do that, you alienate people. When the other party has a knack for alienating people, all you need to do is open the net.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
Yes! I agree. It's a problem. This is the ticket --
> "the other side" is just better at politics
combined with
> that could not give two shits about "working class
It is radically un-hard at this point. People _still_ quote 'deplorables'[0] to me, after nearly ten years. Combine that kind of attitude from the left with right-wing's ability to use rhetoric to make folks feel as though they're welcomed by the republican party in spite of democratic messaging, and you've got your magic. The left is doing half of the work for them, ironically.
We've got a penchant in the states for viewing the whole of the 'working class' as these 'right-wing, nutcase deplorables'. A gang of under- or un-educated people just waiting to be radicalized. We look down on these people and disregard their concerns ( see the article's dignity of work re: removing jobs vs creating lower prices ). When you do that, you alienate people. When the other party has a knack for alienating people, all you need to do is open the net.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
The Democrats lost nothing.
They got rid of the working class for the sake of their opposition.
They sold them. On purpose. It's much worse that "the opposition" bought them.
The working class should stay with the Democrats and demand and sue the shit out of them and force them out of office so that they have to make room for the next generation that much earlier.
By changing sides, the working class forgoes the chance to make the Democrats and the Republicans pay. Because they all stay financed, they all keep their shares and nobody has to do any work to make up for or break up their mistakes and disadvantageous to the working class voters strategies.
They got rid of the working class for the sake of their opposition.
They sold them. On purpose. It's much worse that "the opposition" bought them.
The working class should stay with the Democrats and demand and sue the shit out of them and force them out of office so that they have to make room for the next generation that much earlier.
By changing sides, the working class forgoes the chance to make the Democrats and the Republicans pay. Because they all stay financed, they all keep their shares and nobody has to do any work to make up for or break up their mistakes and disadvantageous to the working class voters strategies.
the talking down to people thing is also closely related to the equity stuff too. oh you can't pass the <x> test? no problem we will just lower the standards or abolish the test. society doesn't function very well with this mindset as we've seen.
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The article brushes against this for a twinkling moment in its 'dignity of work' segment, but I don't see a portion where it addresses this directly. This is a huge deal. You cannot insult people and expect them to vote for you. It's like going to a bar to try and find a date with your only strategy being negging[0]. When it's part of your messaging that the opposition is opposing you simply because it's dumb, it also plants an inherent superiority complex in your supporters, which only serves to exacerbate the problem.
Again -- the economic points are important here, too. I am not downplaying them at all. This is just something that a ton of articles and sources about this problem in particular seem to miss.
I keep hearing about this, too. It's not one or two people, it's very, very many who I've seen and heard expressing this over time. It's not a problem that is getting any better -- in fact, it would appear to be getting worse.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negging