Do you like "middle class" being used as a buzz word?

[garybeck]

Obama is often referring to how the middle class is hurting.

While I like the attention to middle-income america, it sort of bothers me, grouping people into "classes."

Would he call the poor people "lower class?"

Would he call himself "upper class?" "high class?"


According to dictionary.com:

class:
1. a number of persons or things regarded as forming a group by reason of common attributes, characteristics, qualities, or traits; kind; sort: a class of objects used in daily living.

middle income wage earners share only one thing only: how much money they make. there are no other characteristics that you can generalize the group about. we are not a class.

Your income level should have nothing to do with what "class" you're in. I take issue with people being grouped into classes based on their income level. Everone is equally worthy.

Why not just say "middle income" or "average folks" or "average income earners"?

We are talking about how much money people make, not what class they're in.

I see what he's trying to do... reach out to the average middle income group and acknowledge that many of us are hurting. But I dont think calling us a "class" is the best choice of words. Whenever I hear him say "the middle class this..." or "the middle class that..." my gut reaction is that I'm being talked down to. I feel like I'm one in a herd of cattle called the middle class.

I think it would be more useful to reach out and recognize that the people he's referring to are not a nebulous group of people referred to by college economics professors... they are the people he's talking to! He should be saying "You" instead of "them." When he says "middle class" it sounds like he's talking about "other" people and it de-personalizes it.

Instead of saying "the middle class is hurting" why not say "most people listening to this are working hard and not earning enough to get by"

I say keep the message but drop the frequent reference to "middle class" and find a more personal way to refer to middle income earners.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I feel similarly.

[AzDar]

2. Being solidly middle class, I have no problem with it. It is how a certain group has always been

defined, and now, that group is in danger of becoming extinct or at least, tremendously thinned.

Why confuse the issue by trying to re-label it?:shrug:

[fed_up_mother]

3. A large, solid middle class only strengthens this country

I think people get that. If you're struggling below the poverty line, you want to think that you can make it to the middle class - if there's one left!

[tblue]

4. I think "working class" and "middle class" have been morphed into one.

And most working people, I suppose, think of themselves as middle class, whether they are or not. I think he believes he's embracing all working people.

I would prefer he talked about the poor, too. But I guess that's a political non-starter, and would paint him as just another liberal or another Jesse Jackson. Can't do that and win the presidency these days.

I loved John Edwards because he talked incessantly about the poor. But I do believe Barack has fought and will continue to fight for the poor.

[BklynChick]

5. in this country, everyone thinks of themselves as middle class. i would prefer if he talked about

poor and working class people more, but I think he's being aspirational.

[Overseas]

6. Yes. That's what John Sidney McCain III, humble servant with $520 loafers and

7 homes, will call me. Maybe even lower class because he thinks above $5 million is rich.


Not using the terms upper class, middle class and lower class won't make those very real and increasing divisions in our society less real.

Middle income may be a more accurate description, but actually more people think they are middle class than are middle income. Their families may have been middle income when the US protected its domestic manufacturing base, but now that Republican policies have supported sending jobs overseas, their incomes have fallen dramatically.

And what do you call folks like the McCains whose income is in the top one percent? Ultra-high income?

[On the Road]

7. I Don't Think It's Bad

People identify with it. Better than discussing the poor or working class, which even people in those groups don't usually respond to. That IMO was where Edwards's message wasn't getting through.

[NeedleCast]

8. I've always thought it was strange to be lumped into "middle class"

I guess for me that phrase conjures up pictures of a married couple with children who make enough money to have a home, decent (if not new) vehicles, enough food, a little left over to have some fun.

I'm thoroughly middle income for the D.C. area but because I'm single with no children, I have far more disposable income than I imagine most families do. At the same time, the propisition of ever owning a house or even a townhome or condo within reasonable commute distance in DC is almost none without two incomes.

[OHdem10]

9. It is imperative that Middle class be the focus.

This is the largest group of voters. They have been hurt by the
Conservative Economics of Republicans. In fact people are falling
out of the Middle Class and becoming part of the "poor". This must
be stopped. No Middle Class = No Democracy.

The reality is we are class society. Trying to sweep it under the
rug only leads to more problems in the long run.

[Cleita]

10. What would you call them, the Bourgeoisie maybe?

One of the big American lies that you learn in school, is that we are a classless society. It's not true. We have three main classes just like any other place in the world. Middle income earners doesn't cover people who don't earn anything, but are able to through other means like trust funds for instance to maintain an average American lifestyle. What democracy tries to achieve is to pull the poor into the middle class and to keep the wealthy from owning everything. When 80% of our citizens were middle class we were much better off as a democracy. I have no problem with the word.

[garybeck]

16. no, as I said

just call us middle income earners.

middle class implies that it's more than just how much money we make. it implies that we have less rights or privaleges than the upper class and more rights and privaleges than the lower class.

while this may be true in essence, it should not be validated by the use of the terms. just my opinion.

[Greyhound]

11. It's a very effective tool to distract people from their own situations.

In every study done, approximately 90% of Americans identify themselves as 'middle class'.

[Johonny]

12. rethugs love middle class as a term

because it's generally assumed by people that they are middle class. Thus wealthy and poor people often assume the title of middle class even though economically speaking they are not even close. Thus the broad way it is interpreted by society helps republicans that play on middle class fears.

[Warpy]

13. Average folks don't like being called average

because they think they're better than that. Working class folks like to think they're middle class folks. Poor folks like to think they're lower middle class. Middle class folks are gone. A few of the lucky ones made it into the lowest reaches of the upper class, with one to five million in net worth, exclusive of the house that's losing paper value every month. The rest fell into the working class or worse. Some are even homeless, living in their cars in their former neighborhoods.

"Middle class" is what we all wish we were. That's why Obama appeals to it in his speeches.

[Javaman]

14. Meh, the middle class has been so dumped on these last several years...

I'm glad that we are a buzzword now, maybe someone will finally throw us a bone.

[ljm2002]

15. Yes, I do...

...first, because it appeals to a broad segment of the population, since most of us consider ourselves to be part of it. Second, because only the Democrats are raising issues of interest to the middle class, therefore only the Democrats are trying to get these votes. Third, because a strong middle class is what gave us a stable society in which more and more children could be well fed and have access to good education.

The middle class is probably the one thing that really differentiated the US from other countries. It's what made us such a beacon of vitality, of that old "can-do" attitude. Because with a strong middle class, it really was possible for individuals to become whatever they wanted to become.

I am aware that the middle class may also be a source of smugness, of the mentality of the bourgeoisie -- and certainly, the Republics have been successful in appealing to the less attractive aspects of middle class mentality.

But let's face it. While you and I may notice that "class" is not an accepted distinction in our political discourse, and yet the term "middle class" is bandied about without any recognition that a "middle class" implies both higher and lower classes -- the population at large simply recognizes it as an accepted term for the great swath of society that gets along just fine, pays the bills, works the job and takes a summer vacation or two.

So yes, I am perfectly happy to have politicians who represent me use the term and stress it when they are appealing to the electorate.