The DLC attitude towards the working class

[dansolo]

The DLC views the working class as a shrinking demographic, and therefore of little importance when appealing to voters. Their main concern is to appeal to suburban middle and upper-middle class voters. Is this what we want from the Democartic Party? And this goes beyond getting rid of Bush. Once Bush is gone, the attitudes aren't going to change.

http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=127&subid=179&contentid=2918

[Rich Hunt]

1. gee...

I wonder where all the working-class people are going...

:eyes:

Ugh - anyone remember that patronizing remark they made about Paul Wellstone fighting for the 'little guy'??

:puke:

[Armstead]

2. DLCreeps

Those nitwits.

[sweetcee]

3. I don't believe this is just a

DLC phenomenon.

The entire democratic party (and America) thinks it's middle class or above. "Working class" seems to have a negative (failure in a capitalist society?) connotation even to workers!

This is the only reason I would prefer Edwards to Kerry.

He is the first dem to talk about workers and poverty in a moral (not religious) way. And he is anti-NAFTA!

[DaisyUCSB]

4. the ruffly 20 percent of voters who decide national elections

are largely, but not exclusivly, white, suburban, middle class, college educated, moms and dads who regard themselves as independants.

They are the people who got the label "soccer moms and dads" (the term is rarely used correctly, as they do not have to be actual parents of kids who play soccer)

It's them more than any other group. You're really spinning an analyis of political canon into some sort of evil plan.

[CWebster]

5. Not if thier jobs are going overseas. nt

[Rich Hunt]

6. yes, but

...the right candidates can inspire people who don't vote.

The important question is WHY some people don't vote as much.

[DaisyUCSB]

8. Well, of course you want and will try to inspire non-voters

but it's just foolish to put a higher priority strategy-wise on the HOPE that they will all of a sudden do a 180, than the strong possibility of winning a majority of the middle .

You want somebody who can do both, but you need somebody who can do the latter

[GodHelpUsAll2]

9. Foolish????

Give those "non voters" HOPE and they will have a REASON to vote. Peddling to the middle is certainly not that reason. Below, a few snips from another post that sums it up perfectly



If the poor, and ethnic minority poor in particular have learned anything about politics over the past forty years, it is that politics is a rich white man's game, and no politician is going to do anything that changes their lives, unless it changes them for the worse. Voters tend to be the top 25% income tier. That leaves 75%. And the concerns of that 75% are not capital gains taxes, maintaining the status quo, or imperialist strategies to keep America's defense and energy industries strong.

Affluent people love to hear rhetoric about the poor. It makes them feel better about themselves. "Something must be done!" wailed King Edward VIII, shortly before his abdication in favor of the arms of the woman he loved, and the English middle class loved him for wailing it. The American affluent love hearing their candidates intone it solemnly, declare it passionately, and they nod approvingly, smiling on their way out at pepole whose paychecks are not enough to provide housing and food for one. Forget children, forget electricity and especially forget doctors.


There are so many of these people that even Diebold might have a tough time doing its job if they voted. Even before Diebold, the system was designed to make it unlikely that they would. They are also a stick with several times as much bushBeating potential as a
steaming dish of status quo with better reading skills and more skillfully applied hair gel. But they are not as gullible as their better-heeled brothers. They are not as easily seduced by airy prose-poems and charisma. They've been there, done that, still couldn't afford the t-shirt.

[DaisyUCSB]

11. Yeah, and there is no objective argument of why candidate X

is garenteed or even likely to get em all this time. Until there is, it's foolish to put a GREATER or MORE stock in the wish that all of a sudden non-voters will decide to pay attention and vote en masse for the same guy for some reason, than in the otherwise necessity that people who do pay attention vote for you

[GodHelpUsAll2]

13. This whole argument

is disgusting at best. The mindset that the "20% of white, middle class, college educated soccer moms and dads" are the only ones who should have a say is the VERY reason this country is in the shape it is now. Until the 20% of the population stops looking down their noses at people who may be a little less fortunate in life the better off we will all be. And I have a newsflash, there are NO guarantees in life so if people are sitting back waiting for them they will be waiting for a very long time. Or, could it be this position of a guarantee is just another way to turn your nose up and continure the smug attitude that somehow money makes one superior?

[Iverson]

7. "Let them eat cake."

Some folks are more expendable than others, I suppose.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. The DLC has an attitude?

[lams712]

12. Those suburbanites the DLC are trying to woo are ALSO...

..."THE WORKING CLASS". I mean, despite the fact they make above average $$$$, they STILL HAVE TO WORK TO GET BY. The DLC is making a big mistake in assuming that "working-class" means only blue-collar or menial service workers. We should be looking at what unites us rather than "pigeon-holing" people into convenient little demographic categories, wholly available to be focus-grouped and test-marketed to death.