Tuesday, October 12, 2021

A heady blend

       Despite the many hot takes on the Democrats imminent doom in the mid term elections, the one that stands out is the usual blather about how the party has lost the white working class.   Somehow, the aforementioned, educationally challenged white men and women have become alienated from the Democrats "woke" agenda of police and immigration reform and actually doing something about income inequality.

     There is something attractive about this theory, especially if it dovetails with the agenda being pushed by the consultant class of the party.   Repudiate all liberal positions, or at least tailor your message to appeal to the gettable white voter.    What this prescription fails to account for is the increasing alienation of what has become  the new Democratic base;  working class people of color and highly educated millenial whites.  These people are turned off by a strategy which calls for the use of racist and sexist tropes to appeal to a voter who has already experienced the unleashed white nationalism of tRump and has responded by joining the cult that is today's Republican party.

     Racism, misogyny and white nationalism is a heady brew which especially appeals to poorly educated and/or white middle class voters who resent our rapidly developing multicultural society.   Trying to pry more than a small percentage of these people away from tRump and his minions is a fool's errand.  Tomorrow's Democratic party will primarily be dominated by people of color and women.   White men will represent a small percentage of the party's voters.   Mobilizing the true base of the party is the way to go next year and into the future.

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