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How the Democrats became the party of super-rich globalists - prescient article from 2016


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2020 Apr 18, 11:19pm   875 views  7 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/04/why-democrats-are-becoming-the-party-of-the-1-percent

... Trumpism, on the other hand, is the doctrine of a different Republican Party, one that would cater not to the donor class, but rather to the white working class. Rich people do not like that idea.

... Trumpism—friendly to entitlements, unfriendly to expanded trade and high immigration—will be the platform of the Republican Party in the years going forward. Clintonism—friendly both to business and to social and racial liberalism—will cobble together numerous interest groups and ditch the white working class. Which might be fair enough, but Lind didn’t mention rich people. Where will they go?

The Democratic Party has not been a total slouch, offering policies friendly to health-care executives, entertainment moguls, and tech titans. In fact, financial support for Democrats among the 1 percent of the 1 percent has risen dramatically, more than trebling since 1980. ...

Trumpism changes the equation. If homebuilders face workplace crackdowns on illegal hiring, their costs go up. If defense contractors see a reduced U.S. military presence in Asia and Europe, their income goes down. If companies that rely on outsourcing or on intellectual property rights see their business model upended by discontinued trade agreements, they face a crisis. Sure, many rich people hate Obamacare, but how big a deal is it compared to other things they want: more immigration, sustained and expanding trade, continued defense commitments? Clintonism, by comparison, starts to look much more appealing.

... (The rich do not offer) their support without expecting something in return. It’s not dispassionate analysis that causes Chuck Schumer to waffle on the carried-interest tax loophole, Hillary Clinton to argue for raising the cap on H-1B visas, or Maria Cantwell to rally support for the Export-Import Bank. The more rich people that a party attracts, the more that the party must do to stay attractive.

In a world of Trumpism and Clintonism, Democrats would become the party of globalist-minded elites, both economic and cultural, while Republicans would become the party of the working class. Democrats would win backing from those who support expanded trade and immigration, while Republicans would win the support of those who prefer less of both. Erstwhile neocons would go over to Democrats (as they are already promising to do), while doves and isolationists would stick with Republicans. ...

The combination of super-rich Democrats and poor Democrats would exacerbate internal party tensions, but the party would probably resort to forms of appeasement that are already in use. To their rich constituents, Democrats offer more trade, more immigration, and general globalism. To their non-rich constituents, they offer the promise of social justice, which critics might call identity politics. That’s one reason why Democrats have devoted so much attention to issues such as transgender rights, sexual assault on campus, racial disparities in criminal justice, and immigration reform. The causes may be worthy—and they attract sincere advocates—but politically they’re also useful. They don’t bother rich people.

It’s a costly arrangement. The more that Democrats write off the white working class, which has been experiencing a drastic decline in living standards, the harder it is for them to call themselves a party of the little guy. The more that the rich can frame various business practices as blows to privilege or oppression—predatory lending as a way to expand minority home ownership, outsourcing as a way to uplift the world’s poor, etc.—the more they get a pass from Democrats on practices that hurt poorer Americans. Worst of all, the more that interest groups within the Democratic Party quarrel among themselves, the more they rely upon loathing of a common enemy, Republicans, in order to stay united.

Things get darker still, for, if the G.O.P. becomes ever whiter, failing to peel away working-class voters of other races, then partisan conflict could look more and more like racial conflict. That is the nightmare. Our politics are bad enough when voters are mobilized mainly by culture-war issues, such as abortion, because compromise is often impossible. But when voters are mobilized by issues of identity, something most people can’t change, then nothing works. It’s just war.


Wow, this guy nailed it back in 2016, except for assuming that the Trump presidency would be a disaster, instead of the astonishing three years of peace and prosperity it was until the Wuhan virus came along.

This phrase really sums up the Democratic Party perfectly so it's worth quoting again:

To their rich constituents, Democrats offer more trade, more immigration, and general globalism. To their non-rich constituents, they offer the promise of social justice, which critics might call identity politics. That’s one reason why Democrats have devoted so much attention to issues such as transgender rights, sexual assault on campus, racial disparities in criminal justice, and immigration reform. The causes may be worthy—and they attract sincere advocates—but politically they’re also useful. They don’t bother rich people.


They don't bother rich people, the people who are fucking the working class daily with "free trade" (meaning outsourcing factory jobs) and "immigration" (meaning insourcing illegals).

Comments 1 - 7 of 7        Search these comments

1   HeadSet   2020 Apr 20, 6:30pm  

Either way, globalism is fucked.

Tell me that after the Nov Congressional elections. Trump will win the Presidency, but let us see if the globalists still hold the House. Hopefully we do not go down the path of England, who elects a London Mayor who claims London is not English anymore, but an "International City."
2   marcus   2020 Apr 21, 3:52pm  

:
This is based on what Trump was selling in 2016, not on his actual policies. Some of us recognized his history of lying, and that what was selling was simply to get elected.

I agree with this:

Patrick says
Things get darker still, for, if the G.O.P. becomes ever whiter, failing to peel away working-class voters of other races, then partisan conflict could look more and more like racial conflict. That is the nightmare. Our politics are bad enough when voters are mobilized mainly by culture-war issues, such as abortion, because compromise is often impossible. But when voters are mobilized by issues of identity, something most people can’t change, then nothing works. It’s just war.
3   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2020 Apr 21, 7:45pm  

They are a party of bitter losers. I met some local representatives. Ducking losers, their staff is made up of people with bitterness against the world, lots of lgbt there. They can’t think outside of identity politics, they don’t understand why they are losers, and they don’t understand normal people.

They hate America, they hate normal, and they hate successful people.
4   HeadSet   2020 Apr 21, 8:49pm  

It is the overall trend that I was referring to. So yes, globalism is fucked.

I am on your side with this, just a little more pessimistic.
5   MisdemeanorRebel   2020 Apr 22, 5:11am  

Fortwaynemobile says
They hate America, they hate normal, and they hate successful people.


Oikophobes know something (probably hormonal/genetic) is wrong with them, and some feel a vague ire against the world, which they direct towards "normal" society.
6   Patrick   2020 Apr 22, 8:08am  

"The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer explains the leftist mentality very well.

Short book, but brilliant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer
7   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2020 Apr 22, 8:12am  

NoCoupForYou says
Fortwaynemobile says
They hate America, they hate normal, and they hate successful people.


Oikophobes know something (probably hormonal/genetic) is wrong with them, and some feel a vague ire against the world, which they direct towards "normal" society.


They are aimless losers. Aimlessness turns into bitter resentment. They spent entire life trying to prove false reality accomplishing nothing in their life. They are bitter as hell.

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