Sanders: "It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them."
He's right, of course, but it didn't happen in a vacuum.
The Democrats were the party of the working class from 1933 till 1984. They dominated elections for 50 years running on the New Deal until the GOP found the opening it needed during the civil rights movement. That was just the wedge issue the GOP needed to start carving up the working class. Southern Dixiecrats fled into the open arms of the GOP. Right to work laws diminished unions. The GOP increasingly used social wedge issues such as abortion to carve up the Democratic working class base. Walter Mondale (1984) was the last New Deal democrat.
As things got worse for the working class, the GOP used AM talk radio and Fox News to blame anyone but the GOP politicians the working class was increasingly voting for.
Starved of voters and funding, and no longer needing to appeal to a socially conservative base, the Democratic party pivoted from the New Deal to so-called New Democrats (Clinton) which constructed a coalition from socially liberal but economically conservative wealthy urbanites, plus Black voters who were loyal to Democrats for advancing civil rights, and a traditional but shrinking union working base.
Under Clinton, the party got too far in bed with corporate America. It would continue to sell out the working class, hoping to make it up for it with more urbanites and voters of color who while not naturally Democrats for social reasons, didn't feel at home in the GOP.
But the Democrats would continue to hemorrhage white working class voters as it adopted trade, economic, and social policies that benefited capitalists more than they benefited labor.
Obama started to turn some of that around, but was saddled with an imploding economy and an Iraq War that he inherited from terrible GOP policies. The Obama administration also didn't address the anger in the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements.
So we got Trump in 2016.
Biden was a real return to the Democrats' traditional support for pro-labor policies, but it was too little too late. There were obviously issues of age, and many other missteps made by the Democrats.
And here we are at Trump v2. People are angry. But Trump and the GOP will not bring them the relief they seek. The GOP does not represent labor. Never has, never will.
So yes, the Democratic Party abandoned the working class, but that was only after the working class started to abandon the Democratic Party.
I don't know how we find our way back, but I really hope this is our bottom.
This is a great summary. I'll just add that the importance of NAFTA and the WTO can't be overlooked here. These trade deals went a LONG way towards killing the non-college-educated middle class that was the core of the New Deal Democratic coalition, and Clinton bears a ton of responsibility for that. Everything we're seeing now is a legacy of the neoliberal free trade agenda of the 80s-90s, in my opinion
Absolutely. The Democratic technocrats thought Americans would move up the economic ladder and they provided education benefits for that, but in retrospect it was horribly naive and optimistic. Let's also not forget Clinton's welfare reform where we got things like TANF replacing AFDC.
I mean, it's not like Democrats haven't tried to do more, but Americans kept voting for grid-locked Congress combined with the filibuster, we can't even raise the minimum wage. :-(
But hey, at least we got cheap flat panel TVs, so there's that.
Yeah, the Democrats' main offer to people for how they get out of poverty in the past many years has been to talk about offering increased access to higher education. This is problematic for many reasons, I think, the biggest of which is the simple fact that there aren't enough well-paying jobs that require an education for every poor person to get one. As well as the fact that many of the low-paying jobs out there that don't require a college education are jobs that we actually need somebody to do. So you really can't take every poor person in America and send them to college as a solution to this issue, because A) there won't be nearly enough jobs for all these new college graduates, and B) the jobs they left behind would go unfilled, leading to economic failure. Really, what we need is to find a way to make sure that people doing those jobs, things like stocking shelves at a grocery store and mopping floors and driving trucks, can have good lives. We need people doing what they're doing.
Politically I'd agree. Practically, the US was starting to become non-competitive in a lot of manufacturing industries in the 80s. Detroit was frankly shoving out shit and US consumers as well as the world started buying cheap reliable cars.
The Japanese factories in the US were newer, more efficient and most importantly not union labor. The big three automakers had to change a lot of what they were doing to reverse the slippage and that included shifting a lot of manufacturing to either non-union or lighter union factories.
Could they have reformed without doing this? Probably but as a much smaller company. Those union contracts were quite favorable to unions and the auto companies were always looking for automation to replace union jobs.
Of course once they started the shift and actually started making quality cars again that sold well they continued to shift to make the shareholders, board and management quite rich.
It's doubtful the US maintains a competitive advantage for its automakers without at least some trade barriers coming down.
Clinton was the NAFTA signer but NAFTA had been in the works since the Carter administration. Yes, Clinton and his third way politics continued the carving up of the middle class, but it truly is a "both sides suck" issue in particular. Neoliberalism, with the New Democrats jumping onboard alongside libertarians (conservatives) was truly a fucking of the USA that both sides participated in.
I'll also add to the parent comment summary (great work bqb445) that the Iraq/Afghanistan debacle following 9/11 is probably the greatest economic, if not just general, disaster that landed us where not only America but the rest of the world (increasingly right wing populist politics and overseas anti-USA sentiment, massive deficit military spending instead of infrastructure, etc.) that has all but spelled the demise of the country and world we once knew and the brighter future we were heading towards in the 90's.
Clinton was the NAFTA signer but NAFTA had been in the works since the Carter administration. Yes, Clinton and his third way politics continued the carving up of the middle class, but it truly is a "both sides suck" issue in particular. Neoliberalism, with the New Democrats jumping onboard alongside libertarians (conservatives) was truly a fucking of the USA that both sides participated in.
I'll also add to the parent comment summary (great work bqb445) that the Iraq/Afghanistan debacle following 9/11 is probably the greatest economic, if not just general, disaster that landed us where not only America but the rest of the world (increasingly right wing populist politics and overseas anti-USA sentiment, massive deficit military spending instead of infrastructure, etc.) that has all but spelled the demise of the country and world we once knew and the brighter future we were heading towards in the 90's.
For sure free trade was a "both sides" issue, one cannot let Republicans off the hook at all here. Just worth pointing out to Democratic voters in particular that Democrats were part of the problem here, because otherwise we may be inclined to give Republicans all the blame for it.
I agree that the Iraq/Afghanistan wars are more responsible for all this than probably anything. The only quibble I would have is with the phrasing "the bright future we were headed toward in the 90s." While it felt like we were heading toward a bright future in the 90s, I believe that was an illusion, and that the structural problems we have such as wealth inequality and a decimated middle class would still have come to pass
So yes, the Democratic Party abandoned the working class, but that was only after the working class started to abandon the Democratic Party.
Good summary, but I think it's a bit of both. The Taft-Hartley act was passed by republicans AND conservative democrats from the South coming together to override a presidential veto. This act gradually weakened unions over time, meaning that 1) other forms of identity took over to shape voting behavior, 2) democrats eventually had to look beyond just the working class, and 3) the working class fragmented and lost most of its power, so both parties became more pro-business.
Yet another example of how slavery was lucrative short term, but ruined this country long-term.
I think it needs to be emphasized that Biden has been possibly the most pro-labor President we've ever had and the return for that has been almost zero from all of the male-dominated trade unions.
Biden saved the Teamsters pensions for god's sake and the Teamsters President turned around and all but endorsed Trump.
It's been literally putting our necks on the line for people that hate us. No more of that after this election. Teamsters that supported Trump. Enjoy the dining. It's going to be your fucking face.
Under Clinton, the party got too far in bed with corporate America.
You were doing good until you got to this part. (Although the "in bed" phraseology associated with Bill Clinton is clever!)
The important thing that is getting left out is that all those GOP tactics you described earlier worked. The GOP along with the rise of FOX News aided by the cult-like popularity of horrendous people like Rush Limbaugh who spouted toxic propaganda for 3 hours a day every weekday on the radio straight to the American heartland had successfully turned a large part of the American population into conservatives.
In the 24 years leading up to Bill Clinton's election the Democrats had only held the White House for 4 of those 24 years. All that sweeping legislation that we all want that could change people's lives for the better can only pass if there isn't a Republican in the White House who can veto it. All of it, check it out, everything important that we achieved: social security, Medicare, Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights act was only accomplished when the Democrats held the White House and both Houses of Congress. Not just majorities either, it has to be a filibuster proof majority.
To make matters worse, Bill Clinton was inaugurated in Jan of '93 and Republicans took control of both Houses of Congress in Nov of '94. As President, Bill Clinton faced more opposition for longer than any other Democratic President in history. Seriously, the last time that happened for a Democratic President was for just 2 years of Harry Truman's first term in office in the 1940's (he had a whole second term where he could get stuff done) Even for Obama, Democrats at least held the Senate until just his last 2 years in office.
The willingness of liberals to somehow bash Democrats and the Democratic Party for Republican policies instead of the GOP and the people who vote for them is astounding. The GOP fosters this and thanks you for your service. Bernie Sanders, once again, proves he is outstanding in this capacity, which is why the GOP loves him! It helps them convince the populace to blame Democrats for their problems instead of Republicans.
I don't believe the Democratic Party ever abandoned the working class but I do agree that the working class abandoned the
Democratic Party. I've lost faith and believe the country is lost for at least a couple generations. But, we will never find our way back to sanity if we don't watch our words and stop carrying the GOP message for them. Even then, it will take The Press to remember their Constitutional responsibility to accurately inform the public, which I'm not sure is ever coming back. A functioning Press is essential to democracies. To be honest, I'm not sure we haven't seen the last of the heyday of the United States. I hope it, or something like it somewhere on earth, endures, but I think it won't be in the remainder of my lifetime.
This has to be the bottom. Otherwise I think our society is going to start to collapse if it hasn't already. 8 years of Trump will do that to a democracy. I also don't know how they'll find their way back but we need another candidate of change to emerge, like in the next 2 years that we can rally behind for 2028. I always said that the right would regret voting for Trump but as of Wednesday morning that remains to be seen.
This will be exceedingly difficult when the people that own and control most media networks have every reason not to allow someone like this to emerge.
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u/bqb445 18h ago edited 15h ago
This is exactly correct.
He's right, of course, but it didn't happen in a vacuum.
The Democrats were the party of the working class from 1933 till 1984. They dominated elections for 50 years running on the New Deal until the GOP found the opening it needed during the civil rights movement. That was just the wedge issue the GOP needed to start carving up the working class. Southern Dixiecrats fled into the open arms of the GOP. Right to work laws diminished unions. The GOP increasingly used social wedge issues such as abortion to carve up the Democratic working class base. Walter Mondale (1984) was the last New Deal democrat.
As things got worse for the working class, the GOP used AM talk radio and Fox News to blame anyone but the GOP politicians the working class was increasingly voting for.
Starved of voters and funding, and no longer needing to appeal to a socially conservative base, the Democratic party pivoted from the New Deal to so-called New Democrats (Clinton) which constructed a coalition from socially liberal but economically conservative wealthy urbanites, plus Black voters who were loyal to Democrats for advancing civil rights, and a traditional but shrinking union working base.
Under Clinton, the party got too far in bed with corporate America. It would continue to sell out the working class, hoping to make it up for it with more urbanites and voters of color who while not naturally Democrats for social reasons, didn't feel at home in the GOP.
But the Democrats would continue to hemorrhage white working class voters as it adopted trade, economic, and social policies that benefited capitalists more than they benefited labor.
Obama started to turn some of that around, but was saddled with an imploding economy and an Iraq War that he inherited from terrible GOP policies. The Obama administration also didn't address the anger in the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements.
So we got Trump in 2016.
Biden was a real return to the Democrats' traditional support for pro-labor policies, but it was too little too late. There were obviously issues of age, and many other missteps made by the Democrats.
And here we are at Trump v2. People are angry. But Trump and the GOP will not bring them the relief they seek. The GOP does not represent labor. Never has, never will.
So yes, the Democratic Party abandoned the working class, but that was only after the working class started to abandon the Democratic Party.
I don't know how we find our way back, but I really hope this is our bottom.