Prometheus 6

A Demographic the Democrats Can't Forget
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, January 18, 2008; A19

This is a good time to put in a word for the white working class....

"Working class" seems an antique term, but the people it describes still exist, more now in the service industries than in manufacturing. Demographers often use education levels as a surrogate for class position, and the past three decades have not been kind to Americans who are not college graduates.

There's real (as in, they actually feel it, not that there's a substantial reality to it) concern among the white working class about how their personal interests will fare as compared to other in-groups. So let me talk to them for a minute.

First of all, you guys are right to worry about threats to your well-being. But so are we. Where you're wrong is thinking Black and Latino interests run counter to yours. Look at that definition Mr. Dionne used. You think it would include any Black folks?

I guess all this talk of Black and Woman takes mental space from White and Male, but you know when it comes to keeping a job politicians are the best. And every Democrat in the country remembers the Class of '92. Every last one of them remembers that YOU, called "Angry White Men" at the time, turned the political direction of the nation in a single election. Every last one of them remembers how many people lost their jobs. They ain't going to risk THAT again, let me tell you.

But, People of the Word that we are, I understand you need to be told about it. I said back in October 2003

I would like Mr. Dean and every Democratic candidate running for every office in the nation to please, please include white people when you run down the list of ethnicities you want to help out. If you don't say it the wingnuts assume you're excluding them. Or will claim you're excluding them, favoring minorities at the expense of the NASCAR dads (alias Angry White Men, who are, by the way, still angry for some reason). And the hordes without number that react rather than think end up opposing you because you didn't say their name. I feel weird as hell saying this out, but on reflection I realized lose nothing if you guys say this out loud because you ain't going to leave them out anyway.

Sadly, by the end of that month Howard Dean made that assertion with the unfortunately phrased statement, "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." You guys found that condescending, we found it threatening (hey, straight up is how we serve it here. You may get a chaser...). All because of messing with other people's symbols instead of just saying white folks are not being forgotten.

The Progressives aren't the ones who started the whole "Angry White Men" deal, or the "Soccer Moms" deal or the NASCAR dads" deal.

I'm not suggesting pandering. I'm not suggesting any change of message. The only suggestion here is to make clear that everyone, including the aforementioned groups, are included in the existing vision.

Now someone may feel I'm pandering a bit myself. Let's be honest...our relationships have been kind of rocky. There are people who feel the righteous reaction is to bite out your throat, people who I understand well. But as the age of the post I referenced shows, I've always understood, and it's always been a part of my own considerations. This is not some opinion I've pulled out of my butt for the occasion.

And make no mistake: y'all have insisted for so long you have no group identity but American, I find your need to be verbally assured you're still in the mix more than a bit absurd. I find it to be like the canvas of a painting being jealous of the pigments in the paint.

But if you look at what Black folks want done, realizing that you will get it too...

Oh. Affirmative action.

I'm going to be honest, that's a hairy mess because there's no such thing as what you think affirmative action is. And there's no such thing as what affirmative action was supposed to be. I'm just asking you to recognize that you, personally, have not been damaged by any such program. If there's interest we can get into it later.

Point being, if you consider the structural changes Black progressives seek, you'll find they benefit you as well. That's because most of us are no more than one generation from working class...whether we just attained it, graduated from it or fell out of it. We understand the need to support ambition and the need for a shield against the unexpected. And those changes will have no racial labels on it...we will not allow it, and if you're smart neither will you. These are working class issues...don't be confused by the fact that Black people have been pushing for them for decades.