I have gray hair, and although fit, I can't run as fast or as long as I used to. And the melanin of my skin, compared to the world average, is low. Yes, I'm a white man of European descent at the cusp of old age; I receive both social security and medicare. I also come from the working class. From a statistical perspective, I belong to the most conservative group in the United States. Conservatism usually increases with age, and this can be a good thing. I would like the chance to consider, perhaps choose, a conservative view on some issues. But in today's Republican Party conservative has become a synonym for loony. If the choice is between extremism and moderation, well, moderation gets my vote.
Today's loony Republcans have two sources of support: the superrich, who are not loony at all. They know where their interests lie. They are very powerful, but their numbers are relatively few. Despite Citizens United, however, elections are still decided by ordinary voters. So they must be bought off, they must be tricked into voting against their own interests. I'm referring here to the second source of Republican power: their manipulation of white rage.
Remember Lewis Carroll's great mock-ballad, The Walrus and The Carpenter? Both walrus and carpenter plan to eat the oyesters alive and the old oysters know it. The young, more adventerous and much more uninformed, rise from their beds and follow the duo with trust and joy. Here is how the young and old reply to the walrus's siren call:
The eldest Oyster looked at him,
but never a word he said;
the eldest Oyster winked his eye
and shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
to leave the oyster-bed.
But four young oysters hurried up
all eager for the treat...
Four young oysters followed them
and yet another four,
and thick and fast they came at last
and more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves
and scrambling to the shore.
Well, we all know what happened to them. Even weirder than Carroll's great poem is today's reality, in which the old white oysters are flocking to Walrus-Romney and Carpenter-Ryan, while the younger ones know better. The exceptions are white working-class males, who, young and old, are zealously following the walrus--and especially the carpenter. It is very illogical to vote for the mouths that will consume you; rage, however, is anything but logical. What is the source of white-male working-class rage? And what is to be done about it?
I don't have to give many examples of white-male working-class rage; it is a well known phenomenon. The country singer, Ted Nugent, for instance, has said that If Obama is reelected, he, Nugent, would either be dead or in jail. Our president is called the Anti-Christ, Hitler, an alien who hates America, etc. This is obviously rage speaking, since none of the accusations have any basis in reality. But instead of writing off such people as loonies, it might also be prudent to examine the roots of white rage--this doesn't mean that it is justified. But if understood, one is better able to counter it.
Working-class rage is rooted in the collapse of working-class life. A generation ago, one didn't even need a high-school diploma to get ahead. One only needed to work hard; manufacturing jobs were readily available. Not too long ago manufacturing jobs employed nearly forty percent of the workforce--now it is about ten percent. Worse, modern manufacturing jobs require skilled, tech-savvy workers; gone forever are the days when many of the jobs consisted of rote work. And whites, with their Protestant work ethic did work hard; the males especially had their identities, their pride, rooted in their ability to support a family. They blame themselves for their current plight; but one can only endure guilt for so long until a scapegoat is found. Now their pride has devolved into: At least we aren't freeloaders like them.
If you have any doubt that this sentiment is not being shamefully exploited by the Republican Party, take a look at that welfare ad for Romney. It claims that Obama has removed the work requirement for welfare. This is of course a blatant lie, a shameless lie. The implication is that Obama wants to help his buddies in the ghetto while punishing those who want to work, that is, the white working-class. This of course is a horrible slander, but slander often works.
The disaffection of the white working-class is especially acute. Women--justly so--are gaining power; African-Americans--justly so--are too. White working-class males, however, are in precipitous decline. Never mind that a good deal of their prosperity was based on gender and racial discrimination. This is undeniably the case. The movement toward gender equality and racial equality is a noble one and it is here to stay; lower-class white men are going to have to come to terms with progress. Classifying them as hillbillies and bigots, however, is of no help. Democrats will need to lead by example, and not by rhetoric,;they will need to teach them that their enemies are not women, gays, or minorities, but those--mostly white and male like themselves--who exploit them.
Obama has written off white working class males, just as Romney has written off the support of Blacks of any class. The Presedent's support among the former group stands at 29%--the lowest since Lyndon Johnson--and you of course know why Johnson received so little support from this group. The president is reaching out to women, contrasting the Democratic views of contraception and abortion with the far-right views of Republicans, and by support of the Lily Ledbetter Law. Is it a surprise that white male workers feel left out and flock to the Republican Party whose members at least look like them? All they get is a promise not to raise their taxes--which is part of the Republican strategy also.
I'm not advocating a program specifically aimed at the white working-class; that would indeed be racist, since the working class of many minorities is even doing worse. But I do believe that white rage is a good measure of the lack of equality, the misery index of this country, and must be addressed. And the way to address it is a serious jobs program and a serious attempt to make the system more fair for all workers.
What we need--and needed--is a massive stimulus program to get America back to work. The Obama stimulus, effective as it was, was much too small and consisted mostly of tax cuts instead of back-to-work programs and education programs. If we can afford unjust wars and egregious welfare for the rich in the form of tax breaks, we can certainly afford to help those who want to work but can't find a decent job.
Regarding fairness, I would suggest we begin with what I call the CEO/Joe, Jo Ratio Law. Did you know what the U.S. salary ratio is between a CEO and a newly hired worker--whether a Joseph or a Josephine? It is 475 to 1. In Germany and Japan, both very successful capitalist countries, it is about 11 to 1. The greed of CEOs in the United States is disgusting. I would propose in the ratio law that this ratio should be capped at, say, 20 to 1. That would be a start.
There is a close partnership of labor and management in Germany that simply does not exist here. During recessions, for instance, the German government pays up to half one's salary for a period, so that the worker does not need to be laid off. They learned the hard way; white rage is, after all, what elected Hitler. It is important for us to learn that fairness fosters democracy and prosperity while we still have time.
I'm sorry to say that Democrats are not proposing such changes, not to mention Republicans.
The policies of Obama are definitely better for the white working class than Romney's. (The white rich don't care a fig for the white poor.) But it is not enough. The Republicans are playing with fire; the Democrats are not doing enough to put the fire out. White rage, for now, will unfortunately continue to have an outrageous present, and, quite possibly, an even more outrageous future, which, I fear, will prove to be disastrous for all.
Today's loony Republcans have two sources of support: the superrich, who are not loony at all. They know where their interests lie. They are very powerful, but their numbers are relatively few. Despite Citizens United, however, elections are still decided by ordinary voters. So they must be bought off, they must be tricked into voting against their own interests. I'm referring here to the second source of Republican power: their manipulation of white rage.
Remember Lewis Carroll's great mock-ballad, The Walrus and The Carpenter? Both walrus and carpenter plan to eat the oyesters alive and the old oysters know it. The young, more adventerous and much more uninformed, rise from their beds and follow the duo with trust and joy. Here is how the young and old reply to the walrus's siren call:
The eldest Oyster looked at him,
but never a word he said;
the eldest Oyster winked his eye
and shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
to leave the oyster-bed.
But four young oysters hurried up
all eager for the treat...
Four young oysters followed them
and yet another four,
and thick and fast they came at last
and more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves
and scrambling to the shore.
Well, we all know what happened to them. Even weirder than Carroll's great poem is today's reality, in which the old white oysters are flocking to Walrus-Romney and Carpenter-Ryan, while the younger ones know better. The exceptions are white working-class males, who, young and old, are zealously following the walrus--and especially the carpenter. It is very illogical to vote for the mouths that will consume you; rage, however, is anything but logical. What is the source of white-male working-class rage? And what is to be done about it?
I don't have to give many examples of white-male working-class rage; it is a well known phenomenon. The country singer, Ted Nugent, for instance, has said that If Obama is reelected, he, Nugent, would either be dead or in jail. Our president is called the Anti-Christ, Hitler, an alien who hates America, etc. This is obviously rage speaking, since none of the accusations have any basis in reality. But instead of writing off such people as loonies, it might also be prudent to examine the roots of white rage--this doesn't mean that it is justified. But if understood, one is better able to counter it.
Working-class rage is rooted in the collapse of working-class life. A generation ago, one didn't even need a high-school diploma to get ahead. One only needed to work hard; manufacturing jobs were readily available. Not too long ago manufacturing jobs employed nearly forty percent of the workforce--now it is about ten percent. Worse, modern manufacturing jobs require skilled, tech-savvy workers; gone forever are the days when many of the jobs consisted of rote work. And whites, with their Protestant work ethic did work hard; the males especially had their identities, their pride, rooted in their ability to support a family. They blame themselves for their current plight; but one can only endure guilt for so long until a scapegoat is found. Now their pride has devolved into: At least we aren't freeloaders like them.
If you have any doubt that this sentiment is not being shamefully exploited by the Republican Party, take a look at that welfare ad for Romney. It claims that Obama has removed the work requirement for welfare. This is of course a blatant lie, a shameless lie. The implication is that Obama wants to help his buddies in the ghetto while punishing those who want to work, that is, the white working-class. This of course is a horrible slander, but slander often works.
The disaffection of the white working-class is especially acute. Women--justly so--are gaining power; African-Americans--justly so--are too. White working-class males, however, are in precipitous decline. Never mind that a good deal of their prosperity was based on gender and racial discrimination. This is undeniably the case. The movement toward gender equality and racial equality is a noble one and it is here to stay; lower-class white men are going to have to come to terms with progress. Classifying them as hillbillies and bigots, however, is of no help. Democrats will need to lead by example, and not by rhetoric,;they will need to teach them that their enemies are not women, gays, or minorities, but those--mostly white and male like themselves--who exploit them.
Obama has written off white working class males, just as Romney has written off the support of Blacks of any class. The Presedent's support among the former group stands at 29%--the lowest since Lyndon Johnson--and you of course know why Johnson received so little support from this group. The president is reaching out to women, contrasting the Democratic views of contraception and abortion with the far-right views of Republicans, and by support of the Lily Ledbetter Law. Is it a surprise that white male workers feel left out and flock to the Republican Party whose members at least look like them? All they get is a promise not to raise their taxes--which is part of the Republican strategy also.
I'm not advocating a program specifically aimed at the white working-class; that would indeed be racist, since the working class of many minorities is even doing worse. But I do believe that white rage is a good measure of the lack of equality, the misery index of this country, and must be addressed. And the way to address it is a serious jobs program and a serious attempt to make the system more fair for all workers.
What we need--and needed--is a massive stimulus program to get America back to work. The Obama stimulus, effective as it was, was much too small and consisted mostly of tax cuts instead of back-to-work programs and education programs. If we can afford unjust wars and egregious welfare for the rich in the form of tax breaks, we can certainly afford to help those who want to work but can't find a decent job.
Regarding fairness, I would suggest we begin with what I call the CEO/Joe, Jo Ratio Law. Did you know what the U.S. salary ratio is between a CEO and a newly hired worker--whether a Joseph or a Josephine? It is 475 to 1. In Germany and Japan, both very successful capitalist countries, it is about 11 to 1. The greed of CEOs in the United States is disgusting. I would propose in the ratio law that this ratio should be capped at, say, 20 to 1. That would be a start.
There is a close partnership of labor and management in Germany that simply does not exist here. During recessions, for instance, the German government pays up to half one's salary for a period, so that the worker does not need to be laid off. They learned the hard way; white rage is, after all, what elected Hitler. It is important for us to learn that fairness fosters democracy and prosperity while we still have time.
I'm sorry to say that Democrats are not proposing such changes, not to mention Republicans.
The policies of Obama are definitely better for the white working class than Romney's. (The white rich don't care a fig for the white poor.) But it is not enough. The Republicans are playing with fire; the Democrats are not doing enough to put the fire out. White rage, for now, will unfortunately continue to have an outrageous present, and, quite possibly, an even more outrageous future, which, I fear, will prove to be disastrous for all.
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