Monday, 7 August 2017
White Christians and the appeal of Trump
& the Republicans Old Lange’s rant
of the day
Christians are gradually losing their superior
position in American society, a position that automatically gave them better
jobs, better housing, better loans, better schools, better police protection;
in short, better everything. It is gradual; whites still enjoy a
huge advantage in preferences and privileges, but fewer than before. Not
being stupid, affluent White Christians can see the writing on the wall. (Poor
whites never expected privilege and are astonished to and pleased find a
president – even a party – speaking to them as “white” rather than “the
poor.”) Both poor and affluent do shre the view that White Christians are
superior to all other ethnic groups.
White
Christians feel abandoned by the Democrats because, at base, the party does not
think White Christians should have preference and privilege, nor that
they are superior to all other ethnic groups. In the past the
rhetoric about taking care of the poor and the minorities came with the unsaid
understanding that White Christians came first, of course, but poor and
minorities were the next most important thing. The new Democratic party
openly courted the votes of the minority and the poor first and just assumed
that the white working class would stay with them. (“What are they gonna do,
vote Republican?”) No wonder working White Christians felt
abandoned.
There is much
speculation about why Republican politicians so often attract White Christians
by focusing on peripheral cultural issues such as gay marriage, religious
freedom, legalized marijuana and the like – when the economy, healthcare and
foreign policy have so much more impact on their day-to-day lives.
The answer is three-fold: 1) these cultural issues are based on deeply held
beliefs that White Christians think are very important, 2) the Democrats have
taken positions on these issues that many (if not most) White Christians do not
share and 3) White Christians feel that they have little control over economy,
healthcare and foreign policy. No wonder White Christians
feel abandoned.
The first of
the three is probably the most important. White Christians feel as deeply
about these cultural issues as minorities do about profiling, and for the same
reason: they see them as existential. Defending them is defending
White Christian survival. So, when Democrats take an opposing view, it is
no wonder White Christians feel abandoned.
Other key,
although peripheral, issues for White Christians are related to a limited-pie
view of the world: welfare dependency, foreign aid, public schools. If
resources are limited, White Christians want them to come to White Christians
not to some other group. Again, the Democrats have taken a position
that White Christians are doing just fine, it is others that need more help and
hence more government resources. No wonder White Christians feel
abandoned.
If the
Democrats do not realize this, and act on this realization, they will continue
to lose the White Christian vote. It is an old political saw that “you
can’t win the presidency without the Black and Hispanic vote.” Turned out
not to be the case. Democrats need to remember that, in most
states, you can’t win dog-catcher without a goodly share of the White Christian
vote.
----
Intriguingly,
one of the most inexplicable but deeply-felt cultural arguments is disagreement
on the proper size and scope of government. This is not a White
Christians thing at all; whether a White Christian favours big or little
government may depend upon simply on whether someone in the family has a
government job. There is universal disagreement on this issue and it goes
across all races and classes. Politically, however, it is only a
perceived difference, rather than a real one. Neither Party is
really for bigger or smaller government. The parties just want to shrink
or grow different parts of government.
Republicans
favour big government in Washington telling people whether they can get an
abortion, what and where they can smoke, how they can die, who can sell
insurance in their state and where they can take a pee.
Democrats want big government in Washington to stay out of managing a woman’s
fertility, out of surveilling citizens, out of the right to die, out of where
people can pee and out of building walls. (Both parties are happy with
big government telling people where they can smoke, but Republicans and
Democrats often disagree on whether big government should have any say in what
we can smoke.) Republicans want to reduce government by cutting
welfare for individuals, Democrats want to reduce government by cutting welfare
for corporations. Republicans want bigger government though
increased spending on defence, Democrats want smaller government through
decreased spending on defence.
PS: BOTH
parties ALWAYS increase the number of federal workers when they get in power.
I think she has something here. If only 7% can go into public jobs, and only 43% of those from public school can go into public jobs, then that means we could have 50% of our chief executives, barristers, journalists, judges, medical professionals and MPs be filled by people from other walks of life.
Unless Ellie is a elitist at heart and just wants her ilk to win at the lottery for professional jobs.
Brexit ‘Divorce Bill’ Of £36 Billion Rejected By Tory Eurosceptics
Brexit ‘Divorce Bill’ Of £36 Billion Rejected By Tory Eurosceptics
No. Britton does not wish to pay for its committents to the EU. We wish to say that our committents to the EU are nothing
We wish to be known as the deadbeats of Europe.
UK citizens to get more rights over personal data under new law
We wish to be known as the deadbeats of Europe.
UK citizens to get more rights over personal data under new law
Will they all be able to have them squash their sex offenders register
# posted by Had It in Holland Park @ 02:18 
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