As for the two class options you give at the end: both seem laughably absurd to me yet I realize it is no joke. But to be clear Republicans are not suggesting that everyone except for wealthy businessmen have a blue collar job nor even are most pushing for college education to be drastically reduced, though perhaps somewhat so. But many are certainly pushing for huge changes in college as seen in Florida under DeSantis recently, and the greater insulation and nationalism part is largely true.
As for Democrats there is clearly now a split especially since Biden became president but many still seem (in practice) to be not just very pro college education but to also seem to think that almost all non hispanic whites should be college educated, and are very prejudiced agianst those who aren't. Ironically, this is not only an absurd idea, but actually seems remarkably racist and smaking of white supremacist beliefs, which is probably why it is almost never stated explicitly as such! Yet it is still a remarkably common undercurrent among white progressives that I have encountered countless times in my 46 years.
This latter belief is no doubt incredibly damaging to democrats, and not only among the white blue collar demographic who are most personally insulted by it. This also ties into the point you make about many people of color always having seen much white progressive carrots for what they are (though many are no doubt being sincere), as more performance then anything. Or what conservatives might call vertue signaling. The intense prejudice against non college educated whites among many white progressives is in my own experience also far less so among people of color. It is instead something rather specific to the often symbolic cultural puritanism of white progressive democrats: without it I honestly doubt we would be looking at a secund Trump presidency today.
As a poltically independent white, blue collar male college dropout who was raises by hippies in an urban area and has (mostly working class) relatives across the political spectrum, I find that most of those I know on the Trump side are primarily agreived at college educated "progressives" at this point. They are especially aggrieved at those who work in government but also at those in private industry, for a veriaty of reasons only some of which are directly related to race. Their racial related greivences are also primarily related to policy and culture (immigration policy, affirmative action and related matters including private corporate policies) far more so then to resentment against groups.
The democrats in my extended family meanwhile tend to be disafected with lower rates of voting, and are largely unhappy with the democratic party yet vote for it (when they do vote) mainly as a "lesser evil" and do to fear of republican policy changes. They tend to be socially liberal in a more traditional sense and have diverse friendships, and are very alarmed by much of Trump rhetoric.
But among my own conservative relatives and and other more conservative blue collar whites I know, degrees of racism certianly exist but it is not directly primarily towards race itself but more culture. That is, groups that vote more for democrats are seen poorly as a whole largely because of their voting habbits more then anything, but black republicans or even conservative leaning independents are largely welcomed as indeviduals at this point. I want to be clear that this is only my own experience, and I am sure it is far from universal.
The two above class options you present at the end (for whites specifically) also seem laughably absurd to me, -but I realize it is no joke. However to be clear almost no one is actually suggesting that none should go to college, -the republican version just doesn't support nearly as high a leval of college education on the whole, but also supports huge changes within college, as seen in Florida under DeSantis recently. The insolation, nationalism, traditionalism (but also corporate/"business friendly" policy via deregulation) via authoritarian means is much more true at this point however.
But likewise, especially during covid and in other situations as well, democrats have also become increasingly embracing of authoritarianism themselves. Both parties tend to end up over reaching in my view if not equally so. But I do have some especially serious concerns about the next year: some of what I have seen and heard from Trump so far has left me very uneasy.
As for white democrats there is now clearly a split (more so since Biden became president) but many in the white professional class still seem to not just support college education in general, but to think that college education should be almost universal specifically for non hispanic whites in practice, and are often highly prejudiced against those who did not graduate and especially those who did not even attend college. This idea of uniform college (implicitly racialized but not clearly stated as such) is not only an absurd idea, but ironically, seems extremely racist as well and reminiscent of white supremacist beliefs in it's own way, -which is probably why it is almost never stated as such explicitly! But it is clearly a strong undercurrent among many white progressives that I have encountered countless times in my life.
Ultimately I'm truly sick of both parties at this point as I would prefer more of an intelligent compromise on many issues, being perhaps best described as a cautious moderate nationalist: less immigration overall and (especially) stronger border controls but also more refugee admissions, especially from Latin America and would support significant legalization depending on the specifics. I haven't thought about terrifs as much, but find Trump's idea of attempting to end birthright citizenship horrific and his mass deportation talk to be deeply concerning at best, and Trump's brash version of nationalism in general to often be alarming. So for now, I am politically homeless and don't see that changing in the near future.
I agree with the analysis for the most part, although I would add that the politics of white racial resentment was by no means limited to blue-collar whites in the North. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in a middle to upper middle class family and around the time Reagan was running I recall my mother complaining about taxes and saying something like “the taxes were paying are going to support two families of n****** who are too lazy to work.” I doubt that their attitude was unusual.
Your last sentence was intriguing but I don’t see how we could go back to economy that was much more heavily based on manufacturing jobs, because today’s manufacturing is more automated and manufacturing jobs require a higher level of education.
I could well be wrong about that, but even if it were possible to do that, I don’t see the Republicans taking us there. Donald Trump is only looking out for himself, and as far as I’m concerned this is just another election where Republicans stoked racial and cultural grievances in order to provide cover for tax cuts for billionaires.
I can see why many blue-collar Americans voted for Trump but I think they’re going to be disappointed. With all that said I think the Democrats need to do some soul-searching and figure out where they’ve gone wrong. There is a great deal of evidence that a majority of Americans prefer Democratic policies to Republican policies, but they don’t really believe the Democratic Party is on their side.
The Democrats made a huge error in recent years by assuming that Latinos would vote for them based simply on their ethnic identity. That’s pretty arrogant if you think about it. After all, I’d be offended if somebody assumed that I vote Republican just because I’m white.
As for the two class options you give at the end: both seem laughably absurd to me yet I realize it is no joke. But to be clear Republicans are not suggesting that everyone except for wealthy businessmen have a blue collar job nor even are most pushing for college education to be drastically reduced, though perhaps somewhat so. But many are certainly pushing for huge changes in college as seen in Florida under DeSantis recently, and the greater insulation and nationalism part is largely true.
As for Democrats there is clearly now a split especially since Biden became president but many still seem (in practice) to be not just very pro college education but to also seem to think that almost all non hispanic whites should be college educated, and are very prejudiced agianst those who aren't. Ironically, this is not only an absurd idea, but actually seems remarkably racist and smaking of white supremacist beliefs, which is probably why it is almost never stated explicitly as such! Yet it is still a remarkably common undercurrent among white progressives that I have encountered countless times in my 46 years.
This latter belief is no doubt incredibly damaging to democrats, and not only among the white blue collar demographic who are most personally insulted by it. This also ties into the point you make about many people of color always having seen much white progressive carrots for what they are (though many are no doubt being sincere), as more performance then anything. Or what conservatives might call vertue signaling. The intense prejudice against non college educated whites among many white progressives is in my own experience also far less so among people of color. It is instead something rather specific to the often symbolic cultural puritanism of white progressive democrats: without it I honestly doubt we would be looking at a secund Trump presidency today.
As a poltically independent white, blue collar male college dropout who was raises by hippies in an urban area and has (mostly working class) relatives across the political spectrum, I find that most of those I know on the Trump side are primarily agreived at college educated "progressives" at this point. They are especially aggrieved at those who work in government but also at those in private industry, for a veriaty of reasons only some of which are directly related to race. Their racial related greivences are also primarily related to policy and culture (immigration policy, affirmative action and related matters including private corporate policies) far more so then to resentment against groups.
The democrats in my extended family meanwhile tend to be disafected with lower rates of voting, and are largely unhappy with the democratic party yet vote for it (when they do vote) mainly as a "lesser evil" and do to fear of republican policy changes. They tend to be socially liberal in a more traditional sense and have diverse friendships, and are very alarmed by much of Trump rhetoric.
But among my own conservative relatives and and other more conservative blue collar whites I know, degrees of racism certianly exist but it is not directly primarily towards race itself but more culture. That is, groups that vote more for democrats are seen poorly as a whole largely because of their voting habbits more then anything, but black republicans or even conservative leaning independents are largely welcomed as indeviduals at this point. I want to be clear that this is only my own experience, and I am sure it is far from universal.
The two above class options you present at the end (for whites specifically) also seem laughably absurd to me, -but I realize it is no joke. However to be clear almost no one is actually suggesting that none should go to college, -the republican version just doesn't support nearly as high a leval of college education on the whole, but also supports huge changes within college, as seen in Florida under DeSantis recently. The insolation, nationalism, traditionalism (but also corporate/"business friendly" policy via deregulation) via authoritarian means is much more true at this point however.
But likewise, especially during covid and in other situations as well, democrats have also become increasingly embracing of authoritarianism themselves. Both parties tend to end up over reaching in my view if not equally so. But I do have some especially serious concerns about the next year: some of what I have seen and heard from Trump so far has left me very uneasy.
As for white democrats there is now clearly a split (more so since Biden became president) but many in the white professional class still seem to not just support college education in general, but to think that college education should be almost universal specifically for non hispanic whites in practice, and are often highly prejudiced against those who did not graduate and especially those who did not even attend college. This idea of uniform college (implicitly racialized but not clearly stated as such) is not only an absurd idea, but ironically, seems extremely racist as well and reminiscent of white supremacist beliefs in it's own way, -which is probably why it is almost never stated as such explicitly! But it is clearly a strong undercurrent among many white progressives that I have encountered countless times in my life.
Ultimately I'm truly sick of both parties at this point as I would prefer more of an intelligent compromise on many issues, being perhaps best described as a cautious moderate nationalist: less immigration overall and (especially) stronger border controls but also more refugee admissions, especially from Latin America and would support significant legalization depending on the specifics. I haven't thought about terrifs as much, but find Trump's idea of attempting to end birthright citizenship horrific and his mass deportation talk to be deeply concerning at best, and Trump's brash version of nationalism in general to often be alarming. So for now, I am politically homeless and don't see that changing in the near future.
I agree with the analysis for the most part, although I would add that the politics of white racial resentment was by no means limited to blue-collar whites in the North. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in a middle to upper middle class family and around the time Reagan was running I recall my mother complaining about taxes and saying something like “the taxes were paying are going to support two families of n****** who are too lazy to work.” I doubt that their attitude was unusual.
Your last sentence was intriguing but I don’t see how we could go back to economy that was much more heavily based on manufacturing jobs, because today’s manufacturing is more automated and manufacturing jobs require a higher level of education.
I could well be wrong about that, but even if it were possible to do that, I don’t see the Republicans taking us there. Donald Trump is only looking out for himself, and as far as I’m concerned this is just another election where Republicans stoked racial and cultural grievances in order to provide cover for tax cuts for billionaires.
I can see why many blue-collar Americans voted for Trump but I think they’re going to be disappointed. With all that said I think the Democrats need to do some soul-searching and figure out where they’ve gone wrong. There is a great deal of evidence that a majority of Americans prefer Democratic policies to Republican policies, but they don’t really believe the Democratic Party is on their side.
The Democrats made a huge error in recent years by assuming that Latinos would vote for them based simply on their ethnic identity. That’s pretty arrogant if you think about it. After all, I’d be offended if somebody assumed that I vote Republican just because I’m white.
Excellent analysis.