Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
And the proposed conservative system is an even worse system. Conservatives want to eliminate the entire social safety net and make social mobility a thing of the past. They want a return to the robber baron era where the rich owned everything, the poor were endured servants and had to buy from the company store, and people stayed in the damn class they were born into. Conservatives care ONLY about THEIR special interest groups and the top 1%.
The Clintons are far from the "liberal" agenda. They are centrists and more Third Way thinkers. They are definitely more friendly with corporations than they are individuals.
I don't disagree with you. But given the two choices that exist in the United States, there is no choice. If you are looking for anyone to represent the poor or those looking for social mobility, the only choice are the Democrats. Republicans have no interest in social mobility. Their only desire is to enrich themselves and make certain they maintain that economic advantage.
Again, I don't disagree, except to say that the Republicans have done NOTHING for the working class in my lifetime. Not a damn thing except to disenfranchise and eliminate their access to the mechanisms that would allow for the mobility we all hope to achieve, and that which is central to the American dream. Things are much different in Canada and I strongly support the greater focus on social responsibility that all Canadians embrace. This is one characteristic that I wish Americans understood and would embrace with greater zeal. But they don't, and they are entrenched in their ways, which is very dangerous indeed. What is even more dangerous are those who don't know how the system works, think they can view the American system through their social lens, and apply their systemic understanding to the behaviors of the political parties in this country. This is almost a form of appeasement and allowing the absolutely abhorrent behaviors of a Party set on pillaging the country's coffers from the many, for the benefit of the few, to become acceptable and condoned.
This is true, but in a binary system you must choose sides. But to choose sides you must understand the responsibility of those in power and the ability to affect change. Democrats held power of two branches of the government for two years, and yes were ineffective (and to clarify, the Democrats have held the majority in zero years of the last eight). This was in part because the Republicans used the filibuster to bring Washington to its knees. I mean, what part of Mitch McConnell coming right out and stating that Republicans would not cooperate with Obama, nor aid him in passing any legislation, did you miss? How did you miss the Republicans preventing a President from nominating his Supreme Court Justice, while ramming their through just two years later? One Party has done everything in their power to govern, while the other has been central to destroying every norm of governance! But it is the Democrats who let the working class down?
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The problem is that the current liberal philosophy also does nothing for the working class.
If you're part of various special interest groups, liberal politics are great, but the people in the middle pay for these benefits. So you've got a situation where the upper class is tax sheltered, the very lowest class is benefiting, and the middle are paying for everything.
Conservative politics currently works with a filter down economic model. So working class people might benefit from that, as there theoretically should be job creation. Although, you are correct, the conservative model does nothing for the working class directly, it might benefit them indirectly, which is better than what the liberal model is offering, which is no benefit and potentially a detriment. On top of that you've got liberals making the working class out to be ignorant bigots at every turn.
So the current paradigm creates a situation where under the liberal philosophy, the working class won't benefit, but they might benefit under the conservative model.
If the liberals want to bring back the working class, they actually need to do something that helps them. Bernie Sanders attempted to do this, but was struck down by his own party.
The excuse about not being able to elect Supreme Court members is pretty lame too. That occurred in 2016, which was at the very end of Obama's presidency. I also fail to see how having one more supreme court judge would have created jobs for American workers. Obama also enjoyed a democratic majority in the Senate for the vast majority of both of his terms of presidency.
Once again, I'm not stating that Trump is the cause of the USA's current prosperity. It could be just luck and external factors. However, the US will continue to vote Republican as a long as things are going well and until the Democrats change their tune and actually start putting forward a platform that appeals to working people.