Posted on 05/14/2005 3:33:42 PM PDT by neverdem
Last week the Pew Research Center came out with a study of the American electorate that crystallized something I've been sensing for a long time: rich people are boring, but poor people are interesting.
The Pew data demonstrated that people at the top of the income scale are divided into stable, polar camps. There are the educated-class liberals - antiwar, pro-choice, anti-tax cuts - who make up about 19 percent of the electorate, according to Pew. And there are business-class conservatives - pro-war, pro-life, pro-tax cut - who make up 11 percent of voters.
These affluent people are pretty well represented by their parties, are not internally conflicted and are pretty much stuck in their ways.
But poorer voters are not like that. They're much more internally conflicted and not represented well by any party. You've got poor Republicans (over 10 percent of voters) who are hawkish on foreign policy and socially conservative, but like government programs and oppose tax cuts. You've got poor Democrats who oppose the war and tax cuts, but are socially conservative and hate immigration. These less-educated voters are more cross-pressured and more independent than educated voters. If you're looking for creative tension, for instability, for a new political movement, the lower middle class is probably where it's going to emerge.
Already, we've seen poorer folks move over in astonishing numbers to the G.O.P. George Bush won the white working class by 23 percentage points in this past election. Many people have wondered why so many lower-middle-class waitresses in Kansas and Hispanic warehouse workers in Texas now call themselves Republicans. The Pew data provide an answer: they agree with Horatio Alger.
These working-class folk like the G.O.P.'s social and foreign policies, but the big difference between poor Republicans and poor Democrats is that the former believe that individuals can make it on their own with hard work and good character.
According to the Pew study, 76 percent of poor Republicans believe most people can get ahead with hard work. Only 14 percent of poor Democrats believe that. Poor Republicans haven't made it yet, but they embrace what they take to be the Republican economic vision - that it is in their power to do so. Poor Democrats are more likely to believe they are in the grip of forces beyond their control.
The G.O.P. succeeds because it is seen as the party of optimistic individualism.
But when you look at how Republicans behave in office, you notice that they are often clueless when it comes to understanding the lower-class folks who put them there. They are good at responding to business-class types and social conservatives, but bad at responding to poor Republicans.
That's because on important issues, the poor Republicans differ from their richer brethren. Poor Republicans aspire to middle-class respectability, but they are suspicious of the rich and of big business. About 83 percent of poor Republicans say big business has too much power, according to Pew, compared with 26 percent of affluent Republicans. If the Ownership Society means owning a home, they're for it. If it means putting their retirement in the hands of Wall Street, they become queasy.
Remember, these Republicans are disproportionately young women with children. Nearly 70 percent have trouble paying their bills every month. They are optimistic about the future, but their fear of their lives falling apart stalks them at night.
Poorer Republicans support government programs that offer security, so long as they don't undermine the work ethic. Eighty percent believe government should do more to help the needy, even if it means going deeper into debt. Only 19 percent of affluent Republicans believe that.
President Bush has made a lot of traditional Republicans nervous with his big-government conservatism. He's increased the growth of nonsecurity domestic spending at a faster rate than Lyndon Johnson and twice as fast as Bill Clinton. But in so doing, he's probably laid down a welcome mat to precisely these poorer folks.
Even so, Republicans have barely thought about how to use government to offer practical encouragement to the would-be Horatio Alger heroes. They've barely explored their biggest growth market. If Republicans can't pass programs like KidSave, which would help poor families build assets for education or retirement, then Hillary Clinton, who is surprisingly popular with poor Republicans, will take their place.
E-mail: dabrooks@nytimes.com
It sounds to me as though you're doing everything within your power to stay afloat, and my hat is off to you. I don't begrudge you a dime you get. I hope that soon you won't need assistance, but until then, I'm glad it's there for you and your family.
I wouldn't mind my trash being picked-up only once a week--in fact we could go back to doing it like we did when I was a kid---we had a trash barrel and burned it!!! LOL
I see your point, but I think if people could see a list with the CRAP that our taxes are going for, I think a lot of us would pick quite a few "luxuries" that we could do without---I dare say, if we cut just the "pet projects and pork" like having every single govt. building in West Virginia being named for Robert Byrd, the programs that most people consider necessary like Social Security wouldn't be the problem that they are now...
There you have it: it's all about values.
David Brooks is not a leftist. He's the new token conservative on the NY Times op ed page.
It's called resentment, plain and simple. A great example is a buddy of mine, who's wife needs some major dental work. They have insurance, but what insurance doesn't cover is still a fortune to them, so they're spacing her dental work out with some done this year, and a 6 month wait and some done next year. Now, pay attention, this is where the resentment grows and festers. They see that people on either side of them don't have this difficulty. The upper class can easily afford such things. The lower class gets it free. They on the other hand work hard, and suffer for it. In ways, they'd be better off poor and they know it.
Thanks.
And you are absolutely right. A point I never, ever tire of making is that the social conservative is the child and grandchild of New Deal Democrats and the grandchild of William Jennings Bryan Populists. He flatly does not trust the morals of big business and wants a government that will stick up for him instead of looting this country to the benefit of multinationals.
We live in a society in which zip code indicates your income. The blue collar Republican does not live in the same town as the rich pro-business Republican. He knows the rich pro-business Republican can just wall himself away from the problems he faces every day. He knows the rich pro-business Republican will never send his own son to war, can move his money offshore, and reeks of free traitor callous indifference to people like him.
As far as loopholes are concerned, could you give me an idea of what loopholes you are talking about. I see a big distinction between a 'loophole' that allows a company to keep money it has earned via a reduced tax rate versus a subsidy that is given to the corporation by the gov't from others earnings. I am in favor of the former as I would be in favor of any tax cut, while I am against the later which I actually see relatively little of going on
I truly hope your situation improves. This country has the social programs as you've outlined to help those in need, but they should not be a long term way of life. Everyone needs a hand once in a while and I don't begrudge anyone that. I totally agree that there has to be tighter controls on these programs, illegals SHOULD NOT be allowed to have access to these programs, however I fear that they know how to play the system better than any of us!
Exactly. And now with an ever increasingly frequency, we're even witnessing this corporation renigging on things like pensions. I don't think even a lot of freepers understand the shock that goes through the working class communities when something like that happens.
Thanks. I am doing the best I can, and someday I won't need any help from the state. Of that, I am sure. And once that happens, if I can help it....NEVER AGAIN.
Precisely.
That is the thrust of this article. That Kerry's latte liberal secularism completely failed to speak to the lower middle class.
What the latte liberal in his arrogance fails to comprehend is that the blue collar parent does not see Karl Rove or "theocrats" or "*" or "Talibornigans" as the enemy. The blue collar parents daily struggle is to keep the street away from his/her children and if you give them a religious grounding when they are young, maybe when they are 13 they will still mind you and stay away from drugs and gangs and promiscuity. The secularist liberal is so incapable of respecting religion that he cannot see the world through the eyes of a blue collar parent.
Bump for later
NYT spin
Google free second hand computers
Maybe you could finish a degree online. Good luck Horatio Alger!
God bless you. I admire your dedication to your children.
so true
Your situation is one like I was thinking about in my post-if the pork was taken out of our taxes, then the programs that help people while they are establishing themselves and working hard, would have the money they need....without dispute.
But, when the Federal Govt. keeps throwing good money after bad in the School financing, costs of health care and housing and education of illegals...NO WAY
Do you know that if one of your children wanted to go to the University of Texas (even with proof of your lower income status), he/she would have to pay humongous out-of-state tuition, but an illegal immigrant who isn't even supposed to be in this country, will get instate tuition!
BTW---IMHO, The Capital Gang on CNN is the most propaganda filled communist show on TV!
A point I never, ever tire of making is that the social conservative is the child and grandchild of New Deal Democrats and the grandchild of William Jennings Bryan Populists. He flatly does not trust the morals of big business and wants a government that will stick up for him instead of looting this country to the benefit of multinationals.
We live in a society in which zip code indicates your income. The blue collar Republican does not live in the same town as the rich pro-business Republican. He knows the rich pro-business Republican can just wall himself away from the problems he faces every day. He knows the rich pro-business Republican will never send his own son to war, can move his money offshore, and reeks of free traitor callous indifference to people like him.
The NYT and the rest of Planet Left are hoping against hope for an HRC-versus-RINO contest come next presidential election. Only this time, they're starting early because they can't stand the prospect of another Democrat loss.
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