Thursday, April 22, 2021

Dems moving TO race/gender issues vs. moving FROM class issues

I've been thinking that Dem pols and the Left have been lured from class to race/gender issues. But maybe it's more about needing to move away from class, since they can't do anything about it with their policy preferences and cronyism.

Think about the biggest class issues in Dem terms:
-K-12 cronyism is far more important than educational choice
-won't address welfare policies that harm family stability/structure
-happy to keep FICA taxes on the working poor and middle class ($3K/yr from the WP and $10K/yr from the MC)

All they have on class issues these days:
-a half-hearted tepid/gradual increase in the minimum wage (which is more for unions than the WP anyway)
-trying to buy votes with ill-targeted, temporary "stimulus/relief"
-Medicare for All (really, Medicaid for Some), but I don't see much energy on this follow-up to the ACA band-aid attempt on a gaping wound.

Seriously, what else can the Dems conceivably do to address class issues? Maybe they must move to race/gender, since the ground under their class positions has eroded so badly. Thoughts?