The Democratic Party misread Americans in many ways this past election, among them their supposed affinity for union work over self-employment and business ownership.
Bernie Sanders recently made the very basic point that the Democratic Party is a mess.
He was spot on when he asked: “Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.” He was talking about Intelligentsia.
Party chair of the Democratic Party Jaime Harrison proved his point.
Rather than saying, “Yes, we all need to look in the mirror,” he responded that this was utter BS. He went on to point out that he does not understand rural America, the Upper Midwest, race, or the economy. No wonder she lost.
Jaime Harrison divides the United States into two camps: The Intelligentsia and the Working Class
Jaime started out by saying Biden was the most pro-worker president because he supported unions and walked in a picket line. I’m sorry, Jaime, but union workers account for somewhere around 7% of voters. And in the rural homesteaded upper Midwest we don’t really have unions, and we don’t really like unions.
Do you think Jaime ever said: “Son, when you grow up, what I want for you is a nice, good-paying, union job in a factory where you will essentially have two bosses?” We don’t say that either.
Jamie’s vision of America is a place where the urban elites own everything, and the rest of us are workers who should be thankful to get a good-paying union job in a factory.
No one wants this.
Janie does not understand that in the homesteaded upper Midwestern states, what everyone wants is to own and run their own business like their ancestors did. He wouldn’t know this coming from the rural South.
Jaime Harrison didn’t receive the memo that racial politics don’t work
He goes on to say that Harris would have “closed the racial wealth gap for working people.” That’s right, Black people make significantly more than rural White people. But I read Kamala’s plan, and while she talked about helping Black voters, she didn’t have any plan to help rural White voters. That would widen the gap.
My daughter is deputy clerk for our township, where she makes $11.50. She is also a librarian at the county library where she makes $14 an hour. The average wage of a non-college-educated Black American is $17 per hour. And if you look at a first-generation college graduate, the Black graduate makes more money than the first-generation rural college graduate.
Jaime got the math wrong.
He also doesn’t understand that you can’t give handouts to one group and not to other groups.
Jaime Harrison points out that Kamala had no plan to help the hard-working Americans Trump talks about
Jaime finished by highlighting two handouts that Kamala planned to make to young voters. Handouts are not an economic plan.
Jaime simply highlighted that Kamala had no plan for average Americans in the rural Upper Midwest. Those who own small businesses, shops, farms, etc. Those who are 55 years old and already own a business. These are the people you have to reach.
Harrison has such disdain for rural business owners that he banned the Democratic Party from doing business with the rural Midwest
This is true. Go back and look at Democratic emails and propaganda. They all say that the Democratic Party will only use products that are union-made.
Which means they will never buy a product from a small business owner in rural America. Indeed, more than one of our Democratic candidates was required to have their signs made in My daughter is deputy clerk for our township, where she makes $11.50. She is also a librarian at the county library where she makes $14 an hour. The average wage of a non-college-educated Black American is $17 per hour. And if you look at a first-generation college graduate, the Black graduate makes more money than the first-generation rural college graduate.
Jaime got the math wrong.
He also doesn’t understand that you can’t give handouts to one group and not to other groups.
Jaime Harrison points out that Kamala had no plan to help the hard-working Americans Trump talks about
Jaime finished by highlighting two handouts that Kamala planned to make to young voters. Handouts are not an economic plan.
Jaime simply highlighted that Kamala had no plan for average Americans in the rural Upper Midwest. Those who own small businesses, shops, farms, etc. Those who are 55 years old and already own a business. These are the people you have to reach.
Harrison has such disdain for rural business owners that he banned the Democratic Party from doing business with the rural Midwest
This is true. Go back and look at Democratic emails and propaganda. They all say that the Democratic Party will only use products that are union-made.
Which means they will never buy a product from a small business owner in rural America. Indeed, more than one of our Democratic candidates was required to have their signs made in an urban Detroit area plant owned by a Trump supporter but whose employees were unionized. The local Democrats were not allowed to use the local printer.
Would you vote for a party who refuses to do business with you?
That was Jaime Harrison’s winning strategy for the Democratic Party.
Stop calling us working class – we aren’t, and we don’t like it
I have never called anyone in the homesteaded Upper Midwest working class. After all, didn’t we give up class when we declared independence? We are farmers, business owners, and professionals.
Nor does Trump. His economic plan doesn’t use the term working class even once. He more often would talk about hard-working Americans. And he would specifically talk about the shopkeeper, the farmer, and the small business owner.
Working class is a term that you hear in urban industrial areas that have unions and in the rural South. The upper Midwest, on the other hand, where the Electoral College votes are, was homesteaded, and in the early days, 90% of people owned their own businesses, being either farmers or shopkeepers.
My father had a very clear view of the three types of people in our community and our economy:
1) Farmers and Shopkeepers
2) Professionals – meaning carpenters, welders, mechanics, farriers, doctors, veterinarians, lawyers, accountants, etc.
Essentially, anyone with a skill – none of these required a degree in the early days
3) Laborers – meaning that small group of people who worked for someone else like at the grain mill or the metal fabrication shop. That ethos and mindset persists today – and voters want it back.
Kamala Harris talked about working-class people 35 times in her economic plan. She referred to her elite urban professor mother as a working-class mom. Prince Charles could say the same.
With $1 billion to spend, didn’t Kamala have someone analyzing how Trump spoke to Midwestern Americans with respect and dignity without pretending that he was an average Joe?
Who are these “working class” people? I do know who Trump’s Hard Working Americans are.
Does that mean that the rest of you are leisure class? Of course not. Anyone who uses the term working-class thinks of themselves as Intelligentsia.
Conclusion
Democrats need to focus on the real reasons why they lost this election.
