Democrats vie with Republicans to capture the working-class vote

[RiverLover]

Democrats vie with Republicans to capture the working-class vote
12/22/14



Some people think Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts could pose a threat to the presidential ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton. She could. But she also could pose a threat to the next Republican presidential nominee. Her attacks on America’s big banks could get her more than just media buzz. They could generate lots of votes. Republicans would do well to take her seriously.

It has been a long time since a populist wave washed over the nation and significantly influenced campaign discourse and political events. It happened in the 1820s with the emergence of Andrew Jackson, in the 1890s with the emergence of William Jennings Bryan and in the 1930s with the fiery “share the wealth” rhetoric of Huey Long until his 1935 assassination destroyed his movement.

Today, we see economic and political developments that could generate another such populist storm. The key is the plight of the white working class. Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University tells us that in 1996, the average 30-year-old man with a high school degree earned 20 percent less than a comparable man in 1979.

He outlines the devastation of blue-collar occupations: the percentage of workers classified as precision-production, crafts and repair workers, as well as operatives, fabricators and construction workers, decreased from 28 percent in 1970 to 17 percent in 2010. During the same period, the number of workers operating lathe, milling and turning machines plummeted from 345,000 to 14,000.

...Democrats have given Republicans a valuable gift by sticking it to the American working class, once the bedrock of the party’s New Deal coalition. But, if Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Warren have their way, their party will begin taking steps to reverse that situation and bring those working-class Americans back into the fold. If Republicans are flat-footed, the new Democratic populists could create a major fault line between themselves and Republicans on the issue of the big Wall Street banks. That represents the biggest threat to Republicans going into the 2016 elections.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/22/robert-merry-elizabeth-warren-the-populist-could-t/

Also posted in EW group.