The twin political surprises of the year have been the success of businessman and entertainer, Donald Trump against 16 professional politicians and of Bernie Sanders, a socialist Independent against the person already chosen to represent her party and our country. How could these two people seemingly on opposite ends of the political spectrum, be doing so well against impossible odds? What could they possibly have in common?
The revolt of the American underdogs - working class and the poor.
The working class is also known as the blue collar or the lower-middle class. They, along with the poor or lower class, make up the bottom half of U.S. household income earners. Most do not earn enough to pay any federal income tax with tens of millions of them getting federal transfer benefits like the Earned Income Credit, food stamps and Medicaid. Most have no more than a high school diploma.
These two presidential hopefuls have several things in common that appeal to both of these groups of Americans.
Both Bernie and Trump seem genuine. They seem to be saying what they think and showing how they feel. Most professional politicians are too well conditioned to say what they really feel or think for fear of alienating part of their constituency. It seems that Bernie and Donald talk like working class people do. They are not inhibited by attempts at being politically correct, something that regular folk can’t stand already. But that means that they might say something that might offend some defensive group.
Neither has been using a super-PAC or depending on corporate donations. (Trump might begin having a super PAC.)
Both are against illegal immigration while only Trump has promised to try to end it. Bernie, like past farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, believes that illegal immigration hurts the working class and the poor, while Americans with college education and good paying careers have no problem with illegal immigration. Undocumented workers provide services that the middle class needs and enjoys including housecleaning, child care, gardening, food service, construction, farming, and furniture moving at very reasonable rates. Those here uninvited will not be competition for any white collar job. They will not be competing to be partners in a law firm or for residency in a hospital. They will not be teachers or politicians, nurses or social workers. So what is their problem with people coming to our country to seek a better life for themselves and their loved ones?
But if you are a person without a college education, you might be competing with people here illegally who would be willing to work for less.
Both Bernie and the Donald are against many of our foreign trade treaties like NAFTA and the current one, the Trans Pacific Trade Pact. Both are against outsourcing American manufacturing jobs to Mexico and Far East countries like China and Vietnam. People in the working class are directly affected by these job losses while those in the middle and upper classes enjoy lower costs and a greater variety of offerings from this globalization.
But the irony is that minority voters who are most likely to be in the bottom two socio-economic classes (lower and lower middle) and are therefore most impacted by these two major policy issues, prefer Hillary to both candidates.
Blacks and Latino Americans are disproportionately less educated and more in need of entry level jobs from which they can promote. Hillary claims to be for open borders; has promised people living here illegally that she would let them stay so as not to break up families and that she would expedite their path to citizenship. These moves would only bring more people here without invitation making the lives of those in our lowest two socio-economic classes even worse.
While we suffered high unemployment rates during our recent recession, the groups impacted most severely were those without college educations and especially those who did not complete high school. While the U.S. population as a whole reached a high of 10% unemployment, black and Latino youth were seeing rates as high as 30%. It is these groups who must compete with foreign workers abroad as well as illegal immigrants at home.
If Bernie and the Donald can make this point clear, they could win over more minority voters and defeat Hillary who would offer more transfer payments instead of jobs for these impacted American workers and needy poor.
Both Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump were against our invasion of Iraq and our involvement in the overthrow of several Middle East dictators. Both are against our nation’s past efforts at nation building. The two also agree that we are spending too much defending our allies, especially in NATO. Trump says that we are being taken advantage of in NATO with the U.S.paying the lion’s share. The NATO defenders say that America is paying in proportion to its GNP and so pays more than any other country or 22% of all related costs. The problem is we are paying to defend our allies, not the U.S. Both candidates seem to feel that the host countries should pay for their own defense. Hillary seems content to let us have more than 700 military bases on foreign lands protecting only the host countries and their friendly neighbors.
This also affects people in the working and poor classes. They are most likely to be the ones fighting for our country to protect another. They were in Iraq protecting Iraqis from Iraqis. They were in Afghanistan protecting Afghans from the Taliban. They are now in Syria, Iraq and Libya protecting the innocent from the violent terrorist groups that seem to be metastasizing across the region.
Both candidates have said that the hundreds of billions we are squandering abroad being the world’s 911 could be better spent on our infrastructure - physical and intellectual. We could be fixing our highways, bridges, schools, and healthcare centers. Most Americans won’t be involved in armed conflicts, mainly just people who have few other opportunities. As Shakespeare’s Falstaff said, “the poor die as well as the rich.”
Some Democrats are saying that Bernie Sanders is not really a Democrat. He isn’t. He’s an Independent and a socialist. But Democratic and Independent voters, especially the young and the socio-economic underdogs, love him.
Some GOP leaders say the Trump is not a real conservative or even a real Republican. That is probably also true. But maybe the voters are tired of the traditional political alternatives They want someone different.
I think that we are in for a very interesting six months. Keep your eyes on the underdogs - the working class and poor in revolt.
The revolt of the American underdogs - working class and the poor.
The working class is also known as the blue collar or the lower-middle class. They, along with the poor or lower class, make up the bottom half of U.S. household income earners. Most do not earn enough to pay any federal income tax with tens of millions of them getting federal transfer benefits like the Earned Income Credit, food stamps and Medicaid. Most have no more than a high school diploma.
These two presidential hopefuls have several things in common that appeal to both of these groups of Americans.
Both Bernie and Trump seem genuine. They seem to be saying what they think and showing how they feel. Most professional politicians are too well conditioned to say what they really feel or think for fear of alienating part of their constituency. It seems that Bernie and Donald talk like working class people do. They are not inhibited by attempts at being politically correct, something that regular folk can’t stand already. But that means that they might say something that might offend some defensive group.
Neither has been using a super-PAC or depending on corporate donations. (Trump might begin having a super PAC.)
Both are against illegal immigration while only Trump has promised to try to end it. Bernie, like past farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, believes that illegal immigration hurts the working class and the poor, while Americans with college education and good paying careers have no problem with illegal immigration. Undocumented workers provide services that the middle class needs and enjoys including housecleaning, child care, gardening, food service, construction, farming, and furniture moving at very reasonable rates. Those here uninvited will not be competition for any white collar job. They will not be competing to be partners in a law firm or for residency in a hospital. They will not be teachers or politicians, nurses or social workers. So what is their problem with people coming to our country to seek a better life for themselves and their loved ones?
But if you are a person without a college education, you might be competing with people here illegally who would be willing to work for less.
Both Bernie and the Donald are against many of our foreign trade treaties like NAFTA and the current one, the Trans Pacific Trade Pact. Both are against outsourcing American manufacturing jobs to Mexico and Far East countries like China and Vietnam. People in the working class are directly affected by these job losses while those in the middle and upper classes enjoy lower costs and a greater variety of offerings from this globalization.
But the irony is that minority voters who are most likely to be in the bottom two socio-economic classes (lower and lower middle) and are therefore most impacted by these two major policy issues, prefer Hillary to both candidates.
Blacks and Latino Americans are disproportionately less educated and more in need of entry level jobs from which they can promote. Hillary claims to be for open borders; has promised people living here illegally that she would let them stay so as not to break up families and that she would expedite their path to citizenship. These moves would only bring more people here without invitation making the lives of those in our lowest two socio-economic classes even worse.
While we suffered high unemployment rates during our recent recession, the groups impacted most severely were those without college educations and especially those who did not complete high school. While the U.S. population as a whole reached a high of 10% unemployment, black and Latino youth were seeing rates as high as 30%. It is these groups who must compete with foreign workers abroad as well as illegal immigrants at home.
If Bernie and the Donald can make this point clear, they could win over more minority voters and defeat Hillary who would offer more transfer payments instead of jobs for these impacted American workers and needy poor.
Both Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump were against our invasion of Iraq and our involvement in the overthrow of several Middle East dictators. Both are against our nation’s past efforts at nation building. The two also agree that we are spending too much defending our allies, especially in NATO. Trump says that we are being taken advantage of in NATO with the U.S.paying the lion’s share. The NATO defenders say that America is paying in proportion to its GNP and so pays more than any other country or 22% of all related costs. The problem is we are paying to defend our allies, not the U.S. Both candidates seem to feel that the host countries should pay for their own defense. Hillary seems content to let us have more than 700 military bases on foreign lands protecting only the host countries and their friendly neighbors.
This also affects people in the working and poor classes. They are most likely to be the ones fighting for our country to protect another. They were in Iraq protecting Iraqis from Iraqis. They were in Afghanistan protecting Afghans from the Taliban. They are now in Syria, Iraq and Libya protecting the innocent from the violent terrorist groups that seem to be metastasizing across the region.
Both candidates have said that the hundreds of billions we are squandering abroad being the world’s 911 could be better spent on our infrastructure - physical and intellectual. We could be fixing our highways, bridges, schools, and healthcare centers. Most Americans won’t be involved in armed conflicts, mainly just people who have few other opportunities. As Shakespeare’s Falstaff said, “the poor die as well as the rich.”
Some Democrats are saying that Bernie Sanders is not really a Democrat. He isn’t. He’s an Independent and a socialist. But Democratic and Independent voters, especially the young and the socio-economic underdogs, love him.
Some GOP leaders say the Trump is not a real conservative or even a real Republican. That is probably also true. But maybe the voters are tired of the traditional political alternatives They want someone different.
I think that we are in for a very interesting six months. Keep your eyes on the underdogs - the working class and poor in revolt.
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