It's Time To Resurrect Class Warfare!

[eniwetok]

Since our federal system was built on the premise of class warfare (Madison wanted the Senate to protect the interests of the minority of the opulent) and it gives elites a veto over the People at every turn... it should come as no surprise that we have immense wealth inequality and runaway corporate power. Government came down on the side of capital long before it gave a helping hand to labor in the 30s.

But something went wrong and that's when the far right organized in the mid-70's. Most high up in the Democratic Party, beaten down for the past 35 years by the rabid right, are a timid lot. Even if some issues would work to further a Democratic agenda... higher taxes, and raising class consciousness needed for solidarity... Dems didn't fight back against the "tax & spend" label or accusations Dems were encouraging class envy and class warfare. Of course it was the GOP who was guilty of borrow and spend... and fighting classic class warfare on behalf of the uber rich... while the Dems unilaterally disarmed... worse... half the party became corporate Dems.

Sander's is correct that the Democrats need more of an economic appeal... that economic issues cut across many racial, ethnic and religious lines. But there's another benefit.

I'd argue that no one is really propagandized. People have to be open to propaganda. We're proof of that idea when we write off, and see through, what Orwellian Right says. This is a battle for core assumptions. Once someone accepts a premise... such as the markets are always efficient, or we need to give the "job creators"more goodies so they'll bestow jobs on the little people... then it creates memes that are impervious to opposing arguments. The believers have been ideologically inoculated against counter arguments. (It helps if the other side is demonized)

If we want to help inoculate GOP working class against the claims of the Orwellian Right propaganda industry... economics... class consciousness is the way. Dems must be ready to wage class warfare... not against the professional class, but the uber rich that control the GOP and to whom the GOP are whores for.

[FigTree]

1. It never died. Here, it was never born.nt

[eniwetok]

2. is that a zen riddle?

What are you trying to say?

[gulliver]

3. Cultural forces trump class now.

We need to reduce the levels of contempt between cultures. That's not easy. Everyone is getting in the habit of thinking they are better than everyone else.

[eniwetok]

4. economics vs identity politics

I suspect identity politics aggravates these tensions... while economic consciousness can create more solidarity. Of course there's going to be a class that's seen as the enemy... and given that right wing money is behind the effort to socially engineer a Orwellian Right dystopia... they SHOULD be seen as the enemy.