Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
Wed Nov 23, 2016, 08:12 PM Nov 2016

My county is a microcosm of the reasons we failed

Due to a strong local economy and good (albeit working class) union jobs, Our county was once a reliable blue county - we voted for Carter and Mondale - even as the rest of Washington State voted for Reagan.

Today, our unemployment rate is twice and our median income is about 2/3 that of King County, roughly one hour away. The statewide tax system and our schools are an embarrassment, for the same core reason; inequality. Our tax system is the most regressive in the country, disproportionately impacting the working poor to the benefit of urban and suburban higher income earners.

Our elected officials are dominated by urban/suburban Democrats who do everything they can to attract businesses by keeping that inequality intact. So much so that our government is now under court order to fully fund education because the situation has become so dire for rural schools that the state is failing in its "primary duty" to provide for education.

It sucks here. Heroin, meth, generational poverty, crime. What's the solutions provided by our state government? Fundraisers for elected officals in the homes of Howard Shultz and Jeff Bezos.

Social programs are okay, but they are no substitute for gainful employment.

It sucks here because state and federal governments don't really care that it sucks here, except as a validation of their own purity; "those toothless uneducated hicks don't vote for us".

True enough, they don't any more. My county commissioners are now 100% Republicans, the first of which in my memory was elected in 2010. Prior to 2010 the county didn't really have a Republican party at all - or at least not one which needed meeting space larger than a phone booth.

Clinton premised her entire campaign on three themes:
1) I'm serious. You can tell by the way me and Lloyd Blankfein are on a first name basis, and the fact that all the superdelegates committed to me two years ago.
2) I'm the candidate of all the virtuous people. Not those white working class deplorables.
3) Trump Scary!

That last isn't a very compelling reason - the lives of the voters in question are already scary enough.

One last thing; If you're going to go all out on wedge identity politics, make sure that you're not alienating the functional majority.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»My county is a microcosm ...