The Democrats' Forgotten People: How the Trump Base Can Find A Home in the Democratic Party
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About this ebook
Democrats have discounted this group, even having one presidential nominee call them a "basket of deplorables." But they are human beings, and many can be open to appeals for hope rather than hate and fear. This books is about ways that the Democratic Party can open its tent to the Trump base without compromising its core principles. Doing so is ethical, and also will be politically wise.
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The Democrats' Forgotten People - Arthur Lieber
Acknowledgments
Introduction
THE IDEA FOR THIS book was hatched less than 100 days prior to Election Day 2020. I was watching an effective advocate for a key identity group in the Democratic party. She was urging fellow panelists and the viewing audience to not forget her group, that they would be key to Joe Biden and his then-to-be-announced running mate secure the White House.
I couldn’t disagree with her. I quickly downloaded her book explaining her advocacy. In my mind, it gave new meaning to the word redundancy. She posited arguments I had heard repeatedly from hundreds, perhaps thousands, of well-intentioned people. She thought we needed to be reminded of the importance of African Americans to the Democratic party, but it might as well have been Hispanics, recent immigrants, Native Americans, members of the LGBTQ community, young voters, senior citizens, or people without photo IDs who thought that they couldn’t vote without one.
This was all well and good. Each of these interest groups had a history of being overlooked and were justified in fearing it could happen again, and again. It was important they defend themselves.
When I think of hardships to be overcome, my mind immediately races to poverty. If I had a Rolodex on poverty, I would frequently be pulling out cards from rural Alabama or the west side of Chicago or the barrios of Los Angeles. But I would also be looking at Harlan County, Kentucky, McDowell County in West Virginia, and Shannon County in Missouri.
What do those last three counties have in common? Two things of relevance here: they are overwhelmingly white, and for years they have consistently voted Republican.
The main thesis in this book is driven by two points related to the people in these counties. One, the Democratic party historically has and presently is much more responsive than the GOP to crafting policies to successfully deal with poverty. Two, the current Democratic party makes virtually no attempt to woo the kind of voters who live in these counties.
The poor white people of these counties are as much an identity group as African Americans or Hispanics. But they are forgotten. While it makes sense to take
from other whites who are very wealthy in order to bring more equity to all the people in the country, it makes no sense to view poor white people as a basket of deplorables.
Addressing poverty must be a unifying principle of the Democratic party. John F. Kennedy said that a rising tide lifts all ships. If you lift people out of poverty, you will advance the economic well-being of those in the middle class and even those in the upper class.
When you lift people out of poverty, you will benefit people of all ethnicities. But if you leave a particular group behind, and the Democrats have been doing just that for the past 50 years, then you fragment the poverty coalition and weaken all ethnic groups within it. This book is a call to the Democratic party to not forget the millions of poor white people in the country who listen to hate and fear because the Democrats do not offer hope. This is a call for that hope.
Chapter 1
Overlooked by the Democratic Party
DEMOCRATS AND PROGRESSIVES ARE feeling pretty good about this upcoming election in November 2020. Frankly, I’m quite scared about this particular election and future ones as well.
What frightens me is that while Democrats try to include virtually every minority or aggrieved party in America’s body politic, they are forgetting a group that has grievances as legitimate as all but a few other groups. I’m talking about the Trump base, largely white blue-collar workers (or nonworkers) who are struggling to make a living. These are Americans who are largely overlooked by the Democratic elite. They are the 2020 version of Archie and Edith Bunker.