If 52% of Americans, are Working Class and Working Poor-

[Bluerthanblue]

why do politicans not focus on the issues facing this population?

There is much talk about the "middle class", but statisticly it appears the majority of Americans are lower middle, and working poor-

Is it because fewer people in this group feel that voting brings change?

Is it because people are in denial about their financial standing?

Is it because we don't matter?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class#Working_class_majority

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. got it in one

we don't give them money, so we're not worth the time.

Now, in France, folks take to the streets and rile things up--their government pays attention to them. Don't see that happening here, though.

[rubberducky]

2. I think that way too many people consider themselves to be middle class.

[sam sarrha]

3. John Edwards supports.. but he is "Disappeared" .. denied coverage, except to be criticized for it

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. It's because no one has done anything but screw them over

since the Reagan administration.

The Dems have offered very little for the poor since then.

The percentage of working poor and poor is about the same as the percentage of people who don't vote.

I believe that both parties, rather than help the working poor and the poorest of the poor, which would require actions that would piss off their corporate donors, concentrate on trying to woo the middle class, the Republicanites with promises to restore "law and order" and "morality," and the Democrats with vague platitudes about "health care" and "policies to benefit working families."

Both parties have too many strategists whose only concern is "How can we get people to vote for us?" rather than "What does the country really need?"

And the question you ask narrows your answer.

[Bluerthanblue]

8. I agree that it isn't

popular financially to champion the notion of 'the betterment of all'- but if people truly believed that each 'vote' really had power, wouldn't they be more inclined to 'use' it.

And the more people exercised their vote- the more those who are 'running' (which is really a kind of "selling") would be forced to focus on the needs/concerns of the majority as a whole.

We talk alot about equality here- do the elections reflect the voice of the majority, or the 'elite'?


The "welfare reform" that occurred under the Clinton Administration was a gigantic step backward, for our society. And it was popular among Democrats and Republicans.-

:shrug:

thanks-

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. To put it simply, people are seriously disillusioned

Their lives don't improve whether a Republican or Democrat is in office.

Several years ago, when the British series Cracker ran on A&E (before its decline into a True Crime channel), there was an episode in which Robert Carlyle (of The Full Monty) played an unenmployed man who is caught for murdering a series of South Asian immigrants. The character goes off into a rant about how he can't find a living wage job, he is weary and ashamed of being "on the dole," and that the unions and the Labour Party have made all sorts of promises over the years, but nothing ever changes for people like him. It is clear that his frustration has caused him to fall for racist propaganda and scapegoat the Indian and Pakistani immigrants.

We're in a similar situation here. The poor and working poor are disillusioned with both parties, and the Republicanites are clever enough to realize that they can at least distract the masses by scapegoating immigrants.

[AndyA]

5. There is someone focusing on poverty, working poor, and working class.

http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/poverty/

[Bluerthanblue]

9. I understand- and I believe he and

DK offer the best direction for the "Ideal America"-

But I've also voted my concience and felt like I was spitting into the wind too long now.

I think many people feel this way- too many.

[rucky]

6. perception

there's a wider range of people who consider themselves middle class - even if they're not. I think it has something to do with the stigma of being poor.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. I'm inclined to agree, and I

think that the candidates rely on this.

It's frustrating. Pride can really be a hurdle to positive change.

thanks~

[rucky]

15. You said a mouthful...

there's a reason that Pride is considered the "deadliest sin."

It's also a form of self-preservation that often ends up being more hurtful than helpful.

[peace13]

7. What percentage of those 52% can or do vote.

Our current voting restrictions make it hard for someone with two jobs, a family, no transportation, no ID to meet the voting rules. I think we work hard to keep these people from voting in the first place. I work the polls and see how it happens.

[Bluerthanblue]

14. that is true,

but I think there is more to it.

I don't feel my vote matters as much people with more money and hence more power.

Even the 'agenda's of the candidates (for the most part) are set up to appeal to those who are actually in the elite minority.

It's a rut that I don't know how we can get out of.


thanks~

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Dennis Kucinich would help, but Clinton, Edwards, Obama won't let him speak.

They didn't stand up for his right to be in the debate this week, so now we know who they are and what they're all about, and it's not fairness.

[Bluerthanblue]

16. and how

can that be changed???-

It seems like the best candidate for the "Majority" of the citizens of a country shouldn't have such an incredibly difficult time being heard-

(And I'd add Edwards to Kucinich- though he is given more press, those who champion the issues of those who have less power/$ are marginalized)

Do we have to wait to get to a "depression era" situation, until the "common man" matters again?


:hi:

[mondo joe]

13. I'm not suer I concur on the math, but: 1. Look at who votes - those are

the people any candidate will try to appeal to; 2. Look at the swing vote - that's the group they'll REALLY focus on; 3. Ask, does focus on the working/poor translate into more votes?

[flashl]

17. Good questions. Some info from Fairness Initiative

The Betrayal of Work
How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans

By Beth Shulman

One in four workers in the United States have jobs that pay poverty wages, provide minimal or no benefits, and allow little flexibility and time for quality childcare. Despite the great wealth of the United States, the standard working conditions for these workers are lower than those of comparable workers in other industrialized nations. Inadequate wages are only one part of the problem in low-wage jobs. Low-wage jobs are not just quantitatively different than better paying jobs, but qualitatively different ...

Fairness Initiative

[mdmc]

18. close your eyes, just relax, have another drink, alittle more MSG

Turn on those Dallas Cowboys on Your TV!

[sandnsea]

19. Well somebody did today

I guess DU is too deaf to hear

"We have an empathy deficit when we're still sending our children down corridors of shame - schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.

We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick.

We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century.

We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.

And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own."

http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/poverty/