Do "liberals" seem "uppidy" to working class?

[Smith_3]

Having grown up in the south among folks from the trailers and so on, I come to wonder what it is exactly that repells the working class of certain areas from "liberal" ideas. Could it be somewhat due to the fact, that to a working person, someone who acts and talks like he went to college stimulates a form of contempt, due to the fact that they view such people as of a different breed then themselves?

I heard right wing hate speech call John Kerry a "rich communist" (as if that made any sense). As in "someone who has it better then you but still thinks he can come here and tell you how to live". Also, my dad (a self proclaimed "redneck"), says he will be voting for McCain because Hillary and Obama have "all that money behind them".

I didn't bother to ask wether he thinks that McCain has less money. I think it is something about the Democrats or the way how they sometimes appear to be intellectuals, that drives people to vote for someone who seems to be more like "one of them".

[NMMNG]

1. It has nothing, really, to do with Liberalism

Elitists can be found on both sides of the political spectrum. They're even right here on DU. Just post a poll claiming that "better educated voters" vote for candidate X and watch the elitists crawl out of the woodwork. Of course that's just one example; I'm sure others can provide their own.

[enigmatic]

6. yep

:thumbsup:

[murielm99]

2. I think some of it has to do with the near-death of the

union movement. (Thank you ronnie raygun).

In areas where there are still strong labor unions, the working class and the more educated Democrats work together. The union people are more socially conservative, but they and the professionals realize that they have common bonds.

That seems to be true where I live. Blue collar people have to be convinced that we are all on the same side. Voting for republicans is voting against their interests.

[Hobarticus]

3. Agreed....there used to be safety in numbers

Union member or no, we were supposed to have each other's back. But Ronnie turned everybody who wasn't white collar against each other.

"Unions are eeeeevil! That's why your American-made slacks you need for your job cost so much!"

[Smith_3]

4. Sounds like there is something to that.

My dad said he voted for Carter "back in the day". He voted for Bush in '04 because "Kerry was a snake". But if you ask him wether he is for labor unions he says certainly yes. He also thinks that Reagen sucked (except for when he "tore down the Berlin wall").

[blondeatlast]

31. Agreed and very well-put. nt

[Fading Captain]

43. Bill Clinton deserves some kudos on that one too!

NAFTA was a worker killer.

[jeff30997]

5. that drives people to vote for someone who seems to be more like "one of them".

And Murkans 'lected Boosh twice!:)

[AlertLurker]

47. How many times did we elect Mulroney again?

...and now Harper....aaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!

[jeff30997]

61. Yep!

We're dumb too! :)

[Breeze54]

7. Are liberals 'uppitey'? LMAO!! Hell...NO!!! Please read the link!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2868995

[Smith_3]

8. Hmm, defining Liberal as "Anti-Reagen" is probably a good common ground to start from.

:)

[Breeze54]

14. I meant this link! LOL!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2868995#2869044

[Afje]

9. "Uppity" as in not knowing their proper place on the

totom pole, yeah, that seems to really stick in the craw of the great American sheep. They have been raised to respect their betters and not to ask too many questions of why there are betters around. To them a liberal just doesn't have the proper respect for the totem pole.

[Breeze54]

18. Great sarcastic analogy!

"Liberals just doesn't have the proper respect for the totem pole." :sarcasm:

:applause: :applause:

:P

[Afje]

41. Yes, I'm convinced that this lack of respect for the status

quo is the source of this hatred for liberals. And of course a liberal does not participate in our national sport - kissing ass up and kicking ass down.

BTW - most liberals are working class

[trusty elf]

20. It ain't the craw of the great American sheep that has something stuck in it.

[Breeze54]

21. O_M_G ! !

:rofl:

[Two Americas]

64. there is the answer

You can't build a mass political movement when you start by ridiculing the people and calling them "sheeple."

[trusty elf]

65. So, this is an example liberal arrogance in your view?

Come on, lighten up. Where's your sense of humor?!

BTW, it does say WE the sheeple, not THEY the sheeple.

[Two Americas]

67. self evident I think

That is coded humor - it would only be humorous to the insiders. One has to "get" the references, and all of the references are cruel and demeaning. Without the coded insider meaning it is not very humorous at all - it is peretty gross and juvenile.

[orleans]

71. now that's a picture i'm not likely to forget! n/t

[aquart]

10. What an incredibly bigoted question.

And how separate and superior the asker feels from the "working class."

When you feel you have to ask a question like that, honey...it's YOUR attitudes you need to examine.

[casus belli]

11. Relax...it's a legit question.

There is definitely a sense of liberalism being a bad word among alot of working class folks. And a lot of that has to do with years of misinformation by the GOP and a relatively succesful effort to paint liberalism as being a radical fringe of the American political spectrum.

[Smith_3]

13. Umm, no. I am trying to point out something.

When trying to analyse a situation it is necessary to assume an "outside" viewpoint. It has nothing to do with my own attitude.

[Breeze54]

16. Spoken like a 'True' Yuppie ...

:puke:

Why are you so defensive? :shrug:

[earth mom]

12. It's the Rush, O'Lielly, Robertson and Faux news effect: Brainwashing at it's worst! nt

[casus belli]

15. It's an intentional misinformation campaign

The right has spent years painting liberalism into a very small corner of radical fringe-dom. They have tried, albeit somewhat succesfully to paint liberals as out of control, militant elitists who want everyone to succumb to socialist theories and undermine "god-given freedoms" (like driving the biggest possible SUVs, and bearing all manner of firearm and explosives, and how dare those damn liberals tell me what size carbon footprint I can have, etc). Of course, it's completely ridiculous - progressives come in many different shapes and sizes and there is an enormous amount of diversity in our tent. But that's the crux of their plan. First they paint the word "liberal" into a very narrow and unrealistic definition, then they wrap up by drawing all Democrats as liberals. It's a gradual, but thorough sort of brain-washing that ultimately works well enough that many liberals will no longer call themselves liberal in a group of people with whom they aren't familiar. There is a sort of bigotry towards liberalism that has become far more common to observe - I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone make a disparaging remark about liberals or liberalism only to end with "you know what I mean?" as if it's perfectly acceptable to make bigoted comments to a complete stranger. Of course, if you're like me, these moments present unique opportunities to make someone feel really stupid - and I do...happily. But not all people will. I see the lady in front of me, who is obviously uncomfortable with the comment just politely smile and turn away. It's political bullyism, and no one should stand for it - progressive or not.

So in short yes, some people perceive liberals as "uppity", stuffy professor types, but then will turn around in the same breath and call liberals uneducated welfare cases. They'll paint liberals as wealthy, hollywood-types and in the same breath argue that liberals should get a job and stop smoking weed. The bottom line of it is - they will paint liberalism to be anything that they consider to be undesirable. It's part of the tactic - to make liberal a dirty word and then use that brush to paint the entire party. Just stand up to it when you encounter it, and learn to laugh away the truly ignorant logic behind it.

And be happy knowing that you're right... :)

[Smith_3]

19. A very nice explanation. Helped me alot to understand it.

:) Of course, "liberals" are either uppidy college people or stinking welfare people, which ever suits the present need best. :eyes:

[orleans]

72. a favorite thread of mine: what made you a liberal? here's the link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2750680

[Breeze54]

22. Awesome response!!

You put into words everything I've been experiencing for a long time
but have had a hard time articulating. Thank You! :yourock:

:hug:

[Lorien]

55. Well put. n/t

[Nay]

57. You're completely correct, CB, and may I add that this "logic" of

painting liberals as anything bad -- uppity intellectuals, rich latte-drinking assholes -- well, those behaviors are perfectly acceptable in a Republican!

I have actually heard one woman at work call liberals rich, overly-educated snobs, and then, in the next breath, she was talking about Bush and exclaiming how he wasn't stupid, he went to Yale and Harvard! He was a "smart may-un"! And he came from such a successful family!

Needless to say, my remarks about legacy admissions and 'gentleman's C's' got me ostracized for a while. And I didn't even have time to mention that the very thing she admired in her little hero was the exact quality she despised in 'liberals.'

So, there is no parsing the sheeple mind, I'm afraid. Through it blow storms of propaganda, rumor, film clips, advertisements, and hormones. Out of this oily mix we get the average voter.

[cornermouse]

17. Liberals ARE the working class.

The conservatives are the rich guys.

[JohnnyBoots]

45. Yeah, but perception is reality...that is where the problem lay. n/t

[annabanana]

23. A virulent stream of anti-intellectualism...

I don't know anything about "Art", but I know what I like.

There is very old tradition of distrust for "book learning" in our society. It goes with feelings of inadequacy that comes with a lack of education.

Ignorance is nothing to be ashamed of, unless you're proud of it. Then it becomes willful ignorance.

[Smith_3]

25. The ironic part is that strong anti-intellectualism was also very widespread in the Soviet Union.

Like "a person who is an intellectual can never be a good worker."

So the Reich-Wings are the real communists here.

[pintobean]

56. We all suffer from ignorance.

That virulent stream flows in both directions.

[Snarkturian Clone]

24. I think sometimes

people get turned off by the extreme crunchy hippy moonbeam types of liberals and associate all dems with that. I sure get turned off by them.

[Rockholm]

26. Real Liberals can spell Uppity.

Freepers and disruptors have a difficult time with spelling. It's a fact.

[Smith_3]

29. Uppity can be spelled Uppidy.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=uppidy

[KG]

27. heh. my two closest 'ditto-head' kin think that they are somehow better then other people

[Canuckistanian]

28. There are no working-class Liberals? News to me.

I and all my family are all what you might call radical liberals (but we're moderates here in Cnada).

And WE'RE certainly "working class".

[Echo In Light]

39. Agreed! I know a few upper class yuppie "liberals" who aren't very liberal at all

Yet because of the prevailing ideologies, prefer to see themselves as encompassing liberal ideals ... yet are simultaneously NOT for impeachment, NOT for getting out of Iraq, NOT for "socialized" health care, are PRO death penalty, and absolutely love the corporate ideal. Yet they cast themselves as "liberals" because the mainline establishment and media present examples of this warped version of "liberalism" to them and they buy into it as it suits them professionally, and they don't like Bush, who, ironically, is as much a "conservative" as they are "liberals." lol

[flashl]

30. It’s the march to self-destruction that began with rejecting the war on poverty. nt

[Echo In Light]

32. Decades of anti-liberal propaganda, coupled with a hatred for those who are conscientious & tolerant

[MedleyMisty]

33. I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the hatred for them?

Calling them trailer trash and assuming that they're all fat white stupid male NASCAR country music fans who shop at Wal-Mart because they choose to, not because it's the only place in town to get some things and because it's what they can afford?

Most people can tell when they're not wanted, and rank and file Democrats make it clear to working class people, especially those from the South, that they're not wanted. Maybe for some it is a message and stereotype they get from right-wing propaganda, but it's a message I get a lot in threads from supposed liberals right here on DU.

Hell, even the OP - again, assuming that they're stupid and they can't handle smart people and they can't pronounce "uppity" correctly. Way to condescend.

Both parties are classist as hell, it's just that Republicans hide it better and even make the other party's classism part of their propaganda. And although most people are of average intelligence, working class people might be more ignorant than your general gated community McMansion dweller who sits on DU all day because they don't have to work - they might not be able to afford a computer and internet connection or might not have the time to sit and read stuff.

[Echo In Light]

35. The terms "liberal" and "conservative" have, in many ways, morphed into a typical "middle" American

Ideology that hasn't a thing to do with intelligence or lack thereof. It has to do with cultural indoctrination, and people largely existing through various corporate culture affectations.

[Smith_3]

37. Please get over my spelling. nt

[U4ikLefty]

66. Just how do the Democrats make it clear that they are unwanted?

Also, not all working class folks are from the South.

[eilen]

34. It is a class thing

remember when Paula Jones was referred to as "trailer trash"? That epitomizes the view that liberal democrat elite will exploit the "working man" or poor for their electoral needs and then forget about them once they are elected. I am not surprised that there was mistrust of Kerry as they may have felt all he had was words-- like Bill's "i feel your pain". I am wondering what you mean by liberal ideas though, which particular ones are you talking about?

I know that many people who did not have the family support or the money to attend college, instead went to work feel that their opinions are discounted because they are deemed "uneducated" and "unqualified to have an educated opinion" mostly because of the ridiculous notion that a degree infers intelligence and the ability to discern. My stepfather apprenticed to a butcher when he was young, then sold real estate, managed a slaughterhouse after the RE industry fell through the floor and then eventually taught himself the electrical industry and became an electrical engineer and he was very good at it and in high demand. He never finished high school. His company sent him to training. The only reason he was able to do this was through connections. His view was that when you had no connections you were screwed. He voted for Reagan despite being from an immigrant working class family who saw very hard times. The overcertified state of our nation (when you are required to have a college degree to get a job as a salesman) which only brings home to people they are being screened out of the middle class while their jobs are being sold out right from under them. More social programs aren't necessarily their choice of a solution (with the exception of national healthcare). People want their jobs back and better than that, they would like to be treated with respect and dignity--you won't find that in a service job. They don't want to be looked down on because of their religion. They don't trust corporations. I'm saying "they" but I think most everyone wants the same things. It used to be that the unions, government and business maintained their roles and checks to preserve a social contract. That has all fallen apart.

I was reading a NYT article about how its not just the subprime loan people who are in trouble, the people with good credit are having trouble too. One man was making a 3 figure income and had basically refinanced his home every year. He said he was trying to help his daughter with college. They bought the home for $275,000 in 2004. They now owe a mortgage of $750,000. Not many people in my working class neighborhood feels sorry for him. I'm sure he feels superior as he drives past our little houses on his way to the exurbs to his McMansion.

I think the people feel disenfranchised by their government whether Dem or Republican led. NAFTA is a huge reason for it. I'm not from the South, don't live there, so can't speak for them though. From my Yank viewpoint, historically Southern citizens have gotten the economic short stick since the Reconstruction. They still have the least worker protections, worst pay, and environmental damage.

[lumberjack_jeff]

69. I fully agree and welcome to DU n/t

[LeftinOH]

36. Who says the working class can't be liberal?? Anyone can be liberal, regardless of 'status'.

[El Pinko]

38. I don't have any personal animosity towards liberals, but I don't consider myself one.

I call myself a progressive, a labor lefty, a democratic socialist, but never a liberal.

To me, a liberal is a well-off person with a set of values that are very sympathetic to the establishment and business power.

The old Phil Ochs song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" kind of sums it up to me.

But for every toffee-nosed, self-righteous oblivious-to-working-people liberal, there are a lot of good, down-to-earth regular folks who also call themselves liberals,

so we really shouldn't stereotype. A lot of younger people are unaware of the older connotation of "liberal" (which is almost akin to "DLC" today) and equate "liberal" with "left".

But to me, liberal will always mean "establishment". Maybe the nicer side of the establishment, but firmly on the establishment's side.


Love Me, I'm a Liberal
Phil Ochs

I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal


I also like this one:

As long as there is a lower class, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it. As long as there is a innocent soul in jail, I am not free.

-Eugene Debs

[elizfeelinggreat]

40. I highly recommend

reading "Deer Hunting with Jesus". The author has a website that's also very good:


http://www.joebageant.com/joe/

This paragraph is from an essay called "Poor, White and Pissed" -

The political left once supported these workers, stood on the lines taking its beatings at the plant gates alongside them. Now, comfortably ensconced in the middle class, the American left sees the same working whites as warmongering bigots, happy pawns of the empire. That is writing working folks off too cheaply, and it begs the question of how they came to be that way -- if they truly are. To cast them as a source of our deep national political problems is ridiculous. They are a symptom of the problems, and they may be making it worse because they are easily manipulated, or because they cannot tell an original idea from a beer fart. But they are not the root cause by any means. The left should take its cues from Malcolm X, who understood the need to educate and inform the entire African-American society before tackling the goal of unity. Same goes for white crackers. Nobody said it would be easy.

[Fading Captain]

42. Maybe it's all the "liberals" in Hondas,Toyotas and Subarus

I'm a lefty in Ann Arbor. And this city can be loathesome.

You'd never guess we were in Michigan.

[Lorien]

53. My Toyota was built in the US. n/t

[JohnnyBoots]

44. After years of the latte drinking, volvo driving, yuppie frame being

attributed to Liberals as the only form a liberal can take that is the common perception. It was started by the right and beat into the minds of working people by the likes of Rush and other talking heads. From the working class position it is the fear of the other, anthro 101, that fear took the shape of the right wing frame listed above. Liberals can only be wimpy, soy latte drinking vegetarians is a common theme among people who don't kow any better. A lot of times people are surprised to find out how liberal I am. I am a little rough around the edges and dress like a lumberjack, people always think I am conservative by the way I dress. I have been asked several times in casual conversation, "So you listen to Rush yesterday?"

[NewJeffCT]

46. Not all liberals - but, Rush, Fox, etc make some liberals appear

to be elitist and out-of-touch with the middle class. They see liberals as rich people trying to tell the poor, working & middle class how to live their lives from the comfort of their ivory towers: politically correct speech, banning junk foods, saving the rain forests in Brazil while the poor struggle to make ends meet, sending peackeeping troops to Somalia or Haiti with the UN while we have plenty of crime here at home, etc.

Look at it this way, a few years back, George Clooney gave an acceptance speech at the Oscars about how Hollywood is not out of touch, but is sometimes at the forefront of what is now mainstream (he mentioned Hollywood giving an Oscar to African American Hattie McDaniel for the 1939 movie "Gone with the Wind") - the speech was cheered here on DU, including me, but many saw it as the pretentious Clooney trying to take credit for Hollywood bringing about racial equality in the US.

[Iggo]

48. I'm a working class liberal, so...

...what was the question again?

[sinkingfeeling]

49. Funny, I thought we 'liberals' were the working class.

[Smith_3]

50. Yup. I guess alot of it lies in the behaviour of Democratic representatives. nt

[El Pinko]

52. Historically, liberals were upper and upper-middle class folks with a conscience...

...working-class folks didn't usually go by ideological labels, but were union men or just democrats, or even socialists, before that became a dirty word.

I've always thought of liberals as well-to-do establishment folks with a conscience.

That's why I've always considered myself a leftist, progressive and a democratic socialist, although I mostly end up voting for democrats.

In the 60s, "liberal" was almost synonymous with "DLC" today.

[SalviaBlue]

51. I am the working class

I can be a bitch sometimes, but never uppity.

[Lorien]

54. Just direct dad to www.opensecrets.org

and he can see for himself who has the money behind them (it ain't us)!

The power elite have been demonizing liberals for decades now, because populism is a real threat to their control. Now they've discovered how to manipulate us from the inside by creating the DLC, placing pro-corporate candidates as our only options. If that trend continues then I suspect that what was once known as "liberalism" will only be found in non-viable third parties.

[fascisthunter]

58. I AM a WORKING CLASS LIBERAL! Enough with this Stereotype!

thank you

[uppityperson]

59. I think your terms are confused. Many working class are liberals.

Liberal does not = snooty or intellectuals, or upper class.

[NewJeffCT]

70. According to the MSM, it does

if you listen to most of the mainstream media, liberals are out-of-touch intellectual elitists who live in ivory towers and try to tell everybody how to live their lives and that the Democrats of today are way, way, way to the left of Democrats from the 1960s and 70s.

[iamthebandfanman]

60. they dont want to share

and a few of them dont for purely racist reasons.


our ideas generally benefit EVERYONE(minus the extremely wealthy, but even that can be debatable if done correctly). ultimately u do all benefit tho because of all the public works the government is now offering.

the idea of someone getting something from 'their hard work' just burns them up. so very christian like, aint it ?
haha

[blindpig]

62. First of all, we need a definition of Liberal.

I think you need to look at that first. Now in common usage liberal might mean free of prejudice, tolerant. However, then there is is economic liberalism, from wiki:

Private property and individual contracts form the basis of the liberal theory of economics. The early theory was based on the assumption that the economic actions of individuals are largely based on self-interest, and that allowing them to act without any restrictions will produce the best results, provided that at least minimum standards of public information and justice exist, e.g., no-one should be allowed to coerce or steal.

Now tolerance is a good thing, but when convoluting this tolerance with this prioritizing of property, in particular property as the means of production, then you're well on the road to a classist outlook. Tolerance is often a product of education and education is more and more the domain of the well off. And however tolerant these people might be they are not about to do anything to endanger their place at the table. They identify and emulate those who have more property, who are able to better exploit the production system. They may be tolerant and sympathetic of folks of less means, but they are not about to do anything relieve their woes on a systemic basis as changing the system would injure those whom they emulate, and by extension, themselves.

Liberals like to taut the first definition while fiercely grasping the second. Many working folks can see this and naturally resent it. They are then liable to gravitate to another message, one which while it might not offer any real, economic relief, still reference traditional values with which they are familiar, which to them beats the hypocrisy of that smiling, tolerant person with the portfolio.

If there was a real "left" in this country, which is to say a viable socialist movement, the air would go out of the D's and R's like a deflated whoopie cushion.

[Two Americas]

63. yes

Yes.

Absolutely. And this is the main reason that the general public rejects modern liberalism to the extent that they do. It has niothing to do with politics.

As we can see from this thread, there is no agreement as to what the word even means. It certainly bears little resemblance to what it once meant.

The politics of personal choice have destroyed liberalsim - the word now means almost whatever anyone wants it to mean. It is an identity now, having more to do with personal preferences, choices and prejudices than it does to any principles or ideals. It has a distinctly upscale bias that it didn't have in the past.

"We are the better informed, better educated, more enlightened and morally superior people" is as close to the truth as any other definition, and of course people outside of the inner circle resent and reject that.

There are two competing and contradictory agendas today within liberalism, and keeping the program and definitions vague hides that. This cripples any efforts to present a united front against the right wingers.

[lumberjack_jeff]

68. I don't like the way you've framed this.

I am a working class liberal. Most working class people are, if you scratch the surface, fairly liberal.

But they don't like being condescended to. Populism like Edwards' attracted them.

I found this article extremely profound;
http://prorev.com/2008/01/john-edwards-hidden-problem.html

OHN EDWARDS has departed the race leaving a surprising number of liberals without a target for covert class prejudices that have so broadly replaced ethnic and gender discrimination among the better educated. Now the righteous are safe to make what is in their mind a decent and diverse choice: between a black and a woman, one a graduate of Harvard Law School, the other of its Yale equivalent.

It's sort of like the beginning of the Clinton administration which was going to look like America. In fact, 77% of Clinton's initial cabinet were millionaires, beating out both Reagan and Bush in this category. In DC, the Clinton choices barely raised an eyebrow. Clinton's cabinet may not have looked like America, but it certainly looked like establishment Washington. It required no corruption or conspiracy for the city's journalists to ignore it; everything was just too normal.

One of the delusions of elite liberals is that that they lack prejudice. To be sure, they treat black, women and gays far better than once was the case. But if you are poor, uneducated, own a gun, weigh a lot, come from the South or mainly read the Bible it is another matter. Class and culture have replaced the genetic as acceptable targets.

The 28% of the American adult population with college degrees defines the country's values, its policies, its laws, what is stylish and how you get to the top, including the White House. And what it has defined has exacted no small price from the remaining 72%. For example, just in the past eight years, the following have gotten significantly worse:

Median income
Number of manufacturing jobs
Number of new private jobs
Percent of workers with company based health insurance
Poverty
Consumer credit debt
Number of housing foreclosures
Cost of heating oil & gas
Number without health insurance
Wages in manufacturing
Income gap between rich and poor
Wealth of the bottom 40% of Americans
Number of older families with pensions
Number of workers covered by defined benefit pensions
Hunger
Use of soup kitchens
Personal bankruptcies
Median rent

Yet when John Edwards tried to build a campaign around these issues he was subjected not only to the opposition of the establishment and its media but a notable tone of ridicule whose subtext was: why would anyone want to bother with such things? Especially a guy as rich as Edwards?

[katty]

73. well when they drive around in massive Suv's and cry

about global warming and selling out to the Saudi's at any cost - it probably pisses off people holding down several jobs just to make their rent, food, daycare and gas $ for the 1989 toyota corolla they're still driving.