For those who refer to the "Working Class" as though it were an alien form of life,

[Fichefinder]

what do you do for a living?
Unless your money comes from income from investments, or a trust fund, or some kind of weird tax haven in the Bahamas, YOU are working class. If it does, and you think of working people as the "other", you may be a........ well, you get my point.
I am a mechanic, and have been for almost 40 years. I am working class. If you are a taxi driver, or an accountant, or if you have your own business, or make your money through any kind of physical or intellectual effort, YOU are working class.
I hate to sound like a dick here, but we have to stop putting artificial barriers between ourselves, they are the hardest to break down.

We must identify the common concerns that we all have as Democrats: clean air, good schools, safe highways; acknowledge them and then campaign on them. Democrats have always been the party of kitchen table issues, and we need to get back to those basics.

[elleng]

2. You've got it, Fichefinder.

I'm a retired lawyer; worked for federal government for 20+ years. Worked to insure competition and safety were maintained, among the various freight railroads. Retired now.

[LonePirate]

3. Working class has somehow become synonymous with blue collar work for some reason.

Not sure why white collar and service workers are not considered working class but they are just as much working class as blue collar workers are.

[Skittles]

4. WTF are you talking about?

show us some examples, that don't include the fact that some IDIOTS think DONALD FUCKING TRUMP cares about clean air, good schools, safe highways

GO AHEAD

[think]

6. "Fuck the white working class" isn't exactly a term of endearment...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512622831

[Skittles]

10. READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE FOR CONTEXT

jeez, IMAGINE THAT!!!

[think]

11. LOL NO.....

[Skittles]

12. well THERE YOU HAVE IT

if you don't get the context, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND

done here, I HATE WASTING MY TIME

[think]

13. context...

[think]

15. Context....

[JI7]

16. that's about people who voted Trump. the person who posted IS working class

[think]

17. Well FUCK. I guess that makes it a kiss on the fucking cheek then....

[DRoseDARs]

23. Lol, people encountering The Rude Pundit for the first time...

My dear, Rude IS white working class. More to the point he is white SOUTHERN working class. He knows that voting block more than most here. In his writings, he doesn't have the time or patience for the bullshit of conservatives and he isn't shy about cussing them the fuck out for their bullshit. As long as one is sitting on their fainting couch while they read him (Because oh my stars and garters LANGUAGE! Yes, people have actually dismissed him, whining solely about his language.) his postings truly are a delight as he lights up the right.

[think]

25. So if a green person writes FUCK GREEN PEOPLE it's cool to post it?

[stevenleser]

33. Generally that is an exception to the rule, yes. See Jackie Mason's Jewish jokes for more info. nt

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. +1

First I've heard of this problem--occurring on DU, anyway.

[Skittles]

14. newcomers, boo hooing that we just DON'T UNDERSTAND people who voted for Trump

claiming we are TRASHING THE WORKING CLASS

ABSOLUTE FUCKING GARBAGE

[duffyduff]

20. It is the Bernie or buster types or Michael Moore groupies still pushing that bullshit

when this shit has been debunked over and over again.

Not to mention there is a lot of thinly veiled sexism going on in criticizing the popular vote winner.

[Skittles]

24. I am SICK of their fucking crap

AND I WILL CALL OUT THEIR SORRY ASSES

and I am SOOOO fed up with the people harping for Bernie to run ago - FUCK NO!!!!

[stevenleser]

32. This kind of nonsense was why I was happy a group had gone to a different website.

I really don't want to spend all kinds of time arguing nonsense with these folks.

[Warpy]

5. As an RN, I had a profession

However, I was not management, had no hiring/firing ability, and punched a time clock.

That put me squarely into the working class, maybe near the top by paycheck, but in there with everybody else who punches a time clock and has little control over the terms of employment.

Most people who call themselves middle class are working class. They have little control over the job and don't earn enough for the trappings of the middle class, like putting the kids through college and being able to save for retirement. It seems they're allergic to the label, like they're better than that, aren't they? Their parents might have been middle class, after all, isn't it inherited? Isn't it attitude or making about what everybody else you know does?

Nope. We've all come down a class or two and it's high time we acknowledged it, whether we like it or not.

I was a member of the working class. I was proud to be so, managing to keep my financial head above water in a time of steeply declining expectations. What has always rankled are those declining expectations amid the country becoming richer than any other on the planet because a small cabal of rich men transferred wealth from workers to themselves over a 40 year period. We know why our expectations are declining and why our kids will do even worse than we did and don't like it a bit.

And therein lies the problem. Some easily led people still stupidly believe in the policies that got us all here, blaming regulations forcing business to stop fouling air and water, schools that don't always teach what they want them to teach, and highways in poor repair costing them car repair bills, like that is the natural state of things.

I'm not sure we can educate people out of this since everything they see or hear in mass media confirms all these silly ideas while letting the real thieves off the hook. However, it is the major challenge we face as Americans and secondarily as Democrats.

[eleny]

8. Retired now but always considered myself working class and proud of it

College degree and a civil servant here for the better part of 30 years. It always felt right and kept me feeling grounded.

Thanks for posting your thoughts on this.

[NanceGreggs]

9. Exactly when and how ...

... did we move away from those basics?

The Dems/HRC's campaign was about all of those things you've named. And they were rejected by voters who heard, "I'll bring all of your jobs back, I'll get rid of the 'illegals' who are stealing the jobs that are left, and I'll keep white America safe from Mexican rapists, Muslim terrorist 'immigrants', those lazy blacks, and everyone else you don't like."

Democrats have identified common concerns for decades. All too many voters have identified themselves as "not interested". They want instant gratification - and they will be swayed by anyone who promises it.

"We can solve this problem if we work together," never sounds as good as, "Just vote for me, and I'll fix everything myself overnight."

There is nothing wrong with the Dem "message", or the way we've tried over the years to deliver it. What we're up against is a populace that is used to switching the channel when they hear anything they don't want to hear, and being mesmerized by any info-mericial that promises to fix all of their laundry, housecleaning, cooking-the-perfect-meal-in-ten-minutes, being the perfect mom/dad with no effort - and all with one simple product. One size fits all, operators are standing by, and if you ACT NOW, we'll double your order and make your life twice as easy.

The Dem "message" isn't the problem. The problem is communicating that message to those who would just as soon not be bothered hearing it.

[Jamaal510]

22. +1

[Adrahil]

30. This is correct.

A big chunck of the population want to blame all their problems on the "other" and they like a guy who says he'll bring back this Golden Age they think existed.

[hfojvt]

18. no I think that is silly

White collar and upper management are not working class.

It's ridiculous to equate an upper management type making $90,000 a year to a factory temp making $9 an hour because they both have paychecks. They are barely on the same planet, let alone in the same class.

Good schools? The richer person can send their kids to a prep school.
Safe highways? The richer person has a newer car with a bunch of airbags and other safety features and new tires
Clean air? Yeah, what is our plan for that? Does it mean higher gas prices and higher electric bills?

The barriers are already there in reality. It's not artificial to acknowledge reality and talk about it.

Now it would be nice if more people in the top 20% gave half a crap about those in the bottom 40%, but I am not holding my breath.

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Plus 1000 n/t

[Basic LA]

19. I prefer the term "Employees"

The Employee Class includes damn near everyone.

[iluvtennis]

21. I agree with you. I think "working class" is a misnomer. As you said, the majority of us work...

...so we are all working class. I think the distinction is what type of work you do.

Unless I'm mistaken, don't we have two major categories of workers in the US. Blue collar and White collar.

Blue collar workers would be the hard laborers - e.g., truck drivers, road crew people, mechanics, restaurant workers, janitors, oil rig workers, gardeners, etc.

White collar workers would be the folks who work in "office setting" - lawyers, bankers, engineers, nurses, doctors, teachers, office staff, congress people, etc.

To me, unless you are in that upper crust 1% of the wealthy, you are working class. Isn't that what we all want to do - work to provide a life for ourselves and our families.

There is nothing derogatory of being working class - I'm happy to be employed and working class.

My opinion only.

[Squinch]

26. Well... isn't this just a big load of bullshit!

Get over yourself. I'm a member of the white working class, and yet somehow I am able to recognize that NO ONE is referring to the working class as though it were an alien form of life. People ARE referring to working class Trump voters who vote against their own interests as morons, which is uncontestably true.

Hillary's campaign had very, very good plans to solve "kitchen table issues." We don't have to get back to those basics because we never went away from them. Those people who voted for Trump voted against addressing "kitchen table issues" and for bigotry and sexism.

This is becoming a very effective Republican meme, that Democrats don't understand the working class. It's complete bullshit. Democrats are the ones trying to help the working class while Republicans do everything they can to crush the working class under their heels.

And you fell for it.

[RKP5637]

28. Bigotry and sexism, YES, those were the driving issues of the GOP campaign. It's in their

bodies, hearts and souls. Maybe don't want to speak it, Trump did, so some remained silent and voted for him, others rally yells and voted for tRump.

My thought was working class was describing these voters. One of the GOP's key strategic plays is to scramble words and messaging, twisting the meaning, and introducing new memes laced with deception.

Now, their goal is to confuse people to only listen to their messaging, because, well, all other sources are fake. How long can it be before Alex Jones is the lead on the nightly news for Fox!

[iluvtennis]

36. + 1000 nt

[Afromania]

29. Working Class

There is nothing wrong with the term working class. Frankly I think it's dignified as it implies somebody that is willing to get down in the trenches and do hard work. However, it would be nice if applied to those that do hard work other than manual labor or what is considered "blue collar" work. It would be doubly nice if the term was applied the same way to everybody rather than just white folks.

[iluvtennis]

35. Agreed. That's why I liked one poster's comment to call us "Employees" nt

[stevenleser]

31. Why are you posting this here? What % of DUers do you think are so wealthy they dont have to work?

What percentage of DUers do you think were maligning the "Working Class"?

I know for sure of only 1 wealthy DUer and that person does not malign the working class.

[LWolf]

37. It's kind of like waking up in a parallel universe,

when supposed Democrats hate the working class.