Reply #22: Depends on what interests you're talking about

[beaconess]

America's dirty little secret is that, in order to obtain the support of the masses, the power structure has always provided to poor whites a sense of cultural superiority, regardless of how economically deprived they are, by enabling them to always have someone to look down on.

The Republicans have continued to manipulate and take advantage of this by assuring poor and middle income whites - often with a wink, a nod, and coded language ("reverse discrimination," "welfare queens," etc.) - that they will maintain this social structure.

Many working class and poor whites - often more out of fear and insecurity than outright racial hostility - buy into this promise of social superiority, even when it conflicts with their own interests.

Historian Roger Wilkins writes very eloquently about this in his book, "Jefferson's Pillow."