LBJ famously quipped that we lost the south for at least a Generation

[nadinbrzezinski]

well was looking at the map and this is not good news. UNTIL there are jobs once again in the Rust Belt, no, not wally mart, good jobs, middle class jobs... we lost the rust belt too.

Fact is... people who live in placed like Flint could go straight from HS to the plant and make a good living. That is not the case anymore. And this is a policy on both parties. This free trade policy, which is not a free trade...

But this is a very uncomfortable reality, UNTIL we start an industrial policy that benefits the South and the Midwest I think both sections are lost,

That is all... and why elections and POLICY matters.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

1. and then came abortion and gay rights...

LOST FOREVER until the Enlightenment Age takes hold.

About year 3720 maybe.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well if the worst happens

it won't matter... not to the US.

:-)

And 3720 is way after I am pushing daisies.

Now apart of the snark, can you blame people for taking their anger on somebody, even if not the right group?

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

9. Don't mind the anger... just the timing and when it will die away

.. when the black man is no longer in office.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. The anger is longer than the black man

goes to at least Perot.

[pstokely]

2. We haven't lost the Rust Bel yet, but demographic trends don't look good

Region is bleeding young college grads but still maintains a large black population. It could go the way of West Virginia.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Why do you think they are fleeing?

We need to rebuild industry in this country...that's the truth.

[Kingofalldems]

4. Even if the good jobs were created down there it would be the same

They are still fighting the civil war . The southern aristocrats know how to manipulate people to this end.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. You forget Unions were strongest in the south

at one time...

Right to work was passed by southern politicos for a reason in 1948.

[RainDog]

6. have you read Bad Samaritans?

it's the anti-dote to Friedman's happy globalization talk.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. actually even friednman is starting to dial it back

And yes I am i the process of reading Friedman... part of the globalization story...

Truth be told, beyond this OP... we need a GLOBAL workers rights movements and for NATIONAL unions to go truly international.

And no, I am not a fan

[RainDog]

10. will not happen anytime soon in xenophobic america

Chang's Bad Samaritans

http://blog.buzzflash.com/hartmann/023

Invisible Hands is another good one, if you want to see how a movement from the other side of the ideological divide came into being.

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780393059304-0

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Just got the book

will read it, goes into the labor chapter on well globalization

[backscatter712]

13. It illustrates a political "error" Democrats tend to make.

They prioritize governance over politics.

Which is a very good thing - LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights Act and put an end to Jim Crow, but also set up the Republicans to snatch up the Dixiecrats and take power with the Southern Strategy, and we're still suffering from that now.

Today, Obama pushed and got health care reform. Not enough reform, but still impressive considering that multiple presidents, including Clinton, including LBJ, including FDR, have tried and failed on that issue.

However, again, because we chose governance over politics, we paid a heavy price. Health care reform, for all its flaws, will save countless lives in the years to come, but getting folks to see the benefits when the GOP's screeching "SOCIALISM!!!!!11one" isn't easy.