What the auto recovery in Ohio teaches us about race and class

[malaise]

People are slowly waking up to the reality that the 1% have been waging class warfare openly since the Reagan era. Rmoney just expressed it more openly than all previous ReTHUG candidates with his Op Ed about letting Detroit go bankrupt and of course that infamous 47% tape.

When push comes to shove race is less important than our economic interests. Further you cannot insult people and expect them to vote for you. You cannot lie to them - get caught and continue lying as if people don't know the truth and don't know their own self interest.

More of the white working class in Ohio voted for Obama because he defended their economic interests. They rejected RMoney and those promoting the views of the 1% and they also rejected the racist dog whistling.


This is one of the most important lessons of this election.

[brer cat]

1. Good post.

I just wish that we could move some of that thinking down south. I know waaaay too many people who would vote themselves into economic slavery before voting for any person of color. Dumb doesn't come close to describing these people.

[malaise]

3. It moves by itself

They will eventually see who is taking away their good paying jobs, destroying their benefits and keeping them in abject poverty.

Remember all the institutions of socialization have been attempting to brainwash us for eons.
Reality wakes people up - they will learn because they no longer need to watch M$Greedia for information.

Now that talk radio and RW hacks on TV have been totally discredited, they will seek new sources. It is a minority of very vocal people who are racist to the core. We only know what they're saying because of the internet.

[cprise]

2. I don't think we can say one is more important

But if anyone had any doubt, its now safe to say that race and sex and class war are now joined at the hip.

What the GOP did in promoting Romney/Ryan was to intensify the hubris beyond even that of Bush/Cheney: While its true the latter were from the corporate world, the former represented an admixture of theology and vulture capitalism that made even many conservatives blanch. They were actually worse than (for the country) a Pat Robertson ticket in my opinion.

But we can't deny that a ton of white people turned out for Romney because of race. Conservatives made their class war palatable to poor and middle class whites because of race.

Those people do not want non-whites to advance their fortunes or their power. And it is the power issue that is pivotal, because it requires a sense of agency to wield it and it is still white people who embody that agency-- The self- and community image that says its OK to be a mover-and-shaker, to bend or skirt the edge of rules to ones' advantage, to not be constantly in fear of whatever the criminal "justice" system feels is going too far for a non-white person. Some simply refer to this aspect of society as "primacy".