General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between economic and social justice. [View all]KPN
(15,642 posts)it seems. Sorry 'bout that. My bad.
At the same time, I don't fully agree with the view that RW economic viewpoints survive and prosper "precisely" because of bigotry. And that's basically what is behind my misreading in the first place. Sure, bigotry contributes in a significant way to RW success at selling and sustaining RW economic policy -- division has always been a useful and effective tool; and today it probably is the strongest single factor even, but it wasn't to begin with, and there are others that contribute to and sustain the dominance of RW economic policy as well. My point is just that these other factors shouldn't be discounted or considered insignificant. A big one from my perspective is complacency. If the system is working for certain individuals, and they are preoccupied with their own lives, they aren't going to always recognize let alone be concerned about economic disparity problems. In the past 35 years, there are and have been plenty of Americans who fall into this category, a sizable percent of whom I'm sure are and were not bigots. On a positive note, however, I believe that number is shrinking. More and more people seem to be waking up, especially among Gen Xers and millenials.
Maybe we are saying the same thing. I hope so. We care in it together. To prevail we need to stick together.