1) The poor don't vote.
2) After decades stewing in Reagan's "welfare queen" poison, the poor are deeply resented by the damn-near-poor.*
From the NYT:
...Meanwhile, researchers such as Kathryn Edin, of Johns Hopkins University, found a tendency by many Americans in the second lowest quintile of the income ladder — the working or lower-middle class — to dissociate themselves from those at the bottom, where many once resided. “There’s this virulent social distancing — suddenly, you’re a worker and anyone who is not a worker is a bad person,” said Professor Edin. “They’re playing to the middle fifth and saying, ‘I’m not those people.’ ”No one has any business being surprised by any of this.
Meanwhile, many people who in fact most use and need social benefits are simply not voting at all. Voter participation is low among the poorest Americans, and in many parts of the country that have moved red, the rates have fallen off the charts. West Virginia ranked 50th for turnout in 2012; also in the bottom 10 were other states that have shifted sharply red in recent years, including Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee.
In the spring of 2012, I visited a free weekend medical and dental clinic run by the organization Remote Area Medical in the foothills of southern Tennessee. I wanted to ask the hundreds of uninsured people flocking to the clinic what they thought of President Obama and the Affordable Care Act, whose fate was about to be decided by the Supreme Court. I was expecting a “What’s the Matter With Kansas” reaction — anger at the president who had signed the law geared to help them. Instead, I found sympathy for Mr. Obama. But had they voted for him? Of course not — almost no one I spoke with voted, in local, state or national elections. Not only that, but they had barely heard of the health care law.
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*thanks for the catch
5 comments:
the poor are deeply resent damn-near-poor the poor.
Jesus H., DG, if this line were any more of a hash it'd come in a can marked "Dinty Moore"!
DG your post here,this one and Sunday morning coming down were excellent! I learned so much. This one made me sad but did help me understand.I only wish there was away to get more people out to vote. I think then the country would be much different.
The Poor and working class have been told there's not an ant's butt hair worth of difference between the two parties and even when one party passes healthcare coverage laws which aid them, while the other passes tax laws to help to transfer billions up to 1% or gun laws to shield Firearm Manufacturers from any an all lawsuits, reporting focuses always upon your bugbear of Both Sides Do It Broderism.
"the poor don't vote"... all part and parcel of the program. Whether it features ACORN denouement, Both-Siderierism or out-and-out voter disenfranchisement, those few at the top understand the multitudes below must absolutely, positively and forever be kept in their place. Otherwise, the elites' place at the top is directly threatened.
Well pilgrims, it will get much rougher and nastier before it gets better. Divide and conquer is the maxim; and only until the "poor" get that, and get organized, the pain will not stop.
RP
Even if the poor do vote, or the damn-near-poor understand their true self-interest and vote as leftishly as possible, how can we be sure their votes aren't getting "lost"--or counted for the other side--by the unaccountable, readily hacked voting computers?
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