The events at the Capitol yesterday make me worry for my country. I don’t fear that there will be a revolution or coup, but I do worry that political discourse has become so polarized that everything from masks to the electoral college becomes the subject of violent debate that prevents any sensible policy from being implemented.
I worry that private companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple are threatened with government regulation or break up simply because they are big. I worry that some of those private companies, which claim to be offering the public an open platform for communication, take it upon themselves to censor their customers for expressing views they disagree with. I worry that the president says such insane things that those private companies feel they have to censor him.
I’ve supported President Trump’s transportation policies, but Trump himself seems to me to be a crazy man. That doesn’t mean his policies are crazy; like any president’s, some are good and some not so good. But by middle-class standards, which means my standards, his behavior has been insane, and never more so than in the last few days.
Yet Trump is only a symptom of the real problem, a problem that has been growing since the 1970s. As many leftists believe, it’s a problem of income inequality and shrinking economic mobility, but the solutions the leftists offer only make the problem worse.
This isn’t a conflict between black and white, or urban and rural, or coastal states and interior states, or even socialists and capitalists. Instead, it is a conflict between the middle class (meaning college-educated white-collar workers and their families) and working class (meaning blue-collar workers and their families). With about 30 percent of the voting-age population, the middle class is in the minority, yet it has all of the power.
It has that power because the bureaucracy that runs every government agency in this country is made up of members of the middle class. A college degree is a requirement for entry into that bureaucracy. Most elected officials are also members of the middle class, and those that aren’t still end up getting most of their information from the bureaucracy.
The ultimate goals of the middle class and the working class are the same. They want to raise their families in nice homes, travel for economic, social, and recreational purposes, and see their children be even more economically successful than they were. In the 1950s and 1960s, almost every American who was white, and many who were black and Latino, were able to meet these goals. The political reforms of the 1960s that ended Jim Crow laws should have brought those goals within the reach of minorities as well.
After 1970, however, the opportunities for the working class to achieve those goals became more limited as the economy stagnated and jobs went to other countries. The stagnation led people in the middle class to believe that there was a limited amount of wealth to be made so if someone else got rich it meant that other people had to stay poor. The policies they adopted in response made the problems worse for the working class. At the same time, the export of jobs hit the working class the hardest while doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other professionals didn’t have to worry about their jobs being taken by someone in Japan or Taiwan.
Working-class resentments over losing jobs and having no voice in government bubbled over when Trump announced he was running for president in 2015. But Trump made a big mistake: instead of focusing his campaign on denouncing the export of jobs, he focused it on immigration.
Although there are many treatments available, the people affected can be far too stressed and busy to give them a levitra prices second thought. viagra without prescription The reason to ill health of arteries is mostly heart condition. And I cialis on line assure that my erection size is bigger, every time. 3. Sometimes people give all their money to a trust cheapest viagra 100mg or a foundation or they hand it over to their heirs.
Members of the working class may have been just as angry about immigration as job exports, but there is a big difference. If jobs go overseas, then the Americans who buy foreign-made goods benefit from lower prices, but the income from those jobs and the taxes paid by workers and factories stay overseas. On the other hand, if immigrants move to the U.S. and take factory or other working-class jobs, they pay taxes and spend their incomes here in the United States, creating more jobs. The former is a win-lose situation; the latter is win-win.
Like any successful demagogue, Trump won the 2016 election by demonizing a minority, thus putting a human face on the source of working-class misery. But calling illegal immigrants criminals and rapists failed to address the true causes of that misery, which were government policies that favored the middle- and upper-classes and harmed the working class.
Trump’s demagoguery gained the support of many white working-class voters but lost the support of Latino working-class voters — and the implicit racism lost the potential support of black working-class voters. If ever a presidential candidate can find a way to appeal to all working-class voters, and not just working-class whites, he or she will have an unbeatable coalition.
The problems of polarization and extremist violence won’t be fixed by a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure program, antimonopoly actions against Facebook and Twitter, or a green New Deal. In fact, since all of those programs would be designed by members of the middle class, they are almost certain to make the problems worse.
Nor am I convinced that the government should break up high-tech giants. I strongly suspect that the multiplication of cable TV and internet news sources is one of the main causes of polarization, and I’m not comfortable letting Facebook and Twitter decide the truth for me, but I’m even less comfortable letting the government do it.
What we do need are leaders who can bring together not just white and black and Latino working-class voters but middle-class voters as well. Colin Powell might have been able to do that but decided not to run for office.
We also need the middle class to recognize that, if they design a society that caters to their whims, they are likely to design the working-class out of that society. Everyone needs to recognize that income and wealth are not zero-sum games; that the more we have the more everyone has as long as we don’t use government to shut some people out.
How are we going to do all this? I don’t know completely, but if we don’t start working towards these ends, the next elections will be even worse than this one was.
The Antiplanner for President 2024!
Insanity is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak.
The incoming president has openly stated extremely insane things:
a) China is acting out because the US hasn’t been good friends with it’s allies
b) Jacob Blake – They could’ve just shot him in the leg
Election fraud is rampant. Shoplifting is rampant. It’s not high enough to put stores out of business but it’s still bad.
It’s just as wrong and _insane_ to claim that there is no election fraud as it is to claim it there was enough to change the outcomes in multiple states.
“Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances, because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.” Hillary Clinton, August 26, 2020.
Those who didn’t strongly object then have no right to object to anything Trump does now.
This is one of the most disappointing Antiplanner posts I have ever seen.
Members of the working class may have been just as angry about immigration as job exports, but there is a big difference. If jobs go overseas, then the Americans who buy foreign-made goods benefit from lower prices, but the income from those jobs and the taxes paid by workers and factories stay overseas. On the other hand, if immigrants move to the U.S. and take factory or other working-class jobs, they pay taxes and spend their incomes here in the United States, creating more jobs. The former is a win-lose situation; the latter is win-win.
The US does not have a shortage of highly skilled workers, and we do not benefit by bringing in every Pajeet from the 3rd world. There are plenty of “native” US citizens with computer science or other STEM degrees that cannot find work because greedy corporations would rather stuff a dozen Indians in there, create low quality product/code, and then bring in a real engineer to fix it up enough so that the public swallows it.
Indians are good at memorizing and taking tests, and cheating; they are not good at creativity or critical thinking. I live in the Seattle area and it’s suffused with Indians from top to bottom. You would consider the average Indian a complete moron if you interacted with him free of the media propaganda about how smart they are.
The country of India has an entire industry, backed by their own federal government, of creating fake certificates and diploma’s so they can pretend to be STEM whiz’s and come over here and displace native workers. The fact that there are, occasionally, brilliant Indians doesn’t change the fact that the average Indian is, well, below average. They are just a lot cheaper than American workers.
They run multiple white collar scams, shun anything other than their own businesses, refuse to even practice basic hygiene, and come from a area of the world long considered to be a complete $hithole, something that isn’t going to change anytime soon, if ever. It is not our duty to improve their standard of living at the expense of the people already living here. I would rather take every illegal Mexican into the country rather than one more fake diploma Indian who can’t even code “hello world”. Yes, I have computer science engineering friends who have all said hiring managers have had to devise tests to spot the endless fake diploma/rote memorization frauds that keep pouring in due to the “legal immigration” scam.
And on the question of Mr. Trump, well, had he peeled his lips from Jared Kushner’s circumcision for one second and thought about regular Americans, instead of all the rich, criminal tribal members he’s currently busy pardoning, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
I also want to add that if you want to blame just one single person for this entire mess, blame daddy’s little girl, Ivanka Trump. That lowlife had a choice to marry Tom Brady, but instead, chose to marry slimeball Jared Kushner, and even converted to his hate-filled religion. She is, most likely, the single person responsible for screwing up Trump’s presidency. Trump has a big, foul mouth, but he had good instincts. The evil Ivanka/Kushner combination corrupted and twisted him.
A multi-cultural, multi-ethnic country can only be ruled by brute force. Iraq is a good example, but the Soviet Union, the Austro-Hungarian Empire are good examples, too.
Up until around 1965, the US was 85% White Europeans with European cultures. That approximated a nation, and a republican form of government was possible. The only significant differences among the dominant White culture were political.
When the US degenerates into a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic mess, a republic will no longer be possible. All politics will really be identitarian, racial, cultural. It will be a zero sum game.
As to Trump, I voted for him twice. But now he is history. I grew up in a union household, and I still have all sorts of working class quirks. I met many people like Trump growing up, and basically I like him and them. He is familiar to me, and for the most part I am comfortable with, and sometimes enjoy, his antics. He is not so much racist, as he is pro-legacy America. Nothing he said or did would generate much criticism a couple of generations ago; most people would agree with him.
Middle class people are WEIRD. Their grip on reality is weak.
Ten years from now I will be dead, but you will be living in the socialist tyranny that is coming.
metrosucks,
You are guilty of believing the myth that there is only a fixed amount of wealth. If you add more people to the workforce, whether more women, people of color, or immigrants, they will produce more wealth and the money they spend will create more jobs. Immigrants don’t take jobs; they make them.
rmsykes,
Multicultural societies can exist. It helps for everyone to be tolerant of others. In general, you can see vegetarians, vegans, kosher Jews, Indians, Muslims, and good old American carnitarians shopping side-by-side at American supermarkets without any stress. It’s when we start distributing resources using political means that the cultural and ethnic fights begin.
So disappointing to see the Antiplanner just spouting 2020 media mythology. Trump says a million conflicting things, unlike most lawyer presidents who say a million words of nothing. You can prefer one approach or the other, but most politicians think very similarly.
But Trump clearly has policies on race, immigration and voting rights that are equal or to the left of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Obama and VP Biden.
Moreover, Trump is just one person. I realize 90% of media think he is god-like in that everything in the world is controlled and thought out by Trump, but count me as one who sees just a person.
Theories that just ignore obvious facts just show they are emotions and bigotry, not anything rationale.
That’s the problem with looking at things from a theoretical economics angle, and failing to factor in the social costs. Does Pajeet possibly contribute something to the economy? (Primarily, to the increased bottom line and stock prices of an already bloated corporate executive team) Maybe. Have we counted the social costs of bringing him, and his endless clan, here?
Apparently you have not. Here’s some examples: white collar crime, welfare scams, buying up stuff at retail stores, clearing out the entire stock, and reselling it back to us on Amazon at a 500% markup? That doesn’t even include their primary social cost, which is to throw US Citizens out of careers they studied and trained for, and did a good job at. I’ve never heard anyone praise the quality of Indian software. While America invented computers and software, the finest software in the world comes from Germany. It runs many of the non fault-tolerant industrial processes out there.
If bringing in hordes of random brown immigrants was the key to massive wealth and economic growth, I suppose Japan would be the poorest society on earth, and India the richest. Obviously, reality is approximately the opposite of that. America is going down the tubes because hardly anyone cares about making a quality product or putting some pride in their work. Instead, it’s the get rich quick and screw over anyone on your way to the top model that’s so admired in this quickly turning into a $hithole of a country.
While Israel apparently gets to have an exception and say “Israel is only for Jews”, we are forced to import the lowest of the low here and feed them, give them welfare, and throw our own people out of their positions to give Pajeet his dues, and then bash the people who actually built western society (white men) all day while celebrating the stunted “culture” and violent behavior of glorified gorillas. THAT’s why this country is circling the drain!
Sandy Teal,
I tried to make it clear that I distinguish Trump’s behavior from his policies. I admire many of his policies. His behavior, while appealing to many, is to me just nuts, and the last few days proves it. Maybe that’s my middle-class viewpoint speaking, but we need a president who can speak to everyone, not just working-class whites. (Biden isn’t that president either. Maybe Eisenhower was the last one.)
Antiplanner, good on you to support immigrants – they should be welcome to come and they have EVERY RIGHT to come here to seek a better life for themselves and their families. You need to seriously consider banning racists like metrosucks. At least have a policy that condemns this kind of foul racism and declares that users that engage in racist tirades should be banned.
Meant to say “declares that users that engage in racist tirades should be banned.”
Meant to say “declares that users that engage in racist tirades WILL be banned.”
“After 1970, however, the opportunities for the working class to achieve those goals became more limited as the economy stagnated and jobs went to other countries. ”
Let’s see… what happened after 1970? Oh, yeah. The gold window was closed and the age of floating fiat ushered in an era of deficits and high inflation, an invisible tax on the working class.
“Antiplanner, good on you to support immigrants – they should be welcome to come and they have EVERY RIGHT to come here to seek a better life for themselves and their families.”
No, no they don’t have every right to “come here” the way things currently operate. If we lived in a society that truly valued and enforced private property rights, sure. But we don’t live in that society. We live in a society that violates property rights, transfers wealth, mismanages (or completely fails to manage) the commons.
Just as I do not have “every right” to move to Canada or Australia (I must go through legal channels an meet income and employment requirements), so too must immigrants meet standards to enter the territory where the state has a monopoly on the use of force.
“Antiplanner, good on you to support immigrants – they should be welcome to come and they have EVERY RIGHT to come here to seek a better life for themselves and their families. You need to seriously consider banning racists like metrosucks. At least have a policy that condemns this kind of foul racism and declares that users that engage in racist tirades should be banned.”
Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Fuck your calls for censorship.
“Multicultural societies can exist. It helps for everyone to be tolerant of others.”
.
And yet the Antiplanner chooses to live in Camp Sherman, which is nearly 97% white, 3% Asian, and ZERO PERCENT BLACK; the nearest city is Bend, which is about 95% white.
.
If multicultural societies are so great and so tolerant, why don’t you live in one, Antiplanner?
metrosucks, your observations mirror mine. I’m currently in the South Sound, and I can’t wait to get out of here. BLM have ruined it.
Racists like metrosucks and Frank, don’t you have some crosses to burn?
Easy to condemn regular people and preach diversity from your lilly-white enclave, isn’t it? All the BLM and Biden signs in Seattle are in the $2 million+ home areas up in the hills. Why don’t we fill up your area with third world refugees and see how you like it?
Do not apologize to these people for your ideals, or engage them on any level. They are enthralled by an evil system created by selfish baby boomers, quite possibly the most evil force this world has ever seen.
White Baby boomers raped and pillaged everything on the face of the earth for decades to give themselves outlandish salaries and retirements, then promptly handed control of the western world to a bunch of jewish psychopaths, who are busy dismantling the last vestiges of civilization from behind their gated driveways.
Once the baby boomers croak, we’ll be able to restore the world to a semblance of decency.
Jane, all you can play is the race card? You don’t know me. Look at any of my comments over the last 13 years and show me one that shows actual racism (not that you know how to define that slur). Stop being a c*nt.
Metro, was in Seattle last weekend for the first time in ages. It’s disgusting what the real racists and socialists have allowed to happen to that city. The irony of BLM signs on Magnolia and Queen Anne multi-million dollar mansions was oh so juicy. Now these real racists and socialists have invaded my blue collar enclave and are Seattlefying it. Total Ballardization. I’m going Galt soon.
Also, fuck that pussy Inslee. What an effite wannabe dictator. Poor widdle scared JayJay needs a BIG fence now, even though he ridiculed the governor of South Dakota for wanting a solid fence around the governor’s residence. Hope to see him get his comeuppance for trampling the Constitution and destroying people’s lives. Dude gets locked out of his own house like a retard and I’m supposed to believe he’s “using data” to justify his unilateral and unconstitutional decrees? He, like other socialists, is directly responsible for more deaths than he claims to have prevented.
.
And thank god the mega douche Newsome is getting recalled.
.
Kate Brown better come around or she’s next.
Frank: of course the coronavirus is a complete fraud. Am I saying it doesn’t exist? No, but people have died from the common cold, too. People can die from a paper cut (from the infection, usually in the form of an opportunistic staph infection that settles in the cut). As you would certainly agree, it’s no reason to destroy our already precarious system of civil rights. Rights that aren’t absolute, are no rights at all.
People in today’s generations, prodded on by obscene baby boomer ideas, are hysterically afraid of death. Death, by one cause or another, is an absolute certainty. To completely redo society and cause all these problems points to a completely different agenda, other than saving lives.
If the government really wanted to save lives, they would ban high fructose corn syrup as a beginning. Not redo society over a cold virus.
Does anyone really think the government gives a single shit about your life, my life, or any other regular person’s life? Of course not. The “we have to save lives at any cost” excuse is complete and utter bullshit. They’ve stopped releasing seasonal flu death numbers, and a couple months back, John Hopkins released a study admitting overall deaths for 2020 were no higher than what the numbers would be expected to be in a regular year. Naturally, they quickly retracted said study.
Inslee is a complete and total moron. He’s not the one making the decisions. The guy making the decisions and “advising” Inslee, was (of course) some Jew. Because why not. If you didn’t know this, a lot will now make sense. Inslee was a skilled high school football quarterback (he even looks like one). Had everything handed to him in life because of his ability to throw a air-inflated ball (and that mystical ability called “leadership” because he could rally the other useless ball runners), and now this idiot is inflicted on us courtesy of the sham of “democracy”. He’s not the real problem. He’s a symptom of the utterly deranged voters that put him there. Remember, people get the government they deserve, and you and I, Frank, who don’t agree with it, get to suffer the unpleasant side effects.
Kate Brown is just pure evil. She’s not stupid, or incompetent. Do not be fooled. She panders exclusively to Portland, and the government unions in Salem. She won’t get thrown out (neither will Newsome, unless he’s just replaced by some other hyper left wing apparatchik). There are TOO MANY well to do baby boomer assholes in places like Issaquah heights, Redmond, Queen Anne, Portland Heights, etc, who aren’t suffering ONE BIT under this bullshit, and are voting in these people as a sort of show of morality, after they spent the last fifty years completely fucking over the entire world.
Don’t worry Frank. Before things can begin to get fixed, a lot of pain must be suffered. America hasn’t even begun to suffer yet for all the evil it’s inflicted on the world.
Oh, one more little tidbit for you. BLM is a completely made up organization that was founded by a violent Jewish terrorist, Susan Rosenberg, who was pardoned by Bill Clinton on his last day in office. Funny how the same names keep popping up as the roots of our problems. But don’t worry, Bill “feels our pain”, while Manhattan Jews use the blacks to completely destroy Western society.
One last thing I wanted to add. I used to be Mr. “catch a cold”. Well known by my family for catching every little sniffle out there. I’d average 6-7 colds a year, including at least one in the summer (because why not).
In April, I started taking zinc lozenges, vitamin C gummies, and elderberry extract, as advised by many doctors who were pilloried and made fun of by the establishment.
I haven’t had so much as a sore throat in nine months, and believe me, the last year has been the most hellish and stressful in my life (for reasons apart from the coronavirus hell, as well). Take that as you will.
Life is tough as a Nazi? Well, it’s tough for the rest of us too.
You hate white people. What does that make you? A Jew?
There’s few internet forums where open Naziism is tolerated; one of them is https://ti.org/antiplanner
@metrosucks, from what I hear, some neo-Nazis deny the Holocaust happen, while others say it *did* happen, but didn’t go far enough. I’m curious which kind you are?
When you are losing your argument, invoke Nazi’s.
Metro, I’m not sure what’s worse: playing the race card or the Nazi card.
Speaking of Jews, I was recently banned from the Jew owned and operated ABC news article about COVID lockdowns and noncompliance simply for saying look at how following rules turned out for Jews. They must have an auto ban setting for a comment with the word Jew.
http://www.subvertednation.net/jew-lists/jew-owned-media/
https://www.dgepress.com/abc/abc-executives/
Frank.
The banning of the word “jew” is interesting, and instructive. It’s not an uncommon practice. “Jew” is a term they reserve for themselves, and is NOT supposed to be used by gentiles, and when a gentile uses it, it’s considered derogatory, and a hint that “the goyim know”. In many ways, the usage of the word is analogous to the N-word. Reserved for them to use and bask in, not for the rest of us.
Jews play both the race card and the Nazi card frequently (the latter has somewhat fallen out of favor due to extreme overuse), and have always done so, given that they (allegedly) invented both. I won’t dwell on this any longer, except to tell you: it’s important to read THEIR OWN newspapers in Israel, to see a more honest assessment of what they think of non-Jews. Times of Israel, Haaretz (Haaretz in particular), for example. JTA (jewish telegraph agency), is a much more mainstream paper where you will generally not find the more controversial jewish statements.
Here’s a collection of hateful quotes from the rabbi who was literally the official, state Rabbi of Israel:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-of-ovadia-yosefs-most-controversial-quotations/
While I’m on the subject, it’s interesting to note that the vaunted Israeli Right of Return law uses DNA testing to prove you’re Jewish. What’s good for the goose is definitely not also good for the gander:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-high-court-allows-dna-testing-to-prove-judaism-1.8439615
Free your mind completely, Frank!
Frank and metrosucks, did the Holocaust happen or not?
Jane/Dan (did you get a sex “change”?), we weren’t discussing the Holocaust; pay attention and stop trying to deflect (admittedly, your chief talent).
Whoever “they” are, “they” clearly can’t read, otherwise “they” wouldn’t ask stupid questions. Part of my comment above, that answers the new troll’s question:
“look at how following rules turned out for Jews.”
Danny boy “conflating” again, methinks. Btw his picture on his website makes him look like the ultimate granola liberal hick hybrid (this is coming from someone who likes granola, and sort of looks like a hick). Interesting synthesis.
Who’s Dan?
I generally agree. Although I would not juxtapose working class to middle class. Most of the narratives and increasingly define both the right and left are elite driven. They might be parroted by the lower levels of society but the core message come from the top.