Since the election, I’ve desperately seeking an understanding of just what the fuck happened. How did the sensible United States wind up electing a madman? I do think part of it is Racism. Im sure the KKK had higher turnout than in many many elections. But there’s another narrative for sure. And my answer is nothing different than what thousands of other people have written about, the economic plight of non-college educated Americans.
That is the exact topic that Sweat explores. The author, Lynn Nottage, spent two years learning all about Reading, PA which the Census Bureau named the poorest city in the nation. She got to know union families and how their families have crumbled as the local economy has done the same.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play. It looked at the characters without judgement. It laid bare the hopelessness of Reading’s citizens — and of Reading itself. There is literally nothing around which to build.
My biggest takeaway is that providing fundamental economic hope is the only option that the Democrats have to regaining office. And this applies across all races. We can’t let the powers that manipulate the poor white class and the minorities into fighting against one another. We have to take on each other’s causes.
There are some shortcomings of the play. Specifically, the play is told from a blue collar point of view. And while this works great, I think it does lead to a lack of perspective on some of the other challenges that are influencing unemployment. Specifically, I’m thinking about automation. The fact is that even if the factories were here, they’d have a fraction of the employees because robots would do the rest. And as time progresses, fewer and fewer of those jobs will remain. Im not sure how the economy will handle that. Maybe universal income is the only answer. But that’s another blog.
Here’s a link to the play. It’s quite wonderful: www.broadway.com/...
