I have always been so puzzled why so many middle class Americans would even support a republican ticket. Why would people vote against their own economic interest? Of course, that is a question many of us have been asking ourselves for a LONG time. I remember when republicans invoked the line "Class Warfare". It has now changed to "redistribution of wealth" or "socialism". I think I know why.
It is about race and the classism! The democratic platform is one that helps build a stronger middle class. The republican platform is one that helps the rich. Why would so many middle class people vote against their own economic interests? They are so blinded by racism and classism, they cannot see that they are voting against their economic interest.
Lithium Cola just made a comment today regarding Pat Buchanan. Actually, it was a link to Isaiah J. Poole's article back in March 2008.
First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
... Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.
As many of you commented, these programs that are highlighted above actually benefit more WHITE Americans than African Americans. However, when the phrase "redistribution of income" is invoked, white middle class Americans are interpreting that phrase as "take from the white and give to the minorities and poor white people" just as Pat Buchanan thinks the above highlighted programs are for the African American community.
We need to be more effective in educating the white middle class that votes against their economic interests that their taxes are NOT being lowered under republicans but redistributed to higher taxes in state and local income taxes, higher college tuition and more expensive yet less healthcare.
By the way, the main problem is not the redistribution of wealth via taxes but the redistribution of wealth via INCOME. Paul Krugman illustrates this point so well on his article of the Great Wealth Transfer.
Start with 1973. If you assume that a height of six feet represents the average income in that year, the person on the far left side of the line -- representing those Americans living in extreme poverty -- is only sixteen inches tall. By the time you get to the guy at the extreme right, he towers over the line at more than 113 feet.
Now take 2005. The average height has grown from six feet to eight feet, reflecting the modest growth in average incomes over the past generation. And the poorest people on the left side of the line have grown at about the same rate as those near the middle -- the gap between the middle class and the poor, in other words, hasn't changed. But people to the right must have been taking some kind of extreme steroids: The guy at the end of the line is now 560 feet tall, almost five times taller than his 1973 counterpart.
People are getting the shaft all right but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with race or the working poor.