My step-dad was one of those guys. In the union, on the assembly line until he retired at sixty-five with a few stocks, some savings, home equity, a union pension, social security and medicare. By then, he was a Reagan Democrat.
But many years before he was 20 years old and jobless when the Great Depression hit and he knew hunger and struggle and need. Later he worked for the man on the line and occasionally went out on strike. It was the 50's and 60's and he was one of those guys. He did OK for himself and his family.
That plant was segregated, though. Only white guys worked on the line and only black guys worked in packing and shipping. That was a less skilled craft so it paid less. That sort of thing never much bothered most of those guys. It didn't bother him. Fortunately for him, he was one of those white guys.
What did bother him was Martin Luther King, Jr. and Elvis Presley and rhythm and blues music (you don't want to read his deplorably racist name for that) and crime and anti-war protesters and days of rage and campus protests . . . . Oh, hell, every aspect of American life and cultural change from 1965 forward bothered him.
Anyway, he was one of those guys. For most of his life he voted faithfully and was a reliable Democrat all the way back to FDR. A World War 2 tank sergeant in Europe, he excused his only departure from the Democratic fold by saying that he owed it to Ike.
He remained a reliable Democrat when Nixon for President came around the 1st time in 1960 and our home proudly supported JFK. But when Nixon surfaced again in 1968, things had changed. By 1972, when Nixon ran for reelection, a lot of those guys were goners.
So, he was one of those guys who was ready when Reagan came along, one of those Reagan Democrats. A lot of those WW 2, union, assembly line guys worried about losing advantage in the face of rising tides of workplace equality. Those guys started switching from reliable Democratic voters into increasingly reliable Republican voters. Some of the most significant declines in unionization seem to have somewhat paralleled these trends.
Anyway, these guys weren't stupid. My step-dad understood perfectly that Republicans were out to line the pockets of a small moneyed class and that only Democrats could be looked to for the protection and assistance of ordinary working folks. His entire experience of political life taught him this. He never hesitated to express this opinion. He knew what unions had brought to America and appreciated the vacation time, overtime, health, pension and other benefits his union provided for him.
But, by the 1980's, he just didn't care anymore. Reagan was fine with him. He was retired. He had his. If Republicans were willing to keep the poor folks down and out of his hair that was OK with him. He often dwelt on his humble origins, but never showed much empathy for the similarly disadvantaged.
Those guys were one of the first big cracks in the old FDR coalition of interests, as Republicans started to peel off more voters from union members, among other blocs. From Nixon in 1968 until Obama in 2008, Democrats held the White House for only 12 years, dramatically reshaping the American political landscape.
The good news is that those guys are dead and dying. My step-dad would be 102 in June. He can't vote anymore, I'm pretty sure.
I'm not completely sure because he lived and, in the end, died in Arizona. Elections out there have been producing such wacky results that I can't help but wonder whether some of those guys, even though dead, are still somehow voting out there. Anyway, I was put in mind of all of this because my late mother would have been 100 this week and because I read this poll yesterday showing that some of those Wisconsin union members who voted for Walker and vote Republican in Wisconsin are beginning to repent.
Republicans are starting to sour on Walker. They say they went for him by a 93-3 spread in 2010, but now only back him 87-10 - that is to say, 10% of Republicans wish they could have voted for the Dem instead.
It's about time.