A symbol of the unnecessariat: something that sits alone, abandoned by others.
I’m writing this diary for two reasons. One, because I think it neatly explains why the Democrats lost the election to Donald Trump. And if the progressives in that party ever want to have the power to put their ideas, they’re going to need to understand precisely why they lost, and Donald Trump won.
But more importantly, I think it draws attention to a segment of American society that is largely being ignored by not only the leaders of the Democratic party, but by many of its supporters as well.
And that segment is: the Unnecessariat. Those who, it seems, are no longer needed by the American economy, but by American society as well.
Now, for the record, I didn’t coin that phrase. That particular honour goes to a blogger who prefers to be know as ‘Anne Amnesia’ in an entry on the blog ‘More Crows than Eagles’ dated May 10. 2016.
The author starts off by talking about the AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s and the general public’s apathy towards those dying of the disease.
We forget this era now. If anything, people remember the Team America parody “Everyone Has AIDS!” RENT came out in 1996, not coincidentally the peak of the epidemic was 1995, a year when the CDC reported 41,699 Americans died of AIDS.
But then, she goes on to compare it to a more recent phenomenon: the increase in the US death rate due to overdoses.
The number of overdoses in 2014? 47,055 of which at least 29,467 are attributable to opiates. The population is larger now, of course, but even the death rates are comparable. And rising. As with AIDS, families are being “hollowed out” with elders raising grandchildren, the intervening generation lost before their time
But for me personally, the section of her entry that really grabbed my attention is the part where she defined the unnecessariat.
In 2011, economist Guy Standing coined the term “precariat” to refer to workers whose jobs were insecure, underpaid, and mobile, who had to engage in substantial “work for labor” to remain employed, whose survival could, at any time, be compromised by employers (who, for instance held their visas) and who therefore could do nothing to improve their lot. The term found favor in the Occupy movement, and was colloquially expanded to include not just farmworkers, contract workers, “gig” workers, but also unpaid interns, adjunct faculty, etc. Looking back from 2016, one pertinent characteristic seems obvious: no matter how tenuous, the precariat had jobs. The new dying Americans, the ones killing themselves on purpose or with drugs, don’t. Don’t, won’t, and know it.
Here’s the thing: from where I live, the world has drifted away. We aren’t precarious, we’re unnecessary. The money has gone to the top. The wages have gone to the top. The recovery has gone to the top. And what’s worst of all, everybody who matters seems basically pretty okay with that.
In my humble opinion, this alone is why the Democrats lost the election. Not because there wasn’t a significant amount of support for their views, but because that support wasn’t in the right states. And in the states where it was necessary, support was actually dropping.
If I still don’t have your attention, consider this: county by county, where life expectancy is dropping survivors are voting for Trump.
What does it mean, to see the world’s narrative retreat into the distance? To know that nothing more is expected of you, or your children, or of your children’s children, than to fade away quietly and let some other heroes take their place? One thing it means is: if someone says something about it publicly, you’re sure as hell going to perk up and listen.
And that wasn’t all. She also seemed to be well aware of why so many people in the Rust Belt state who’d normally support the Democrats simply weren’t willing to do so this time around.
Lets be honest- Clinton doesn’t give a shit about me. When Clinton talks about people hurt by the economy, she means you: elite-educated white-collar people with obvious career tracks who are having trouble with their bills and their 401k plans. That’s who boomed under the last president Clinton, especially the 401ks. Me, or the three guys fighting two nights ago over the Township mowing contract, we’re nothing. Clinton doesn’t have an economic plan for us. Nobody has an economic plan for us. There is no economic plan for us, ever. We keep driving trucks around and keep the margins above gas money and maybe take an odd job here or there, but essentially, we’re history and nobody seems to mind saying so.
And let me be honest again- Trump doesn’t have an economic plan for me either. What Trump’s boys have for me is a noose- but that’s the choice I’m facing, a lifetime of grueling poverty, or apocalypse. Yeah I know, not fun and games- the shouts, the smashing glass, the headlights on the lawn, but what am I supposed to do, raise my kid to stay one step ahead of the inspectors and don’t, for the love of god, don’t ever miss a payment on your speeding ticket? A noose is something I know how to fight. A hole in the frame of my car is not. A lifetime of feeling that sense, that “ohhhh, shiiiiiit…” of recognition that another year will go by without any major change in the way of things, little misfortunes upon misfortunes… a lifetime of paying a grand a month to the same financial industry busily padding the 401k plans of cyclists in spandex, who declare a new era of prosperity in America? Who can find clarity, a sense of self, any kind of redemption in that world?
Fuck it. Give me the fascists, I’ll know where I stand…
And even more significantly, the author knew it long before November 8th.
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