Blue-collar Elitism

[TygrBright]

I'm a plain working man, me. None of that hoity-toity college-fangled citified elitism for ME. It's MY values-- hard work, patriotism, tradition, reverence for White Baby Jesus and politeness to girls who know their places-- that made America great.

And it was when people like ME, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth, real authentic people with real lives and families that really MATTER, got pushed under the bus by all those white-collar, latte'-sipping coastal elites, that this country began to go downhill!

It's us here in the decaying blue-collar neighborhoods, and out here in the farming heartland of America, who really built this country and defined all the noble things that make America, AMERICA. We're the ones who really know what's important, and when the political elites stopped listening to US, that's when everything started falling apart.

See, I was trained as a machinist, and even though the factory moved to Mesko in 'ninety-one, I'm STILL a machinist, right? A skilled trade. It may be beneath me to take unskilled jobs like doing a little seasonal road construction or some non-union roofing work or whatever, it's even MORE beneath me to sign up for one of those community-college programs where they try to make skilled machinists like me, proud blue-collar workers, retrain for something beneath me like working in health care or some service job.

And America will never be great again, until blue-collar folk like me see those machinist jobs come back with the good wages and NO UNIONS to take a cut of a working man's sweat for doing nothing but sending college-boy sons of city shop stewards to sit around on their thumbs 'monitoring' what the state house is up to... don't need THAT, just those good ol' jobs back, so our wives can stop working at the Dollar Store and get back in the kitchen and respect us again.

Nothing else will do. There's only ONE way to make America great again. The right way.

The blue-collar way.

Not the elitist diverse city liberal way that we've already PROVED doesn't work because hell, I still can't get a good non-union machinist job like I used to have in 'ninety-one.

Well, not that I could do that work anymore since I threw my back out on that roofing job five years ago, that wasn't covered for workers comp because they were all illegals so all I got now is the disability and I need this scooter to get around, and to find another doc to write me a better pain prescription.

But my SON, he could get that job, if America was great again, that machinist job, with no stupid Union dues and no stupid government rules and interference, if the New York and Washington pointy-headed elitists weren't letting those Wall Street crooks and college professors ruin everything.

Damned elitists.

Need to get outta the way and let REAL people like us get this country back in shape.

On my way now, to vote for that Trump fella lives in the gold-plated penthouse in Manhattan. HE'S no elitist.

ironically,
Bright

[guillaumeb]

1. Well done.

From a University educated, Starbucks going progressive with a French name. Plus I am a retired Union Steward and officer. And I worked for the US Government and receive a pension.


This is so ironic that it is magnetic.

[TwilightZone]

2. The whole idea that Trump was an anti-elitist - and that people actually bought into it...

completely blows my mind.

[Skittles]

5. it is hard to process the fact that so many people are so fucking stupid

soooo easily duped

[Solly Mack]

3. I've heard almost exactly that word for word before from people.

[Rex]

4. Trump ain't no FDR.

Trump never worked a real day in his life.

[world wide wally]

10. I'm betting he never pounded a nail in by himself

[Rex]

22. Or any manual labor, he probably thinks manual labor is playing golf.

[JI7]

6. This shows it has usually been about race and other social issues

[Iggo]

7. LOL.

[Lucky Luciano]

8. Doubling for Manny? nt

[TygrBright]

9. I am totally honored you should think so...! n/t

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. I doubt that many working class poor voted for Trump unless they're also evangelical.

Most of the vulnerable people economically -- single, low income -- voted for Clinton.

I worked my way through college to double-major in math and physics, working at some very low-paying and unpleasant (non-union) factories to do it.

I always went through a brief culture shock each time that I went back to school, seeing many people who I considered soft and spoiled. I've declined jobs, post-graduation, that would've been easier for me. I've received management promotion offers in the past and turned them down. The idea of working inside an air-conditioned office while most of the real work was being done on the floor, by people getting paid far less, troubled me. I'm an idiot for not being more callous, I guess.

Liberal elitists are still better than conservatives even if they never got a little dirt under their nails. At least most of them tend to be more compassionate.

EDIT: It would have been much easier to accept an easier life if I didn't have to SEE other people toiling hard for little reward. I don't like inequality, so it's not easy to choose a path for myself where I know that I'm unfairly getting more than others around me. People in third world countries who work hard and barely scrape by? At least I don't see them day-to-day.

[Akacia]

14. awesome. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Shades of Third-Way Manny.

[Internationalist]

13. Some industrial workers think like that for a reason

It's because there was an opportunity to be exploited that had been ignored by many so called champions of the working class. Alas a charlatan took advantage of it. Anger was misdirected because many Democratic party standard bearers didn't provide a required contrast.

Midwestern, industrial states voted Democratic for nearly 30 years. They will again when Democrats provide a constructive and honest alternative to the deceptive and cynical rhetoric of politicians like Donald Trump.

Blaming voters is counterproductive. Our side needs to see where we can find areas of agreement with those who should be supporting us. In doing this, we can't surrender our beliefs about diversity and tolerance. However, we do need to re-embrace our ideals concerning economic fairness.

[zglmoo]

15. Disagree

If it was not for unions you never would have made a decent wage as a machinist. Your kind that think these greedy employers are going to pay you wages to send your kids to college and own a nice home is what the biggest problem is today. Unappreciative of what unions truly do for everyone.

[PennyK]

17. It was ironic

Unions gave workers most, if not all, of their benefits.

[ileus]

16. white baby Jesus...

[trof]

18. Nailed it

[TygrBright]

19. Thank you! n/t

[kwassa]

20. I worked at US Steel in the good times.

National Tube Company, largest pipe manufacturer in the world. 7000 workers and out of business about 10 years later, in the mid 80s.

These jobs will never come back.

[TygrBright]

21. The answer isn't for "those jobs" to come back, but to make ALL JOBS like them.

A full-time job should pay enough to support a small family at a modest level.

Period.

That's what Unions were working towards, that's why they had to be vilified and broken.

Threaten the cheap-labor economy, and you're in the crosshairs of the oligarchy.

grimly,
Bright

[NobodyHere]

23. I remember a time when the Democratic Party tried to be a friend to the blue-collar worker.

What happened?

[gejohnston]

24. it is a larger trend

[TygrBright]

26. Thank you for providing such a vivid illustration of Blue-Collar Elitism! n/t

[TygrBright]

25. WHICH "blue collar worker" was that?

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who stood against their own craft-union stewards to allow women into apprenticeship programs, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who voted to allow people of color to join their industrial unions in the 1940s and 50s, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who saved and worked to get their children into college and are proud of their accomplishments and believe 'college-educated' isn't synonymous with "nasty people who look down on me," the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because it if was the blue-collar workers who never listened to the toxic mouthpieces of the Oligarchy like Fox News trying to convince them that All Unions Are Evil and Corrupt, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who welcomed immigrants to their communities, churches, and workplaces, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who signed petitions and lobbied their legislators to vote FOR the ERA, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who supported equal pay for equal work by women, affirmative action for people of color, and other ways to redress centuries of inequity and oppression, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who understood and supported the need for a comprehensive safety net of programs for EVERYONE, and refused to buy into toxic bullshit about 'entitlements for the undeserving', the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

Because if it was the blue-collar workers who believe in the power of government to improve everyone's children's future through universal early childhood education, high-quality public schools for all, and full access to higher education, the Democratic Party always has been, and always will be, those blue-collar workers' friends.

I grew up in a family of blue-collar workers who believed in ALL of those things, and none of us EVER felt as though the Democratic Party was anything BUT our friends-- until the DLC took over, anyway. But we still and always VOTED THE STRAIGHT PARTY TICKET, attended caucuses, took local party offices, worked to get our candidates elected, and believed that there was NO future for us with the GOP.

patiently,
Bright

[woolldog]

27. Some brilliant posts

by you in this thread, Bright.

[TygrBright]

28. Much obliged for the kind words, woolldog! n/t