baeddel:mysharona1987:baeddel:moxperidot:geekandmisandry:mysharona1987:The saddest, most haunting th
baeddel:mysharona1987:baeddel:moxperidot:geekandmisandry:mysharona1987:The saddest, most haunting thing about that response.It is 100% accurate.You really just can’t save people from themselves.they might vote different if a party besides the GOP campaigned there but lets all laugh at the working poor how silly of them to be taken advantage of (:The same people who voted for trump voted for obama 4 years prior. Its really not an easy story like that. White rural working class (who make up the vast majority of miners, and presumably are the ones voting trump!) are concerned abt both healthcare and unemployment and will support things that they perceive as being in their interests. Its not a contradiction for them: they probably regretted much about the previously admimistration they helped elect, too. The fact that pursuing both options ‘within the system’ leads to a dead end is an opportunity for struggle. It should not be perceived as ‘were unable to save them from their stupidity’ nor as a failure of the bourgeois democratic party.Why does a coal miner worried about his healthcare vote for a man who vows to take it away? A real question. Bear in mind, most studies since the election have shown it was basically his views on immigration and Muslims and women that got Trump elected. Not the economics or coal mining industry. Because he’s worried about his job, too. Like: the republican party represents the ascendancy of U.S. business, investment in natural resource extraction, etc. Obviously its kind of a work and the benefits they’re going to be able to offer coal miners are dubious, but so was the welfare the democrats were able to offer. But like, they’re caught between dependancy on welfare and looming deindustrialisation, automisation, etc. and that’s where that conflict comes from.Also lol I mean I’m not suggesting coal miners single-handedly elected trump. But I think it’s wrong to see his view on immigration (& white supremacy generally) as being separate from an economic analysis. Apart from out and out fascists who worry about being ‘outbred’ or something, most people hate immigrants because they feel like they constitute an economic threat to them, right? And it’s not even really bogus: white working class people have the best jobs, the best security, the best housing, etc., but are in direct competition with a much cheaper, less secure, more ‘flexible’, more enormous labour market, that of migrant workers. Political intervention to secure their position seems to be the only option. So they’re voting in favour of the security of white supremacy when they vote for trump, you know? The point of conflict here comes from the fact that white supremacy and a fair society are incompatible, and regardless both parties just want a cheap labour force to exploit anyway, etc. But it’s not like… its wrong to be like, oh you idiots, you just dont get it, right, they know exactly what they’re doing, they’re trying to secure their own interests within a very limited number of options. I’m not trying to say we should be like, oh poor white working class, getting burned for supporting white supremacy, right, lmao. I just mean its erronous to view this as like, some kind of unintelligible contradiction. And, the fact that they are coming up against the limits of their options is an elaboration of class struggle, in a dark way a positive development, that white supremacist politicians are unable to meet the needs of their constituents, etc.It’s a complicated issue. It’s not so simple as calling them “stupid”, I agree. They wanted to secure their own interests. If it came at the expense of minorities and women and electing someone completely crazy and unfit for office, eh, so be it. But now he’s fucking over them too. The callousness involved in their votes implies they may deserve their fate, tbh. -- source link