Republican Contempt For The Working Class
Michael Kingsley famously defined a “gaffe” as when a politician unwittingly tells the truth. And the truth behind Mitt Romney’s “47%” gaffe, Paul Krugman writes, is that Romney and his party have nothing but contempt for the working class:
Needless to say, the G.O.P.’s disdain for workers goes deeper than rhetoric. It’s deeply embedded in the party’s policy priorities. Mr. Romney’s remarks spoke to a widespread belief on the right that taxes on working Americans are, if anything, too low. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal famously described low-income workers whose wages fall below the income-tax threshold as “lucky duckies.”
What really needs cutting, the right believes, are taxes on corporate profits, capital gains, dividends, and very high salaries — that is, taxes that fall on investors and executives, not ordinary workers. This despite the fact that people who derive their income from investments, not wages — people like, say, Willard Mitt Romney — already pay remarkably little in taxes.
The Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Ayn Rand. In the past, there were Republicans who had workers’ interests at heart. And, even those Republicans who had nothing in common with working men and women, Krugman writes,
knew enough to keep it to themselves and managed to fake some appreciation for ordinary workers. At this point, however, the party’s contempt for the working class is apparently too complete, too pervasive to hide.
Lincoln’s concept of government and his party have been corrupted by big money. Today’s Republicans are “a party of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy, a party that considers the rest of us unworthy of even a pretense of respect.”
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During my time as a college student, I worked for a large moving company during the summer. The socially conservative Republican owner of the company became very upset with us when we decided to play a game of pickup basketball over lunch. He was mad that we used our energy to have fun over lunch in between the times he was paying us to work, even though it in no way hurt our performance. In Europe this would be considered a good “break” from a task which might even allow you to work better afterwards.
I found his reaction almost as if he saw us as his serfs. As if he owned us because we worked for him.
My former friend and employer is the same way. His view of those who worked for him was very disfunctional. I was the guy who oversaw the day to day operations while he and the other owners were off doing what owners do when they have someone competent to run things for them do, in this case race cars most days. Eventually I could no longer implement the insane work schedules he wanted me to and I put in my resignation. He asked me if there was anything he could do to keep me. I told him that I didn’t need a raise, but I needed him to relax the last minute overtime for all the employees, be able to guarantee them a weekend off now and then, and basically not have to strong arm them last minute into working days they thought they had off, in order to keep people from burning out. His response, only slightly paraphrased:
“People really need their jobs. You can work them as hard as you want, and very rarely will they quit. And in the few cases where people do get fed up and leave, you just hire replacements.”
When he said that I realized I had worked there far too long. And there are many, many people that run their businesses like that.
Pretty broad brush to indicate all Republicans are fat cat monsters. Many working people are Republicans, though how much longer is debatable. Don’t forget the 48 million people who voted Republican in 2008 (I can’t forget – shudder) and not all of them were fat cats.
The party’s financial backers may be all you say, but something other than a drive for wealth is keeping the party numbers up.
Tell an opinion enough and pretty soon people believe it is the truth. give an example of what some people are doing, and after awhile of repeating it, you can say it applies to a whole group. ____ mentality, of some kind ask dr. e.
As usual the truth (and the moderate view) is somewhere between the Rands and the Krugmans. I think it’s very unlikely the majority of those on the right think taxes on working Americans are too low. I do think there’s a widespread view that if you don’t pay federal income taxes, you have no skin in the game when it comes to decisions regarding federal income taxes, and that colors your decision-making. To say the GOP in general has contempt for the working class is silly.
Shannon, your former boss was both a Republican and ..The second probably was more relevant than the first. Both you and slam are saying “I knew a guy”, then extrapolating that to describe a huge group.
I knew more than one guy….knew lots of them, all through church.
Well that was my personal experience. It dovetails quite well into several other less anecdotal opinions of the “Job Creators” about the “Job Holders”. For instance, the working conditions in this country that gave rise to unions. Not just the low pay and long hours, but the absolute disregard for the safety of workers. Check back to workplace fatality and injury stats at the beginning of the 20th century. It is really shocking how people can treat other people just to save a bit on expenses. Look at companies today that aren’t unionized, Wal-Mart probably being the best example. Look at what companies get away with in terms of pollution and tainted products without regulation to put limits on them.
The GOP is definitely on the side of those who wish to roll back just about everything that made for a safer, higher paid middle class. They will contemptuously point to the massive pay and benefits of anyone in a union, i.e. – those making median or slighty above income, and say that they are overpaid and breaking the economy, but when we mention raising taxes on those making over $200,000/year FOX news trots out experts to tell us how hard it is to live on $300,000 a year when you’ve got country club dues and $20k annual expenses in taking care of your labradoodle. Just this incredible lack of perspective from the GOP policy makers. If you are supporting a family of 5 on $50k/year you also fit into the category of 47%, but that’s not worth mentioning at a GOP rally is it?
Just want to clarify… The non-religious conservatives that I have been around were not that way.
The thing is, the “gaffe” was just so believable. After this long listening to Romney talk, I thought he was just incapable of sounding sincere or as if he were telling the truth or as if he had any convictions. He’s a very poor liar, and he’s spent the entire year sounding like a kid telling his parents that yes, of course I brushed my teeth. We saw another side of Romney in the 47% video. He was clear and passionate and sounded like he was telling the truth. No hmm-ing and haw-ing when talking about the half of the country that won’t take responsibility, who are moochers, who won’t care for their own lives, who are unreachable due to their deep committment to their own laziness and teet-suckling. No creepy renditions of America the Beautiful there — no.
Not all but many Repugs are of the mind that workers and resources are at the whim of the “job creators. But this craziness will kill the Republican party. Three Republicans were important to conservation and the environmental movement – Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Milliken and Dick Nixon, but these “Crunchy conservatives” have no place in today’s Teabagger Republic…
TO, I agree not all Republicans are “fat cats” or have contempt for the working class. Read the article, it doesn’t say “All Republicans” it is talking about the GOP’s leadership and it’s policies.
Rambie, I agree. It’s so easy to paint any group with a broad tar brush. Think of Dems are all socialist cradle to gravers, all Reps are interested in doing is making the rich richer, all Indies don’t have strong beliefs, all people on welfare and other programs are mooches, and from the past all Irishmen are drunks, Italians crooks and Jews out to screw you. Makes it easier to rally your voters if they don’t have to worry about nuances.
Rambie
I just reread the whole thing and can see no indication that “All Republicans” is not exactly what both the Author and Krugman’s quotes are stating. Pick out any sentence that shows otherwise and I’ll reconsider. They even lament that in the past it was different implying that now it is not so.
I don’t doubt that in an actual conversation some backpedaling about “All” Republicans would acknowledged, but when anyone makes sweeping statements without some discrimination, it needs to be addressed. There is entirely too little care for accuracy occurring and it leads to a deterioration of meaningful, and needed, criticism.
GOP leadership and the GOP platform and GOP financial backers might disdain workers; and if a case is to be made for that, it can be stated that way which would be clearer and, importantly, more accurate.
Agree with TO – the article doesn’t separate out rank and file from GOP leaders, and actually implies that while there used to be some Republicans who had worker’s best interests at heart, now there aren’t. Maybe we could re-title the article “Paul Krugman’s and my contempt for all Republicans”.
How many of the ‘working class’ feel they are underdogs? And, if they feel that way, underdogs to whom, or what? The inequalities and unfairness that market capitalism has helped create? Or the oppression and coercion that a strong federal government can help produce?
I think Owen Gray says it all in the title. People who are poor to middle class and are working their butts off in order to barely get by don’t seem to concern the GOP one bit. This isn’t at all hard to grasp and certainly doesn’t require any debate. There do seem to be a great many among the working classes who continue to ally themselves with the political right though, a condition that speaks to their mal-informed condition in my opinion.
If I was a democratic adviser, I would advise the party to keep talking about the “47%” non income tax paying leeches. There are many in said group that were planning to vote republican. And, I would be sure to remind government workers what Carl Rove said last week about how he expects they will be less likely to vote for Romney as well. Half of government workers alone voting for Obama added to the “47%” puts Obama over the top, without counting in private sector tax paying Obama supporters. There should be a few of them as well!