White Men Vote. Let's Act Like It.

A big-tent Democratic Party can't be this small.

by Keith Edwards

I remember talking to my dad once in the early 2010s. The term “white privilege” was moving from academic circles into the broader public’s lexicon, and he took issue with it. “I rent my house. I don’t have any savings. My parents were dead from alcoholism by the time I was 30. What kind of privilege is that?” I explained that, as a white person, he had certain societal advantages, even if they weren't immediately apparent to him. My dad’s question and my dismissive response encapsulate the Democratic Party’s relationship with white working class voters in recent years, especially male ones: condescending, tone-deaf, unhelpful. If Democrats want to start winning elections again, we need to talk to white men like we’re actually trying to earn their vote.

@spruce112358 said
A big-tent Democratic Party can't be this small.

by Keith Edwards

[quote]I remember talking to my dad once in the early 2010s. The term “white privilege” was moving from academic circles into the broader public’s lexicon, and he took issue with it. “I rent my house. I don’t have any savings. My parents were dead from alcoholism by the time I was 30. What kin ...[text shortened]... sage they want to hear... 😆

https://keithedwards.substack.com/p/stop-treating-white-men-like-the

@Earl-of-Trumps said
It never made sense to me that the democrats pay suit to the Black vote while insulting the White vote.

Then again, I'm not a democrat. Maybe they are on to something.

@spruce112358

My two daughters are Black (adopted). When they go shopping, they are routinely stopped by house detectives and commanded to open their rucksacks. There is a common presupposition that Black people are shoplifters. I have stood outside the shop doors observing this myself. If I see they have been stopped by a house detective and I walk into the shop, and one of the girls addresses me as Papa, the reaction is always the same: – – detective looks at me, White man, sheepishly backs away and apologizes to me (not to my daughters). A dozen White girls have meanwhile left the shop without being stopped and searched.This is White privilege in action.

My girls speak the local Swiss dialect flawlessly; one of them was once accosted on a city bus and told to 'go back where she came from.' She was sitting at the time with one of her native Swiss girl friends (a White girl), and my daughter holds a Swiss passport herself. If you hadn't looked at the two girls but only overheard them speaking together, you'd think my daughter was native Swiss.

I was born in TX but emigrated long ago to Europe. I speak High German fluently, with a northern (Hamburg) accent -- this would be equivalent to a typical American newscaster's accent and diction (think Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley, if you're old enough to remember them). No one where I have lived (Germany or Switzerland) ever told me to 'go back where I came from.'

It's all about skin color. This is White privilege in action.

But yes, insulting White men is not likely to appeal to them just before an election.

@moonbus said
@spruce112358

My two daughters are Black (adopted). When they go shopping, they are routinely stopped by house detectives and commanded to open their rucksacks. There is a common presupposition that Black people are shoplifters. I have stood outside the shop doors observing this myself. If I see they have been stopped by a house detective and I walk into the shop, and one ...[text shortened]... in action.

But yes, insulting White men is not likely to appeal to them just before an election.

@spruce112358 said
That reminds me of the time I ordered a Coke in Switzerland and the taste was off. I took several sips because I thought, "OK, different country. Maybe my perception is whacked." But no, it was just bad. So I tried to get a replacement and the waitress was like "But you drank from it." 😆

[Aside: And then later a pretty Swiss girl came up to me and asked if I wanted t ...[text shortened]... hearts and minds' problem? I don't know how to change people's minds (just look at these Forums.) 🙂

@spruce112358

I remember talking to my dad once in the early 2010s. The term “white privilege” was moving from academic circles into the broader public’s lexicon, and he took issue with it. “I rent my house. I don’t have any savings. My parents were dead from alcoholism by the time I was 30. What kind of privilege is that?” I explained that, as a white person, he had certain societal advantages, even if they weren't immediately apparent to him. My dad’s question and my dismissive response encapsulate the Democratic Party’s relationship with white working class voters in recent years, especially male ones: condescending, tone-deaf, unhelpful. If Democrats want to start winning elections again, we need to talk to white men like we’re actually trying to earn their vote.


What I notice about America, viewed from afar, is that there is chronic low-level desperation in the land. There was a recent mass shooting in which a teenager was given a weapon by his dad for birthday (or some occasion) and the kid ran amok with it, shooting up a school. 'Just another school shooting,' the media said, 'nothing to see here folks, move along.' But probe behind the superficiality of the no-longer-startling headline, and you find out that the father/husband had recently lost his job; out of a job, the landlord cancelled their rent contract; faced with the prospect of living on the street, the wife/mother deserted the family. The kid was simply acting out the desperation of the family situation, rage and frustration at the injustice of a system he never voted for. And here we read, daily, the ideological obstinacy of Mott and AvJoe who won't pay a red cent for benefits not earned ... and they wonder why there is so much violence? Regulating guns won't stop it; Americans won't regulate guns anyway. It's income inequality and lack of collective responsibility to ensure the common weal that's driving it. Sad, that's all I can say about it, very sad, that the richest nation in the world won't sort this out. It's not for lack of resources.

There's a clever meme on the Internet these days; "If a monkey hoarded all the bananas, more than he could possibly eat, while the other monkeys in the tribe went hungry, scientists would kidnap that monkey and run brain scans on it to find out what the heck was wrong with it. If a human does that, they plaster his face on the cover of Forbes magazine and call him a genius". That's America in a nutshell.

Want to earn the chronically-desperate ordinary working-class White man's vote? Make him less desperate. Take away the chronic fear that a man could lose everything, job, home, family, liberty, all in two weeks. It's not that difficult; lots of less well-off countries manage it.

@spruce112358 said
A big-tent Democratic Party can't be this small.

by Keith Edwards

[quote]I remember talking to my dad once in the early 2010s. The term “white privilege” was moving from academic circles into the broader public’s lexicon, and he took issue with it. “I rent my house. I don’t have any savings. My parents were dead from alcoholism by the time I was 30. What kin ...[text shortened]... sage they want to hear... 😆

https://keithedwards.substack.com/p/stop-treating-white-men-like-the

@moonbus said
@spruce112358

[b]I remember talking to my dad once in the early 2010s. The term “white privilege” was moving from academic circles into the broader public’s lexicon, and he took issue with it. “I rent my house. I don’t have any savings. My parents were dead from alcoholism by the time I was 30. What kind of privilege is that?” I explained that, as a white person, he had ce ...[text shortened]... mily, liberty, all in two weeks. It's not that difficult; lots of less well-off countries manage it.

@moonbus said
@spruce112358
Want to earn the chronically-desperate ordinary working-class White man's vote? Make him less desperate. Take away the chronic fear that a man could lose everything, job, home, family, liberty, all in two weeks. It's not that difficult; lots of less well-off countries manage it.

@no1marauder said
It sounds like Mr. Edwards told his father the truth.

What lies do you suggest that would help get people like his dad's vote?

@spruce112358 said
Idk, but I can tell you how to make him a life-long Republican. 😆

Let him take the civil service exam for a job at the post office, BUT add 30 points to the scores of female POCs. Then tell him he didn't make it.

Then if he complains, call him a racist and tell him he has white privilege.

Trump voter - right there. 😆

@no1marauder said
Except white males are told their "desperate" situation (nevermind they still out earn and have much greater wealth than POC) is all the fault of some minority group whom they should direct their hatred and bitterness at. And many, perhaps most, decide to believe it.

My son was in the US Air Force. At one point he was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. On Friday nights he and his friends would drive into town for some R&R. If the driver was black - they were stopped by the police every time. If the driver was white - they were never stopped.

No opinion here - this is just what happened. 2013 I think it was - between his deployments.

@no1marauder said
Thanks for that utterly worthless reply.

Pretty much every affirmative action program has been dismantled, has that helped the political fortunes of those who knew that such programs only partially offset the effects of societal prejudice and discrimination? Or that diverse groups of workers and students increase productivity and achievement?

If people chose to be ...[text shortened]... t, that's up to them - it isn't up to others to lie to them because the former don't like the truth.