08-02-2016, 04:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-02-2016, 04:53 PM by Eric the Green.)
(08-02-2016, 02:58 PM)JonLaw Wrote:(05-19-2016, 09:41 AM)Mikebert Wrote: That is, the Republicans would more or less become old-style Democrats, the party of Jackson, Jefferson and FDR. The Democrats would become old-style Republican/Whig/Federalist, the party of Lincoln, Hamilton and T. Roosevelt.
Note I don’t want this to happen, but it seems a lot easier since we are pretty close to that now.
The Republican party is transforming into the party of labor as we speak. You can pretty much watch it in real time as the Establishment Republicans keep talking about how they are leaving the party/voting for Clinton/in denial about economic reality.
It's fun to watch. You might as well enjoy watching it, since you can't unring the bell.
The Republican party is the more democratic party, hence Trump.
The Democratic party is more controlled by the political elites, which means that labor is not going to take it over. The salaried professionals who make up the Democratic party elite think labor is some sort of combination of sad/icky because they are paid by the hour to do non-awesome things.
The Republican Party remains controlled by the billionaire corporate upper 1%, which is whom they represent. Trump's policies only boost their power. Trump and his GOP congress would lower their taxes and regulations precipitously. Trump also wants more military spending, which will be great for the 1%'s military industrial complex. He wants to curb immigration and keep out refugees, which will hurt the economy and thus labor, of all ethnicities, not just Mexicans and Muslims. He will not carry out his policies on trade, because he will revert to his ways and use the system for his own benefit as he has always done. A hypocrite cannot be a champion of labor. No, Hillary is the one who will enforce fair trade, if we keep the pressure on her to do so. A Trump Supreme Court will keep the billionaires buying our elections, taking away our voting rights, ruining our climate and abusing labor.
Some Establishment Republicans are deserting Trump, but others support him even as they denounce what he says. "Political elites" are not the Establishment; they are whom the people elect. They are our representatives. To the extent that the Establishment can fool the people into voting against their interests, using slogans of freedom from big government and taxes, and racist dog-whistles, then the Establishment's Republican representatives get into office and represent the Establishment. It is up to the people not to be fooled again, and stop voting the Establishment's representatives, the Republicans and Trump, into office again and again as they have done for 36 years and counting.
Those "sad/icky" labor folks, like I once was, had better realize which party represents their interests. Every policy of the Democratic Party favors them, and every policy of the Republican hoodlums is against them. They had better support the Democratic Party's safety-net and retraining programs, and not fall for the dog whistles about welfare, immigrants and taxes, because otherwise they will have nothing, as the "non-awesome things" they do get more and more taken over by the Establishment's computers and by the new green energy companies.