By Teka Lark (November 10, 2016)
The march downward did not begin with Trump. It began with the neoliberals forgetting about the people and their roots.
The Democrats abandoned Asian-American, African-Americans, Latinos and the white working classes and instead focused on just the most privileged of the left. They had no message. The only message they had was vote for us, because Trump is scary. They didn’t think the public was worth a message.
The neoliberals still don’t think the rest of us are worth a message. They still think the only bargaining chip the working class has is their lives.
No, the working class does not just have their lives as a bargaining chip they also have the rest of the US lives as a bargaining chip.
The most economically oppressed in this country have already died. Their dreams have died. Their dreams died with NAFTA. Their dreams died with the War Against Drugs. Their dreams died when all the factories shut down. Their dreams died when Citibank repossed their homes. Their dreams died when four year public colleges went from free to $20,000 a year.
Upper middle class fears are already reality for the working classes of the US. The rest of the US are already doing kickstarters for dental work and living in their cars.
The US many fear that I have seen described in social media feeds is here for many people and they have nothing left to fear.
We must discuss class.
Across racial lines the upper middle class thought they knew best. They thought they could dictate the message. They lined up behind a neoliberal message. They lined up to be the tools of corporate capitalism. They lined up behind gentrification. They lined up behind socially liberal, but fiscally conservative policies. They lined up behind “progress.”
So is this the process the neoliberals were hoping for?