Deacon923
Scooter Banks
I ran across these two pieces this morning. I thought they were both very insightful in describing the appeal of Trump and who his supporters are. Both pieces are focused on Trump, but I really think that most of the analysis is just as accurate if you apply it to Sanders. Both men are essentially appealing to the same group, the wage-earning class, and represent a challenge to the preferences of the salary class. Take a read and see what you think.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2016/01/donald-trump-and-politics-of-resentment.html
http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/1/31/wages-a-comeback?utm_content=buffer900b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
The essential insight is that if you look at American society and divide it into the investor class, salary class, wage class, and welfare class, the disruptions of the past 30 years have destroyed the wage class while basically leaving the other three classes more or less where they were. Trump (and IMO Sanders) represent the backlash of the wage class against the salary class. I would put a finder point on it and say Trump represents the backlash of the right-leaning members of the wage class against all three other classes. Many wage earners resent those they perceive as getting a free ride from the government, and vote against government assistance, even though the wage earners are the most likely to need that assistance during their lives. Sanders primarily represents the backlash of the left-leaning members of the wage class against the salary and investment classes.
*Please note: I am not a regular reader of "the Archdruid Report". I got to it from the Strong Towns piece. Don't really know anything about this John Michael Greer person, he probably is a kook in some ways but I thought this particular piece was worthy of posting.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2016/01/donald-trump-and-politics-of-resentment.html
http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/1/31/wages-a-comeback?utm_content=buffer900b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
The essential insight is that if you look at American society and divide it into the investor class, salary class, wage class, and welfare class, the disruptions of the past 30 years have destroyed the wage class while basically leaving the other three classes more or less where they were. Trump (and IMO Sanders) represent the backlash of the wage class against the salary class. I would put a finder point on it and say Trump represents the backlash of the right-leaning members of the wage class against all three other classes. Many wage earners resent those they perceive as getting a free ride from the government, and vote against government assistance, even though the wage earners are the most likely to need that assistance during their lives. Sanders primarily represents the backlash of the left-leaning members of the wage class against the salary and investment classes.
*Please note: I am not a regular reader of "the Archdruid Report". I got to it from the Strong Towns piece. Don't really know anything about this John Michael Greer person, he probably is a kook in some ways but I thought this particular piece was worthy of posting.