Democrats, Bringing Hope To America's Working Poor, If They Choose To

THE GREAT STATES of new Jersey and Virginia, having resoundingly elected democratic governors, have given democrats something upon which they might hang their fedoras. Fedoras, because Trump supporters have for the moment succeeded in coopting the traditional emblem of the working class, which used to support democrats, the great American ball cap, tragically tainting the iconic head gear with the sin of corporate party politics, elite governance, all in the name of something called "conservative populism", whatever that could possibly be. It is the democrats who more represent the interests of the working poor, by favoring policies of taxing the wealthy and raising minimum wage and protecting labor unions against destruction by corporations, and who therefore should properly don ball caps, and leave the suits, ties, and fedoras to the republicans, who dig ever deeper into the pockets of the wealthy. Demographics favor democrats. The fading baby boomer generation trends conservative, the up and coming millennials lean heavily to the left. Every few seconds a republicans ascends to heaven, or goes in the opposite direction, and every few seconds a millennial member comes of voting age. Furthermore, the democratic party is a melting pot of minorities, while the G.O.P. is lily white, and, as right wingers are so apt to switch into panic mode and point out; colored folks are increasing in number, pure white America is steadily sinking into minority-hood. America's future, according to sheer numbers, waxes democratic progressive. The tragic truth is that in America today, there is no representation for the working class. Labor unions represent only about seven percent of the workers, and the socialist and workers parties are but a pathetic drop in the great political ocean of American politics. The United States is the only industrialized country on earth which has no organized, major political party truly representing the interests of the working class, no socialist party, although both democrats and republicans, laughably, claim to fill this role. The mere fact that the poor greatly outnumber the wealthy in America, and that the republicans hold elective offices nationwide, is proof positive that there is no advocacy for the working or the poor in the United States. But there is a glimmer of hope. Bernie sanders gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money, but in the end her money, and the fact that she used it to purchase the controlling apparatus of the democratic party to exclude Sanders from any chance of seriously contending, offer more proof that socialism in America, the only true political philosophy of the working class, is nearly nonexistent in America. We have a conservative party in America, the democrats, and an ultra conservative party, the republicans, both of which serve the interests of the corporate wealthy elite. The people in general are largely without representation. In the past thirty years, both parties have moved markedly to the right. Things look good for the democrats in 2018 and 2020, as witnessed by results in New Jersey and Virginia. But if the democrats don't start moving in the direction of the Bernie Sanders wing, and away from the Clinton Obama wing, it will, as usual, make little or no difference which party prevails.