I am always surprised when Democrats don’t make “working class” more of a centerpiece in their campaigns.
It’s simple: you, Mr. Voter, work hard. You get up early. You go to your job. You give your best: your sweat, your effort. And for that, you get taken advantage of by the real elites: the banks, the corporations that get government grants and subsidies while you have to earn your pay, degree-mill universities that seduce students into taking on enormous debt while earning worthless degrees, the investor class, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, pay-day lenders, and so on.
Well, enough is enough. We’re going to stand up for the working man. We’re going to make sure you get your fair share: good pay, good benefits, and decent health care.
That’s your whole campaign. Forget the details: hammer this point home– we stand for the working class, for people who actually produce, for people who pay their own way. The real elites are getting government hand-outs at your expense. The rich are not paying their fair share of the tax burden. The government is wastefully spending your hard-eared tax collars on “incentives” to big business.
What other policies can we offer?
The environment? Well, obviously companies that profit by selling products that harm the environment should help pay the cost of cleaning it up.
Health care? Every single person should be insured, bar none. Medical care is not a disposable product that people can opt out of. Companies should be able to make a profit, but not be able to charge whatever they like for life-saving drugs, especially since most of these drugs were developed by government-funded researchers.
Pensions: what makes more sense than taking a portion of everyone’s income into a fund to pay for when they retire? And preventing politicians from using any of that money for any other purpose?
Democrats occasionally sound like this is what they want to do, but they rarely do anything as dramatic as the Republicans’ tax cuts for the rich for the working classes. Be bold. Be audacious. Do it.