Originally Posted by
Bill Fishlore
The OP article has a point about the changes in the traditional base of the Democratic Party (will conservatives ever learn how to spell the name of their hated nemesis?) but the transformation of our two-party politics is more comprehensive than that.
True, the switch of white working-class men from R to D has been significant with the decline of labor unions playing an important part; but just as dramatic has been the switch of upper-middle class workers (advanced degrees) and so-called knowledge workers from their traditional Republican alliance to the Democrats. The GOP has lost the middle class as the Democrats have lost the working class. This switch applies to white men only. When non-whites and women are added to the mix, the balance of voters swings Democratic.
The reality is that our two major parties are at least as much marketing brands as philosophical schools. As such, they are rather like kids on a see-saw. Whatever happens to one produces a corresponding effect on the other. The GOP has become the party of angry white men. The Dems have become the part of non-whites and, to a lesser degree, of women.
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