Just Another Thought

As I watch the pander fest that arose from Sen. Obama's remarks (see below) I cannot help but think he stepped into a little known land mine of the progressive movement: romanticizing the working class. As progressives, we feel a special kinship to working class America first because it is the largest yet least represented group in the country, and the short end of the stick they have recieved is easily observed. Second, because the working class has been the engine of many progressive changes and they are a natural constituency for any vision of social justice.

But we have to take off the rose colored glasses. Travel through America's ghettos, defunct mill towns, and small rural burgs and you will see a lot of attractive things, a diverse lot of beliefs and lifestyles, and some of the unattractive things that often (though not always) attach themselves to hopelessness and poverty -- things like bigotry, religious fundamentalism, self destructive behavior, illegitimacy, anti intellectualism, and a lot of misspent frustration. It will be a mark of maturity in the progresive movement when we can dignify America's working class as a constituency without simply turning a blind eye to its problems or worse -- assuming the truth of the redneck stereotype.