MUST READ by David Cole on Trump’s abortion fumble, but a lot more:
…buried so deep that apparently none of Gilens’ leftist fawners ever found it (in covering Gilens’ work, liberal journos not only buried the lede, they sealed it in a sarcophagus). According to Gilens’ research, those dastardly oligarchs, those enemies of the 99%, are overwhelmingly liberal on issues such as abortion, gay rights, race, and immigration. In fact, the affluent are far more “progressive” than the great unwashed whose voices they’ve muted and whose influence they’ve suppressed. Gilens found that the superrich in general oppose any policies based upon “traditional morality” (Gilens uses school prayer as an example of an issue in which the oligarchs find themselves severely at odds with the poor).
Gilens’ conclusion is that if the poor were actually allowed a voice in national politics, it would very likely spell defeat for liberals on their favorite social issues… (…)
The simple truth is, Democrats can drone on and on all they want about giving “the poor” a voice in national politics, but, as Gilens points out, “more equal representation” of the poor will inevitably lead to more support for restrictions on abortion rights, a rollback in accommodations for gay and trans people, calls to restrict illegal immigration, and the return of “traditional morality” as a thing that actually matters in public policy. And leftists will never stand for that. They’d much rather have their aborted fetuses and unisex bathrooms and smug, contemptuous atheism than “economic equality.”
Living in L.A., I know quite a few leftists who are poor. Dirt-poor. As in, no-money-for-weed-or-ramen poor. Yet they’d never make common cause with a pro-lifer or a “homophobe” or a “racist,” even if it would benefit them economically. They’d rather starve. They’d rather their kids starve. If Gilens is right regarding how the affluent have played this one, all I can say is, good show. Well done. The left is now squarely on the side of the 1%. The demands for “economic reform” (juvenile and inchoate as they were) expressed during the Occupy demonstrations have given way to the inflexible, angry racial myopia of Black Lives Matter.
There’s a lot more.
Add to that Charles Murray’s findings that the Elites (to use my phraseology, not his) “preach” Left but “live” Right.
