2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I fear Democrats are laying the groundwork for future losses by refusing to learn from defeat [View all]Adrahil
(13,340 posts)Guess what, those rust belt jobs AREN'T coming back. Neither are coal mining jobs.
I keep hearing this hand-wringing from those who think we did not properly engage working class anxiety, but here's the truth:
They WANT to be lied to. Or more accurately, they want to believe the lies. They want to believe that the world they think was so great (it's always some hazy past a generation or so ago) can come back if we just change a couple policies. But the real truth is that that world is gone. And that includes the fact that the assumed superior access of white people (white heterosexual men, specifically) to good paying working class jobs is slipping away. They want their position in society guaranteed by systemic racism.
I am not willing to play that game. I would rather lose than compete to be the biggest liar to the white working class.