Karni writes about many of the working-class candidates whose names I recognize, because I've written about them too, like Dan Osborn, industrial mechanic at the Kellogg’s plant in Omaha, or Graham Platner, an oysterman from the tiny town of Sullivan, Maine, or Nathan Sage, a car mechanic who was raised in a trailer park in Mason City, Iowa. These guys are attracting attention as mold-breakers and their blunt speech has energy and sting. Some of them are raising impressive money, like Graham Platner, running for Susan Collins' Senate seat. Yet the Democratic establishment has refused to endorse any of them, which is frankly infuriating. Sen. Chuck Schumer's machine in the Senate wants "safer" candidates (like a 77-year-old former governor in Maine rather than Graham Platner). (And granted, Dan Osborn is running as an Independent in Nebraska, which makes him forbidden fruit to the Party establishment. That shying away from Independents is also a policy that needs to change in certain circumstances, especially when and where Democrats don't have a viable candidate of their own and aren't likely to find one.)
Reporter Karni understands the numbers: "The halls of Congress are still, by and large, populated by career politicians, lawyers and wealthy businessmen. About 78 percent of senators currently serving in office hold an advanced degree, according to Congressional Quarterly. More than 30 percent of House members and 47 percent of senators hold a law degree."
So make no mistake. It's a class issue, which Bernie Sanders has been warning us about:
“The Democratic leadership [Mr. Schumer, call your office] has got to make a choice whether they stand with their billionaire friends and corporate backers or whether they stand with the working class. The leadership much prefers the comfort of wealthy people rather than working-class people and grass-roots organizing. That’s a profound mistake.”
Meanwhile, the candidates profiled by Karni understand struggle, which makes them potent if not outright revolutionary for saving the Democrats: “We work nonstop every day, over and over, and it seems like all we do is survive, right?” Nathan Sage told voters at a recent event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. With Sage's "right," he punctuated his connection to his audience's reality, and the crowd roared their fellow-feeling. They had found a champion. What differentiates a Nathan Sage from MAGA is that progressive labor doesn't want to burn it down. It wants to reform and build it stronger to uphold the social contract.
2 comments:
regardless of lawyers, yours was an excellent summary and closing sir!
Larissa Adler Lomnitz (1932-2019) born in France, but teaching and researching in Chile and Mexico, shared her perspectives on class and political leadership with myself and other anthropology students in 1983. Her evidence and insights were formative for me. The core of her work showed how working class leaders/candidates are routinely financially co-opted or destroyed by right wing elites. It's a routine scenario
that has become universal globally under US Empire and class war. So how can we visualize candidacy from below? Especially when our politics has become so dominated by fundraising and concentrated legacy media dominance?
A Chamber of Commerce type will often ask activists why if they are dissatisfied with policies they do not run for office themselves, then giggle.
They know perfectly well that to secure funding one must sell-out. And they are also part of the local de-railing process that smears and attacks the "unvetted."
It perturbs me when pundits suggest that any capable person can run for office. It's expensive and can be dangerous.
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