My work with Democrats started in high school, when I was an alternate-delegate for Hillary Clinton. Later, I interned on Barack Obama’s campaign. Most recently, I volunteered at last month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Initially, I was thrilled to attend this rite of passage for every political operative. But once there, wandering amidst the glitz and glam, imbibing the gloss and schmaltz of it all, I couldn’t escape a sinking feeling. I felt submersed in a hollow chamber whose mottos were “Brat summer” and “Joy”—totally out of touch with regular, every-day Americans and their pressing needs; instead, the most elite people in the world chanted in unison that “We’re not going back!”
Many of my family members are proud construction workers and lifelong union members. I grew up believing that the Democrats were our party. Fast forward to today, and many of those same family members are no longer Democrats. They feel the party has changed, left them behind.
At the DNC, I couldn’t help but think about my family. Every time the elites chanted “We’re not going back,” what I heard was, “We’re not going back to the party your union family members used to vote for.”
At first, I naively thought the system was broken. But now I realize, it isn’t broken; it’s doing what it was designed to do, which is to keep working class people from true representation. That is the point, a feature, not a bug.
My family floated between working poor and middle class. My parents were divorced, and neither has a college degree. As is the case with many American families far from the Acela corridor, my mom’s yearly income determined if I would live in a house, apartment, or mobile home, if I would attend decent schools or the worst in town.
My family background is messy. But there was one constant: Many of my family members are proud construction workers and lifelong union members.
This woman’s story is a lot like my own. My dad was a construction worker and a proud union member. Neither of my parents went to college. (My dad didn’t even finish high school.) Work came and went, and there were times we lived in a house, times we lived in an apartment, and times we lived in a trailer. I changed school eight times.
And I’ve seen the way the Democrats lost people like my father (who became a Fox News-watching Trump fan).
A lot of it isn’t even about any specific policy. It’s a persistent feeling that the Democrats aren’t speaking to us. That they don’t care about us. That they look down on us. We don’t factor into their messaging anymore, and on a personal level, they think we’re dumb hicks.
But it’s not a new thing. I’m 20 years older than her, and I went through the same disillusionment she did.
I hope she joined her local Communist party.
No, she is going on Fox News and doing the “both sides” argument while only really criticising Democrats.
