Thomas Frank: What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- It is a widespread belief among liberals that if only Democrats can continue to dominate national elections, if only those awful Republicans are beaten into submission, the country will be on the right course.
But this is to fundamentally misunderstand the modern Democratic Party. Drawing on years of research and first-hand reporting, Thomas Frank points out that the Democrats have done little to advance traditional liberal goals: expanding opportunity, fighting for social justice, and ensuring that workers get a fair deal. Indeed, they have scarcely dented the free-market consensus at all. This is not for lack of opportunity: Democrats have occupied the White House for sixteen of the last twenty-four years, and yet the decline of the middle class has only accelerated. Wall Street gets its bailouts, wages keep falling, and the free-trade deals keep coming.
With his trademark sardonic wit and lacerating logic, Frank lays bare the essence of the Democratic Party's philosophy and how it has changed over the years. A form of corporate and cultural elitism has largely eclipsed the party's old working-class commitment, he finds. For certain favored groups, this has meant prosperity. But for the nation as a whole, it is a one-way ticket into the abyss of inequality. In this critical election year, Frank recalls the Democrats to their historic goals-the only way to reverse the ever-deepening rift between the rich and the poor in America.
Thomas Frank is the author of "Pity the Billionaire", "The Wrecking Crew", "What's the Matter with Kansas?", and "One Market Under God". A former opinion columnist for "The Wall Street Journal", Frank is the founding editor of "The Baffler" and a monthly columnist for "Harper's". His new book is- “Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?”
Recorded 3/31/16 Thanks to Elliott Bay Books
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"Meritocracy is the polar opposite of solidarity" So true.
Thomas Frank has a wonderful way of telling us how horrible a President Bill Clinton was. Even though I lived through his presidency, and voted for him for his first term, I never realized how horrible Clinton was until TF put it all together.
For all his criticism of the Democratic Party - Thomas Frank refuses to abandon it.
party loyalists always trigger my b.s. detector.
they're even less principled than centrists.
The alternative is the anti-democracy COP.
Thank you for uploading this!
I from Kansas...In my junior year of college at Newman University I got to see firsthand just how ideologically driven the "conservatives" in Kansas can be....
David Slater
Kansas,,(if you'll pardon the irony) the birthplace of abortion, is for "the People?"
It's taken off in the black community... Numbers dropping in their community, and with mass immigration, jobs going to the "undocumented" over African Americans. Yep, you've done a great job for the downtrodden.
This is a conservative issue?
Um, no.
Reading the Glass-Steagall act, thanks Thomas Frank for writing and recommending stuff!
My life trajectory went from lowerish middle class to now "entry level poor" class.
I've many times thought all society's OUGHT to have an economic party:
Poor/Entry Level Wages Party.
The Poor need their own party.
As a member of the Poor, that's my conclusion.
.
+Chuck Beatty .....or Society's Lowest Wages Party
That grouping will always exist. Is that group happy with their wages, yes or no?
We as the human race decide how we divide up the money so that the lowest wages class of society can exist happily.
Period.
I appreciate the video! I just got his book to read because I heard him speak on Real Time.
Verrrrrry well said
I wish he'd said more of this to that sanctimonious jerk Rob Reiner on Bill Maher's show.
This has no comments in years yet it is more relevant than ever. Useful Idiots brought me here.
#BernieWouldHaveWon
I was hopeful when this video was put up two years ago, look how far we have descended down the toilet
How the party of Frasier's Dad became the party of Frasier
Ivan olivas well put sir
Thank you!
What do you do about inequality? What's answer? Civil society. Organized labor. Regulate banks. Anti-trust laws.
Gerald Ott
Worker Co-ops and break up the boards of directors!
Malek Ubuntu
LOL that bytes !
The answer is class war.
A year has passed and I think we know now why Elizabeth Warren didn't run for president.
"Defending the middle class way of life." But Tom, how can you do that when today's Democratic Party HATES the middle class way of life?
I wouldn't want to lick that stamp!
Luckily the guy at 50:13 clarified that he missed part of the talk, because wow, he missed the whole point of what Frank was saying. Basically "can't we all just blame republicans for how fucked we are and be done?" And Frank, showing infinite patience, comes back with a succinct "No."
That guys is the personification of the New Democratic Party.
It’s not ‘OK’
Shake it ‘til it stops or leave
Hire a Babysitter or stay home like a considerate civilized person
double thx
Conflict between working-class people and professionals on global warming?
I wonder what his French friend thinks of America now? We always outdo ourselves.
Who done brought dat baby?
Possibly the coming of a living wage handed to every citizen from age 18 and on will be the answer. All this would be tied to inflation, true inflation.
I remember reading 'Sweeden'? some 'S' European nation proposed this in a referendum but it we defeated as people feared that others would flood in to their nation from Europe for the 'free loot'.
But that is what is coming. Taxes on the Uber wealthy, and the very wealthy need to raise back up to 93+% as under Roosevelt. No loop holes; all assets, at home and out of country. Those who find nefarious means to thwart the tax go to jail, their corporations and loot taken by default.
The USA also has to have its own national bank as does Canada and other nations around the world. Otherwise it is neutered i changing such structures.
Paul Hellyer (just ignore his alien ideas) outlines this in full.
Namaste and care,
mhikl
Loved it, very wise - and a very good account of the last 30 years of politics - and very open-minded, too... certainly explains the 'Rise Of The Universities', with the whole 'College for Everyone' push, with the requirement (yep) for high schools to send certain percentages of kids to college - College is Big Business, now - so crazy... that's why I love Andrew Yang @AndrewYang He is the only one with a real plan to lift everyone up, not just the very well educated... but they're struggling, too, let's be honest...
I was very glad that Andrew Yang brought that up in the debate. AI is going to eliminate half the jobs and it apparently is on none of the others' radar. However, silicon valley's solution is the Universal Basic Income. They know they are going to cause social chaos and they are worried about the implications. However, many countries already have a UBI. I was talking to a guy from France a while back and he said it doesn't really make any difference. Housing and other living costs go up and if the UBI doesn't go with it, it makes no difference in the long run. It's a diversion. The real question you need to be asking is, if tech eliminates all the jobs, who's getting all the money? AI is only going to make already catastrophic wealth disparity massively worse. Billionaires already rule us. We need to be taking that money back. That's why I think Bernie is they only one worth supporting. He's pinpointing the real problem and has a mass movement behind him. That's what it's going to take. For an extremely detailed run down on AI, check out Kai-Fu Lee's talk on here: "Kai-Fu Lee: The Era of AI". When I got permission to tape this one, I had no idea it was going to be that good. He is an AI venture capitalist. But his talk is not ideological. He's just laying it out. Everyone needs to have this information. ua-cam.com/video/melWwe9E-K8/v-deo.html
I'm I mistaking or during those presidential debates, Ross Perot was the only one against nafta, and was ridiculed for it?
50:15 - This is a represenation of why 'Woke' is not the asnwer, to our problems, as Left-wing populists/Progressives, my friend.
Well, I've never been able to figure out what the right wing propaganda meme "woke" actually means. I think it really means "Stay in your comfy little hypnotic trance. Don't you dare wake up: There never was a time when America was all that great." Waking up is essential to ever have a prayer of figuring out what's really going on. But if you're trying to say that focusing on identity politics is a distraction. I think you're right. Race has always been used to divide and rule in the US. It's meant to distract you from the neoliberal class war that the elites who own both parties are waging on us as the money is filtered to the top. It's like the girl who bumps into you while her partner picks your pocket.
Got one small thing wrong and I was with him, Hillary did not beat Trump. For all of the reasons he listed.
agreed, except for those 3 million votes, of course.
Martin Collmer I am from PA I am not surprised the rust belt did not vote for the queen of the DLC, and wife of NAFTA boy.
21:29 - 25:57, where the Democratic party decided to attach itself to what they subjectively call "the winners," is precisely why the party is now viewed as a tone deaf, latte-sipping, urban coastal bourgeoisie that has so much time on their hands with their first world problems that they will vote entirely based on whether the military will allow trans members (AND pay for their sex change operations!) while ignoring the nationwide destruction caused by their party's disastrous corporatist, warmongering, neoliberal economic and foreign policy.
I love Fascism!