Steve McGrath — I didn’t know that about PRRI polls, though I agree that the conclusions drawn by Nicholas Grossman from them seem — bizarre, to say the least. I think a lot of those conclusions are NeoLiberal Speak for “We need (Thank Mammon!) to ignore everything Bernie Sanders says about Economic Inequality, and Double Down on Divide and Rule by paying lip service to minorities..as long as it doesn’t cost anything!”
There’s a very MBA feeling to this entire article, a way to reduce matters to maintain the flow of money into the “right hands” (the Corporate Oligarch hands, that is). It tries to tell us that Bigots Will Always Be Bigots So Why Bother Trying — a position the DNC is perfectly happy to swallow!
What they don’t want anybody thinking about (to the point of being willing to keep losing elections rather than admitting it!) is that Bigots May Always Be Bigots, but their current economic policies do nothing but create Desperate Bigots, looking for somebody to blame for their problems. So by doubling down on lip service to minorities, they in fact marginalize them further — and give those looking for scapegoats really nice convenient targets, rather than, oh, politicians or CEOs.
I believe (as you might expect, given my support of Bernie Sanders) that the opposite is true as well — alleviate Economic Inequality with Decently-Paying, Secure Employment and a Social Safety Net worthy of the name for as close to everybody as society can manage, and those no-longer Desperate Bigots will (largely) limit their bigotry to telling offensive jokes to their minority coworkers and neighbors. Those coworkers and neighbors will also, no longer feeling Desperate themselves, deal with insults the way you deal with a friend or family member who’s annoyed you, rather than dealing with a Mortal Enemy.
It’s not a perfect solution, because there will always be fanatics on either side even in a completely equitable society (which is quite likely impossible to achieve in the first place!) — but with so many people benefiting from getting along in a functioning society, such extreme behaviors will seem more like an aberration than The Way Things Are. Also, the burdens will be shared more equitably among the majority of society, so you and your neighbors/coworkers will have the commonality of Some External Enemy to Despise — like Politicians and Corporate Oligarchs, say?
