The quiet quadrant: socially conservative and fiscally liberal (millionaires, solutions, insurance)
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Yeah, that's called "black people." Quiet? It seems that I hear about such people constantly. To be fair, that category does also still include a lot of the white Rust-Belt working-class. I know many such people, but I do suspect that much of the country doesn't know that they still exist. And that they still vote for Democrats.
A common way to divide up the American political battlefield is into quadrants with social and fiscal issues being the two axes.
Socially liberal and fiscally liberal: Democrat base
Socially liberal and fiscally conservative: libertarians
Socially conservative and fiscally conservative: Republican base
Socially conservative and fiscally liberal: ?
The Democrat and Republican bases are roughly offsetting, with the Democrats usually slightly more numerous. Libertarians, despite an outsized online presence and a voice in media through various publications, are numerically few.
Why is the fourth quadrant above so quiet?
Because they are working class. Working class people do not generally have their own publications nor do they contribute a lot of money to either political party. So despite being much more numerous than libertarians and maybe comparable in size to the two party bases, especially if counting those.who do not vote, they have little voice.
This is a good piece touching on some of these themes, from the perspective of a Democrat who laments his party's abandonment of the working class.
This is a huge trove of voters, but to reach them the Democrat base will need to moderate socially, and the Republican base will need to moderate economically.
That fourth quadrant is basically populists. Trump tapped into those voters by pretending to be socially conservative.
That's the executive Republican track record. Think of past administrations and how the deficit always increases under them. Take your pick. Then the Dems take over and once again make the deficit a priority.
There's a lot of fiscally liberal republicans. They're the ones who want to lower rates to zero to pump up the stonk and real estate markets, somehow thinking blowing up asset bubbles is healthy for the economy.
Indeed, the working-classes of the world, whether in the US or in Europe or in Asia, tend to be socially conservative (religious, pro-natalist, culturally traditional, nationalistic) by fiscally liberal. This is not unique to modern times, or to America.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avondalist
This is a good piece touching on some of these themes...
Good article. The "scaffles" were once the Richard Gebhardt wing of the Democratic Party, before the late-80s/early-90s move to Clintonian triangulation. Now they have been mostly absorbed by the MAGA wing of the Republican party.
An intriguing question, elicited (but not addressed) by the article: why are upper class whites becomes more and more liberal?
Quote:
Originally Posted by FatBob96
What's the point behind being socially Conservative and fiscally liberal?.
Today, that would basically be the position of the Catholic church.
Obamacare? That is their example of a socially conservative, fiscal liberal. WTH?
What is socially conservative about Obamacare?
Social conservatives want the least government interference necessary. Obamacare is a government takeover of private medicine. What is socially conservative about that.
As usual, there is no such thing as a social conservative/fiscal liberal. It is incongruent. If you don't believe in progressive social policies, why are you taxing yourself and what are you paying for?
Idiotic premise. Just idiotic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avondalist
Read the article. It's basically normies who want a higher minimum wage and better healthcare.
Liberals want a higher minimum wage. That is social liberalism, not social conservatism.
Government run health care is social liberalism, not social conservatism.
Last edited by Igor Blevin; 06-06-2023 at 08:41 PM..
A rather common thread to fiscal " liberalism " as it relates to working class people , that doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet , is opposition to free trade and other like policies which are associated with economic globalism .
In short working class people who exemplify this sort of stance , don't tend to be in favor of (f.ex ) extending even more unemployment benefits to layabouts , but are highly opposed to free trade deals/would support the state to do more in curbing the power of bankers and other assorted " money men " of the Bill Gates/Pierre Omidyar mold .
As for the issue of libertarianism , in my experience the fact that people of this political demographic do indeed favor more restrictive laws in relation to ( say ) LGBT rights , doesn't necessarily translate to them wanting the state to intervene in every facet of human life possible .
In fact many ( if not most ) of the socially conservative working class individuals I've ever encountered have tended to be very resentful towards " peaked hats " sitting in offices dictating how high they can build their fences and things of that nature , though of course I suppose that " folkish " libertarianism of this sort might be more of a rural as opposed to urban working class political characteristic .
Last edited by William Blakeley; 06-07-2023 at 05:40 AM..
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