REVOLT OF THE REPUBLICAN GREAT "UNWASHED"

A large segment of the Republican "base" is the disaffected white wage earner (the so-called great unwashed in that they have only finished high school or maybe not even that) and another is the "Sit down and shut up!" crowd like Chris Christie that can be quite wealthy.  Exactly why the white working class is Republican, I have no idea because the party, well, hates them and thinks they are overpaid.  Even their hero, Donald Trump, has said at least a couple of times that the American worker's wages are too high compared to the rest of the world.  For some reason they forgive him for this although their wages have been essentially stagnant for 25 yrs. But every two to four years they stroke the wage earner's ego by telling them they are the "Real Americans" and the "Backbone Of The Country."

My guess as to why the white wage earners are disaffected from their natural ally, the Democratic Party, is that they feel the Democrats pay too much attention to women, African Americans, Hispanics, and homo sexuals who have taken many jobs from them.

The rreal problem is, however, two fold.  First there is the off-shoring of jobs and the second is automation.   There is also sort of third problem where jobs have been turned over to the consumer to do.  Some examples of this are "letting your fingers do the walking" on the telephone, pump your own gas,  auto-checkout outs at grocery stores and typing your own stuff (disappearance of clerk typists) among others.  To some extent these disappearing jobs are automated, but it is still the consumer that does any work required. Wages must be less then the costs of automation, and their wages will decrease until they approach some sort of equilibrium with low wage countries moderated by the costs of shipping, the price of natural gas, etc.*  Neither party seems to have an answer to this.

So I think that the disaffected white wage earner doesn't have a party anymore, although I suspect they would do better with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

But an interesting thing has happened in that the disaffected white wage earner now has sort of a champion who talks like they talk and the "Sit down and shut up" crowd likes it also.  These two groups are trying to take over the Republican Party.  Time will tell if they succeed, but for now the Republican "establishment" doesn't know what to do and I'm not sure the Democratic establishment does either.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/10/dumbing-down-of-america-if-you-listen.html

A RACE TO THE BOTTOM

What is happening in globalization and automation is that the richer societies are decreasing the wages of workers just as the poorer societies are increasing theirs.  Consider the pleas occasionally heard that the U.S. should do away with the minimum wage and this would produce more jobs.  Perhaps, but it would just add to and exacerbate the financial problems of the working poor in this country.  There is the attitude by some, nearly all if not all Republicans, who feel that the workers in this country are overpaid.  Thus the median income in the U.S. has not increased for 25 years whereas the incomes of the top 1% have soared.*  At some point maybe in the not too distant future, the wages of the American laborer will decline until it approaches those of the Chinese laborer.

One of the problems with the American laborer is that the white male laborer tends to vote Republican.  Why would they vote for a party that disdains them?  Surely they are not mislead every four years with flattering sayings such as they are the "Real Americans?"**  I think that the problem with the white male laborer is that they really do not have a party.  They feel the Democratic Party unfairly favors minorities, women and, now, homosexuals at their expense; yet it is the Democratic Party that is their only real hope.

A problem is the decline of unions in the U.S.  No individual laborer is strong enough to deal with companies.  In fact it is often the highest paid laborer or tech who is let go in a downturn, even if they are the best and most knowledgeable worker.  So the decline of unions, which are gatherings of laborers, has lead to a decline in the share of income by the middle class.***

* http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/inequality-is-a-choice/?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20131014
** There is the saying (originated in Australia, I guess) that no politician ever lost an election by underestimating the intelligence of the electorate.
*** http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/union-membership-middle-class-income_n_3948543.html