Posted on Feb 4, 2016
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I saw this post on another site, and think it deserves more discussion rather than just being an angry rejection of blame politics.
Posted in these groups: Election 2016 button Election 2016Humanall RightsHuman rights logo Human Rights
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If being gay is what you are born with and not a choice, then being straight is what you were born with and not a choice. Nothing to apologize for.

Likewise, I had no say about being (mostly) white. I wasn't asked, and I don't owe an apology for being white any more than Wilt Chamberlain owes an apology for being 7 feet tall.

I do not think Islam is at fault for terrorism. But Muslims need to decide which side of civilization they are on. They cannot give tacit support to terrorists, and not be blamed for it. Women have rights, and so do gay people, neither of which is supported by Islam's leaders. If you want to live like a barbarian and support barbaric practices, you cannot complain if people call you a barbarian.

White privilege is way overrated. Mostly it means, "You are not allowed to complain while we take your money and give it to someone else." I think (hope) Liberals have overplayed the "white privilege" card in this election.

White privilege is certainly not present if you consider Willie Nelson and Al Sharpton. Willie owed $15 million in taxes and the IRS put him in jail and auctioned off everything he owned. (And that after 20 years of Farm Aid concerts to help the American farmer.) Al Sharpton owes $19 million, and is still a frequent guest in the White House.

I can understand why people vote for politicians who promise to give them something. I can even agree with having to pay more so someone can get basic medical care, a roof over their heads, and something to eat. That's called "compassion", and it's not really much like the antiseptic, sterile, handouts that Liberals use to win votes.

But these burdens have heavily hit the working class, which is mostly white, blue-collar, semi-skilled people who have a job and are trying hard to make ends meet. Obamacare doesn't affect white-collar workers, because they have high-demand skills that companies need, so companies have shouldered the burden of Obamacare and paid to keep their highly-educated, in-demand workers. (Of course, most of that additional cost is paid by consumers through higher prices for the products companies produce.)

It's those who are semi-skilled or unskilled who are hurt the most. Their pool is large and without highly-desired skills. They are easy to find and easy to replace. So naturally they get positions which offer less than 32 hours per week, and have to pay for their own healthcare. And these are also the people hurt by illegal immigration, which drives down the cost of unskilled and semi-skilled labor, as well as increasing unemployment.

It's one thing when the government takes your money and gives it to your neighbor. But the government now wants to give $100 billion per year to China, India, and other countries to "try to do something" about pollution. A recently passed bill asks us to pay to "electrify Africa." It's a worthy goal, but Africa is 5 times the size of the continental United States. It's a fantasy to think this cost is going to be borne by the "rich." The working poor will end up paying the most, especially as a percentage of their income, through higher taxes and higher costs for everything they purchase.

I think the working class are finally waking up to how they have been mistreated by Liberals. They have been paying an unfair share of the costs of big government, lost jobs, and been told they have "white privilege" to blame for their troubles.
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PO2 Mark Saffell
PO2 Mark Saffell
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Well said
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GySgt (Servicemember) Is there unfairness and racism still in our society? Yes. How does it explain Willie Nelson and Al Sharpton?

Black lives matter, but white rancher's lives don't ... at least as demonstrated by the current administration.

I am not and have never said there aren't problems. I'm just saying I think Liberals have overplayed their hand this time. I think the working class are tired of hearing Liberals saying they are going to tax the rich, but it's the working class who takes it in the shorts. I think the working class is tired of hearing "tax the rich" from millionaires who's salaries and new worth keep increasing.

Maybe I'm wrong and you are right. But what you are basically saying is that no one get's to complain until everyone's problem is solved to your satisfaction. We'll see what happens in November.
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SP5 Christine Conley "Working class" is a statistical grouping which basically means unskilled or semi-skilled working people. Generally they are not college educated. This includes carpenters, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, HVAC servicemen, roofers, janitors, food service workers, and so on. "Blue Collar workers", are the subset of the, "Working class", who are currently employed. The "working class" makes up about 40% of the electorate.

It is true that they have generally voted Democrat in the past. It is possible that will change. Why? Because the policies of the current administration and unions have supported amnesty for illegal immigrants. This drives down the wages for unskilled and semi-skilled labor as well as increases unemployment.

The majority of the "working class" are white, and many own guns. some surveys indicate they are tired of hearing about "White Privilege" when they aren't getting any. They are worried about terrorism and concerned that the government isn't interested in protecting them. They are concerned about health care, but Obamacare has been priced out of their reach. (Yes Obamacare insured about 16 million people who did not previously have insurance. It also kicked about 8 million people off policies they liked, and now either don't have insurance or are paying much more.) They are concerned about retirement, and it really doesn't matter who spent the money, because it will still be gone when they want to retire.

The "working class" has trust issues, with business and with the government. They blame businesses for cutting their hours so they can refuse to pay for their health care, but they also blame the government for pushing them into it. They are starting to recognize that popular Liberal policies, like the carbon tax, are likely to drive more jobs off US shores. And I think they are rightly suspicious of the Obama administration's willingness to pay money to China and India to try to do something about pollution, or the recently passed bill to "electrify Africa", and yet the administration isn't willing to spend money to make the US standard of living better. That was the big success of FDR's policies; that it created jobs here, not sent them to other countries.

Besides the economic battering that lower-skilled workers have taken in recent decades, the working class is increasingly disconnected from the institutions that lend meaning and hope to people's lives: marriage, the workforce, churches and other institutions of civil society. They believe that the long-standing American promise of a country where children are better off than their parents has been betrayed, and they sense that their time is past -- a sense reinforced by a pop culture that tends to consider them afterthoughts, or fitting subjects for mockery.

But I think the icing on the cake is the number of times we hear about needing to have a national discussion about race in this country. The working class outnumbers Blacks about 3 to 1, and yet no one ever says we need to have a national discussion about the class divides in this country. I don't know who they will vote for, but I think the days when the Democrats could count on, and therefore ignore them, are over.
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SFC William Swartz Jr
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It seems to be the case going back for the better part of the last 7+ years. As a nation we have become less tolerant of certain groups as the agendas of other get "pushed" and to be against those groups gets one labeled as racist, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Muslim etc, etc, ad nauseum..... where we once were a nation that was tolerant and inclusive of pretty much anyone and anything, we have IMO, moved backwards.....
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TSgt Kenneth Ellis
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I don't know. But I'm tired of the Obama and his minions in the media. Complaining about White Privilage.
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