If Republican immigration completes the transformation of the Dems into a Blue Dog party–socially liberal, economically neoliberal–can a socially liberal, economically New Deal Left attract enough voters to be competitive? Or might we have better luck abstracting working class Dems from the Blue Dog version, articularly service workers and Millennials? A DNC party with emphasis on Blue Dog economics will be Pay-GO and Deficit Hawkery. Austerity at best, if no recession crops up. And a continuation of Bankster and Corporate Impunity that enrages the proles.
The crux, per Konczal:
“Yet any sufficiently important left project going forward is going to involve at least four things: a more redistributive state, a more aggressive state intervention in the economy, a weakening of the centrality of waged labor, and a broadening, service-based form of worker activism. These four points, essential as they are, will likely further drive Trump’s white working-class supporters away from the left, rather than unite them.” (https:/medium.com@rortybomb/would-progressive-economics-win-over-trumps-white-working-class-voter
s-43f78cc7f005#.qtuj3124z)
Dani Rodrik is more hopeful:
But there is a complementary perspective in politics that says political competition is as much about shaping those interests. The politics of ideas is about activating identities that may otherwise remain silent, altering perceptions about how the world works, and enlarging the space of what is politically feasible.
If left-liberals take for granted that the white middle class is essentially racist, hate the federal government, oppose progressive taxation, don’t think big banks and dark money are a problem … and so on, then indeed many of the remedies that progressives have to offer will fail to resonate and there is little that can be done. But why should we assume that these are the givens of political life?
A large literature in social psychology and political economy suggests that identities are malleable as are voters’ perceptions of how the world works and therefore which policies serve their interests. A large part of the right’s success derives from their having convinced lower and middle class voters that the government is corrupt and inept. Can’t progressives alter that perception? (http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2016/10/its-a-war-of-ideas-not-of-interests.html)
(Well, I would say there is a chance of making govt LESS corrupt and inept if the eye is on solving the problem and NOT creating new rents for donors through privitization schemes.)
Both of these papers are quite interesting and challenge pre-judgements. I recommend. And don’t skip the comments.
