Editor, Times-Union: Is a working-class person voting Republican like “a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders?”
However, the key question is: “Why do working-class people so frequently vote against their own economic self-interest?” Why do poor people and the working middle class vote for Republicans who are obviously anti-worker and anti-labor and who are clearly bought and paid for by big corporations and their lobbyists?
Is it partly because they vote on supposedly ethical or moral issues and not on the basis of sound practical economic issues that affects them personally? Is it because they are told such things like the Democratic Party is a godless party, or is it because the Democratic Party is made up of a large number of African-Americans, and working class whites just won’t vote that way?
Working class people need to start voting for their own economic self interest, and not on the basis of moral and ethical issues.
In this country there is a national attack on working Americans by corporate elites. Consequently, the working class needs to wake up, get educated, get involved, and start voting on the principle of their own basic economic concerns, and leave their ethical or moral issues be sorted out in other places besides American politics, or they will be like as the saying goes: “a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.”
I respect others’ religious views; I respect others’ cultural views and there are an awful lot of people in this country who agree with you. But that is not going to help you very much in terms of keeping your job – or making sure your sons and daughters have a reliable job. As a society we need to work on a separate set of issues that are about politics and economics and let issues of morality to be sorted out in other places besides American politics.
If you don’t, you may elect people who supposedly agree with you on culture war issues, or issues of morality, but they are not going to agree with you in terms of the quality of your life or your work. Why? Because as I said before: The Republicans are anti-worker and anti-labor and are clearly bought and paid for by big corporations and their lobbyists.
A working-class person voting Republican is like “a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.” In the end you will be running for your life.
