Class Warfare? It's Nothing Personal, just Politics

Perilous Querulous brought up an interesting discussion about unemployment.

The argument from the political right presupposes that unemployed people are economic robots that say to themselves (robotically): "I sit on couch...not look for work...money get mailed to me from government for sitting on couch...must continue to sit on couch...earn more free government money." The depressingly unimaginative Republicans seem unable to fathom that a large incentive to work in the lower socioeconomic ranks is the very sense of being a productive, contributing member of society; spending time, effort, and maybe even drawing on personal creativity to make something valuable, or perform some valuable service.

It's not that the Right doesn't consider these things, they just don't care. Understanding that the GOPs mission is not to serve the public's interest, but instead to win elections. Therefore, it would seem foolish to be out of touch with how this please politically, since it would be so easy to for Democrats to turn things around and say, "Look, under the Republicans, our nation went from running huge surpluses under Clinton to than-historical deficits under Bush, who also allowed our economy to crash. Not only did they readily allow your jobs to get shipped overseas, but now they're saying that if you're out of work because of a recession or outsourcing, tough luck because you're lazy, apathetic, and not worthy of a social safety net. Are these people really representing you or are they just pawns of big business?" Well, that argument would be too bold and obvious for most of the spineless democrats.

If cutting unemployment is to be seen as a political winner, than it seems like it must just be a derivative of the southern strategy, but more broadly defined as a war against the poor. They clearly alienate those on the bottom with their rhetoric and bashing of those who are out of jobs, hoping that this will rally their richer or more agriculturally-dependent constituents. When a large portion of the people you represent are retired, rich, or from farm states, attacking creates a blame game that pits both sides against one another. It becomes almost a rallying cry that the other is just too apathetic and not industrious enough, and that they don't deserve to have government money to put food on the table, to pay their rent, or to take their kids to school. To vilify the unemployed, who the Dems are standing up for, taints perceptions and creates this us v.s. them dynamic. When combined with violent rhetoric and the superfluous name-calling, its no surprise that not only is the country polarizing, but a level of disdain and hatred for the other side which squelches the opportunity for open discourse, which is one of the key ingredients to a successful democratic state.