Liberal Democrats Have Abandoned the Blue-Collar Cohort

Upon visiting Atlantic City, I can’t help but equate what happened to the Democrat Party with what politicians have done to the former New Jersey gambling destination. Atlantic City was once a thriving tourist attraction with beautiful vacation homes, white sandy beaches, and a boardwalk with lots of shops and cafes. The city of about 40,000 residents is the home of the Miss America Pageant, salt water taffy, and inspired the Monopoly board game.

I’m not a sociologist, but the comparisons to the impending Democrat 2020 demise have similarities to how corrupt politicians ruined Atlantic City. Incompetence and unspeakable arrogance ran both enterprises — the city and the party — into the ground. This was accompanied by an uncanny ability for denial, even when the evidence and facts smacked them over the head. Plus, a refusal to change course even when suicidal and destructive not to do so.

During the 2016 presidential campaign season, candidate Donald Trump, who previously owned three casinos there, described Atlantic City as a disaster and that he managed to get out just at the right time.

The Democrats’ Reverse Midas Touch

While Las Vegas was built in a desert, Atlantic City enjoyed the advantage of being built on the Jersey shore between the New York City and Philadelphia population centers. Once the vacation destination for those who lived primarily on the East Coast, politicians managed to turn this seaside town into an eyesore with rampant unemployment, drug addiction, and crime.

As a majority party from 1933 to 1970, the Democrats enjoyed systemic advantages. However, starting in the late sixties, the Democrats began alienating union members and working-class males as the party adopted liberation theology and identity politics.

Even though identity politics, big government, and high taxes have generally been a failing strategy, Democrats refuse to change course or even moderate their policies.

Instead, they’ve doubled down with even more radical, socialist politicians mouthing anti-American rhetoric who are intent on more government intrusion. During the sixties, the romanticized Black Panthers and Students For Democratic Society (SDS) who drove working-class voters away from the Democrats. Flash forward: Newly elected, far-left Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, among others, may drive the remaining Christian, Jewish and blue-collar voters from the Democrat Party. If this trend holds, the Republican Party may become the permanent the home of labor, true civil rights for all, and responsible social change.

Even though identity politics, big government, and high taxes have generally been a failing strategy for Democrats, they refuse to change course or even moderate their policies.

Like Today’s Democrats, Atlantic City Was an Epic Fail

There were many reasons for Atlantic City’s failure. The primary reason was that the establishment forgot who came to their casinos. The casinos believed they were the only show in town and refused to change until it was too late. Democrats have also taken loyal constituents for granted. Whenever they abandon economic matters for issues such as late-term abortion, gender fluidity, and climate change, they lose spectacularly.

Presidents such as Carter, Clinton, and Obama won the presidency because they appealed to blue-collar constituents. They did so rather than championing esoteric issues about which only a small elite in Manhattan or Malibu are passionate. The average mechanic or plumber cares nothing about what actress Alyssa Milano thinks. She can keep her opinions about global warming, the Mueller investigation, or illegal immigration. Sames goes for other pronouncements from an assortment of pampered Hollywood liberals.

While the Democrat elites want the peoples’ vote, they don’t like our independence. Politics is about building coalitions. Do Democrats think that Adam Schiff, Beto O’Rourke, Ocasio-Cortez, or others in their Trump-hating group expand the tent? Or narrow it to a small group of extremists sharing the same ideological purity? If Democrats think they will win elections with Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris as the face of the party, good luck. My money and time will never be wasted supporting them.

While I don’t agree with him on everything, I don’t dispute that President Trump appeals to the everyday, salt-of-the-earth working stiff. Those people who continue to build America. The president strives to revitalize America while no longer sending our foreign-aid tax dollars to hostile nations while the US lacks the resources to rebuild our own country.

The Left Driven Mad by MAGA

In contrast, the Left has devolved in sheer madness, often described as Trump Derangement Syndrome. There are some Leftist that actually believe that waving the American flag or wearing a “Making America Great Again” hat is a form of racism. Instead, MAGA means focusing on our own affairs, to expand our country’s prosperity and security, rather than globalism. Each time we spend a dollar in the Middle East, we subtract a dollar from our infrastructure. America is lagging behind in education, science, and particularly the quality of the infrastructure, such as our dilapidated bridges. It’s time for other nations to become self-reliant and allow us to rebuild our own country.

Lesson learned from advocating for the homeless: You can be Utopian and idealistic, but sooner or later you need to be coherent and organized. You must build organizations and institutions to challenge the status quo. You can’t solve the homeless problem without the ability to mobilize. We must campaign against those who want to keep things the way they are.

Democrats are delusional if they think their stable of activist groups are as powerful as the Teamsters and AFL-CIO. Do Democrats believe the Green New Deal appeals to truck drivers, mechanics, and longshoreman? Ask losing presidential candidates George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis. Did running on raising taxes, wealth redistribution, and government overreach appeal to the hunter in Pennsylvania? Did it appeal to the construction worker in Staten Island, or the auto worker in Michigan?

Democrats Divide, But They Won’t Conquer

Lifelong Democrats abandoned Barack Obama and formed Democrats for Trump. This happened when the Obama administration and presumed successor Hillary Clinton began alienating the American worker for the politically correct. This is more social justice nonsense that creates zero jobs and doesn’t grow the economy. These wedge issues were designed to divide and polarize the electorate.

In short, Democrats abandoned the formula that made them successful. All politics are local, as the saying goes. A good paying job in your area is the only social program that has proven successful over time.

Like the vast majority of voters, I want to keep what I make. If there’s a problem in my community, let my community solve it. If they can’t afford to live there, move. This is America. My hard-earned money distributed to who those refusing to seize the opportunities in America doesn’t interest me. I am not interested in an arrogant elite who presume to know what’s best for me. It’s my money, and I want the power to control how it’s spent

Liberals seem to have forgotten that blue-collar workers habitually buttered the bread of the Democrat Party. Those workers were traditionally known as Reagan Democrats. They are now properly called Trump Democrats. These Democrats will re-elect President Trump in November 2020. Without the support of the American workforce, Democrats can’t or won’t win. Believe that.

