The blue-collar working class

OP, you're political gold... for Republicans.

Op, some ol queen wanting to feel superior. Worthless...

OP is a bitch.

Well, most of them are incredibly stupid people.

This is sort of true.

What OP describes is the typical frat-douchebro working as a Financial Analyst, Program Manager consultant, or VP Marketing.

R1 for the win.

OP is why they hate us.

Not all of them match OPs description but he is right on some fronts. OP, they are glorified because they are an acceptable representation of hard working people.

Almost everyone in America is one to two generations away from a blue-collar worker. These workers raised the college educated Boomers and Generation X, making them both nostalgic and significant. Politically, they traditionally aligned with Democrats because the unions were united, now they have crossed over in mass to Republicans. Dems want them back, Reps want to keep them, so everyone is talking about this group.

OP, your low self-esteem is showing.

Well I guess you should fix your car, build your house, etc. Cause your elites ass would be up a shit creek with out these people

I agree, OP. And a lot of them are/were homophobes, and just the right type of asshole to vote Republican. No pity. Let them eat opioids.

The only reasons anyone cares are that there are a lot of them and they’re easily manipulated.

I think their economic insecurity is exaggerated. Some blue collar jobs pay quite handsomely, especially cops, fire department, construction. Hell, some of them earn more than teachers, sometimes earning up to or close to six figures, which is not fair IMO.

OP = Ima Kunt

OP = Trash!

OP, showing everyone how 'tolerant' she is!

My biggest complaint with them is that a lot of them think they are [italic] so much [/italic] more hardworking and special than anybody else working any other regular type of job. Newsflash: you're not. You were just too lazy and unmotivated to do anything else besides work with your hands.

What has happened is respectable, well-paying blue collar jobs with benefits have all but disappeared - except for government jobs like sanitation, but even these are outsourced to no benefit contract work.

Not everyone is cut out to go to college. Some folks are more concrete thinkers and lack interest in more abstract thinking. But that doesn't mean they don't want to work hard and succeed.

This new generation of blue collar workers are doomed. Low paid work with no benefits. One of the reason for the opioid epidemic. If I had to get up at 5 every morning to break my back for $10-15/hour, no benefits, I might start using opiates to numb myself.

R17 because they do WORK harder. No one is saying that someone working in an office doesn't work hard, but you cannot compare working in an office doing "normal" work, to doing a twelve hour shift in a coal mine, digging ditches, paving roads, or working on an assembly line. It is also, why the blue collar communities are most concerned about immigration. Illegal immigration and migrant workers are great for the middle and upperclasses because they provide cheap maids, garderners, handymen, and farm workers. And, it isn't true that Americans won't do those jobs, it is just true that Americans won't do those jobs for the same amount of money. Where I live is a major fruit producing area, and the fruit orchards used to be filled with high school and college kids working for the summer, but not anymore, because the farmers learned that the American kids wouldn't do the back breaking work for the pittance that they are willing to pay. In fact, if you adjust for inflation they are paying less or the same now that they paid the pickers in the 1960's. And, once immigrants have children here, their children won't work for those depressed wages either, so we have to import more, so on and so on, which is unsustainable and why it isn't only the white working class that is for a crackdown on illegal immigration and less legal immigration, but according to a Harvard Poll released this week both Black and Latino citizens agree with lowering immigration. We need the blue collar working class and we always will, and the more we dismiss them and condescend to them, the angrier they will become. Has everyone forgotten the lessons learned from the French and Russian revolutions, because the blue collar workers of today are not the peasants of then, they are the lower middle classes, ready to rise up and demand the heads of the coastal elite aristocracy.

OP you do know that those jobs are important and they have to be done.

[quote] OP, you're political gold... for Republicans.

Republican policies are a reflection of the exact sentiment that OP expressed. of course that's not important to Republican voters.

Op, I semi-feel what you are saying. My brother is like this. He fucked up all throughout high school and was a nightmare for my parents to take care of. Ditched school, did weed, talked back, got into fights. Now he works construction off and on, he's not getting any younger, his middled aged body is starting to give out, and he is bitter as hell. All of his problems are due to other groups of people, and all of the circumstances being against him. He rants on social media about how hard he has it. Nevermind that he grew up in the same exact household, with the same resources, same parents, same school opportunities. He made poor life choices. Now it is all biting him in the ass.

The people who get the attention are the people who vote.

It really is as simple as that.

For all our bitching about Russians and déplorables, much of the Democratic base (young people and minorities), either throw away their votes on 3rd parties os stay home.

That is why we lose, and why no one pays attention to us.

All there is to it.

Fucking vote and vote Democrat.

[quote]Why are you they glorified in America? I went to public school

To no avail...

I don't know about any of you, but I'm getting really tired of hearing every candidate in every election tell about how hard they had it when their families all schlepped over here from the old country and worked SO HARD to "live the 'American Dream'". They never just worked, they worked HARD. Talk about the issues, not your fucking life story which is probably mostly bullshit anyway. When they go into that song and dance I rub my index finger and thumb at the TV and say "this is the smallest violin in the world playing I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!

And many become cops. Yikes.

[quote] Fucking vote and vote Democrat.

Well, it certainly does not help their case when a large chunk of these people vote solidly Republican and vote against their own interests. They did not grow up in a 3rd world favela. A lot of them had the benefit of a free American education, for upward social mobility, etc. I think it's just easier for some of them to point their finger at immigrants or minorities or whoever else, instead of looking inward and admitting to their own failures.

My point though, R26, is that I don't give a shit about them or why they vote. And neither should you. They are uneducated idiots who vote against their own interests mostly because they hate brown people/gays. Fuck 'em.

Instead of sitting around whining about why they matter, let's get out and vote, and make them irrelevant. We have the numbers on our side to do just that, but the liberal base often sits out elections.

It is our own fault politicians pay them so much attention. If we voted en masse the way they do, they WOULDN'T matter.

I have no problems with the blue-collar working class. It is the money-grubbing "this is mine and you can't have it" folk who support the mostly republican leadership to limit benefits to those in need and vote for tax breaks for the wealthy. We also should be wary of people who often use the word "they" when supporting their arguments. For example, R27.

Wow, you guys have really missed the simple answer.

OP, the reason blue-collar working class people have always been worshiped as the best of everything American is simple...they have, for almost the entire history of this country, been straight, white, Christian males. They all just worship themselves.

Oh, go to hell, R29. I am not R27, but the fact that I (and many others, including many gay people) vote Democrat even when it doesn't even suit my tax interests shows more empathy for poor people than idiots like my brother, who still vote Republican, despite how much that party is all about corporate interests and tax breaks. Some of these bitter, blue-collar people would rather shoot themselves in the foot rather than show empathy or solidarity with other similarly affected Americans facing the same issues. To say nothing of their sense of entitlement and selfishness. They've really taken to heart the cheap, political rhetoric that this is [italic] their [/italic] country, they are "the true backbone" of this country (whatever the hell that even means), and only they are American patriots entitled to this country's benefits and riches.

No, bitch, you are not special and you are not "the backbone" of this country anymore than teachers, doctors, or a damn accountant!

Hey OP....next time you call a plumber, electrician,carpenter, cop or fireman....I hope they don’t show up.

Have a heart attack, R31. Hopefully a doctor won't operate on you.

Well, I hate to do this, but I'll stick my neck out there. I'm a blue-collar, working class gay man. I graduated high school at 16, and only have a few college credits. I work for hourly wages (health insurance). I know most people here will look down on me. So what. I pay my way, and my house is paid for. I'm a liberal and I vote that way. I'm openly gay. I'm in my late 50s, and looking forward to retirement. I'm not your enemy, and I get tired of being cast as one. I guess most of you would sneer that I'm impossibly poor, and untouchable. Again, so what.

R33, are you the typical blue-collar person, though? Ninety-nine percent of your brethren are the exact opposite of what you described. The only time they vote Democratic is if they are part of a union but even that is becoming less and less true.

All of this class bullshit comes down to one thing...straight, white, Christian males losing status and, as far as they are concerned, if they can't have it, no one will!

In case any of you haven't read this:

R34, I don't think I would be considered a typical blue-collar person. But my Dad worked in a factory, and was a Union organizer, and I know that he was a dependable Democrat voter. It was my Mom who was a Republican, who eventually changed her registration because she admired the Obamas so much. I know that pretty much all my co-workers (also hourly workers) voted for Hillary, and we were pretty much all in shock after the last election. I have a few friends who I know voted for Trump: it's actually been a big stress point in our friendships. I know my cousins voted Republican, but they all have kids in the military, so I figure they have a particular point of view with which I can't/won't argue. BTW, I'm Catholic, if that makes any difference. I don't have that same ability to resolve the dissonance that some Evangelicals seem to have. I mean, you can attack me any way you want for being Catholic, but I've never seen it as my place to moderate other peoples' morality, given that I've always known I was a minority myself.

R35 is also R33.