this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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If champion for radical change that benefits the middle class was that important Trump would not have won.
I would argue that he most definitely is a champion for radical change and that's why he won. "Drain the swamp", "Dictator on day one", " He says it like it is" are all things that deviate dramatically from the status quo of political etiquette. Trump is willing to break political norms to get what he wants and evidently voters think his interests align with their own.
Obviously, this isn't the kind of radical change you or I are hoping for but it certainly is radical. Meanwhile, the Dems are playing it safe in an attempt to appeal broadly and not upset too many people. And we've seen for the last decade that gets us at best legislation which has been gutted to the point where it does effectively nothing for the majority of Americans.
Student loan forgiveness, ACA, CHIPS act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure were all huge gains for the majority of Americans
Most of these accomplishments, while they do benefit the middle class, are largely invisible to the average American who's not perpetually following politics.
Student loan forgiveness only directly affects people who go to college, an increasingly less popular/accessible career path amongst the working class. It also has restrictions and has been facing legal challenges, both of which limit its effectiveness.
Lower prescription drug costs are only really visible to people who are taking prescription drugs long-term and doesn't prevent the healthcare system from bankrupting you in countless other ways.
The Affordable Care Act is arguably the single most significant accomplishment for the Democratic party in my millennial lifetime and if it survives to the next election cycle it will be old enough to vote in it.
As for the rest, improving infrastructure moves too slowly for people to notice in the short-term and despite the efforts to slow them we are still facing record increases to the cost of living and job insecurity.
The working class is getting desperate, people are worried about how they're going to keep up with rising grocery prices or whether they'll get laid off from their job when they're living paycheck to paycheck. If you don't own a home yet you're likely questioning whether homeownership will ever be within reach while your landlord increases your rent for no apparent reason other than greed.
In a relative sense to the struggles the working class has been facing coming out of the pandemic, the Democrats have thrown them bones, told them the economy is great, in fact it's the best in the world when you know for a fact you were better off before the pandemic.
Do we know tariffs and mass deportations aren't going to make anything better? Do we know things are likely to get a lot worse? Are we the average American? The results of the election prove that we aren't.