Reagan sold your future, Trump will too

White working-class voters should think twice before electing another flag-waving, immigrant-bashing, billionaire-enriching politician.

A generation ago, many white working-class Democrats bought into Ronald Reagan’s promise of a better nation. Eager for “morning in America”—and swayed by fear that advances for black people would come at their expense—they didn’t see that the shadow of a long sunset was creeping over their lives.

Because the GOP had another, darker agenda. One that didn’t include them.

Reagan Democrats were left with a president who blamed and criticized people of color, while billionaires got to enjoy a president who helped them grab the lion’s share of America’s wealth.

Today, Donald Trump is singing the same song, promising salvation and blaming immigrants, blacks, and Muslims for America’s woes. And if enough white men join the chorus, they may doom themselves to another decade of declining economic opportunity.

Trump, like his GOP predecessors, is making a lot of people feel good about their hatred for those they don’t consider “real” Americans. But indulging in enmity for people who are different comes at an economic price.

If you’re a typical middle-class worker today, you’re probably deep in debt, with little means to plan for a brighter future for your kids, and no way to deal with an unexpected financial emergency. Meanwhile, you watch the ultra-rich grow ever-wealthier.

What you might not know is that productivity—the value of everything America makes—has grown by two-thirds in the decades since Reagan’s administration. But with the GOP lending a hand, giant corporations and the super-rich captured nearly all of the added wealth that American workers generated.

The statistics for those growing ever-richer today are staggering.

In 1980, top CEOs made 42 times as much as the average worker. Now they make 373 times as much. And the share of household wealth owned by the top tenth of the one percent increased from 7 percent in 1980 to 22 percent today.

But in the last 35 years, the wages of middle-level workers have scarcely budged. On average, they’ve gotten a yearly raise of one-sixth of one percent. For someone making $40,000 a year, that’s a whopping $69 more per year.

This is no coincidence. Policies launched during Reagan’s presidency and pushed forward by his successors are responsible.

First, Republicans have stymied efforts to raise the federal minimum wage for decades. When corrected for inflation, the minimum wage is actually lower than it was in 1980.

Second, they targeted unions. Strong unions help everyone, because they set a pay standard that nonunion employers follow. Both Reagan and the Bushes appointed pro-business members to the National Labor Relations Board, who ignored unlawful attacks on unions and undermined bargaining rights.

Weakened unions made it easier for employers to devour all the fruits of increased productivity.

Third, their huge tax cuts favored the wealthiest. George W. Bush added trillions to the public debt, while the top one percent received more than a third of his so-called “tax relief.” During the Bush years, if your income was over $3 million per year, you got an average tax bonus of $520,000.

Meanwhile, services ordinary people rely on were starved, weakening our government’s ability to fund schools, or protect our water, food, and drugs.

These reverse-Robin Hood policies would continue under Donald—”you’re fired!”—Trump.

Take, for instance, his International Hotel, which conducts an unlawful anti-union campaign. And Trump’s proposed tax cuts would give $1.3 million each to the wealthiest tenth of the richest one percent.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to waffle about whether there should even be a federal minimum wage. Actually, he believes “wages are too high.”

So if you think you’re overpaid, Trump’s your man.

But descendants of Reagan Democrats on the fence about a President Trump should heed the warning of history before inviting another flag-waving, immigrant-blaming, black-bashing, billionaire-enriching politician to the oval office.

Mitchell Zimmerman is an intellectual property lawyer who devotes much of his practice to pro bono work. Distributed by OtherWords.org.

3 Responses to Reagan sold your future, Trump will too

  1. This article apparently boils down to an endorsement of Clinton. May I suggest that there isn’t a thin dime’s worth of difference between these two insanely greedy, narcissistic, mentally unstable and morally corrupt representatives of the worst elements our society and further, it probably makes little difference which clown is made the figurehead of our metastasizing kleptocracy. Moreover, the Democratic Party needs to be delivered a blow by its progressive wing for its naked fraud in the primaries and in the frail hope that such a defeat might cause a reorganization of that corrupt mob. Don’t vote for a lesser evil (there isn’t one), vote the common good.

  2. The economy is sure to get a boost in the run up to the elections as the so-called Left has to buy all new underpants to replace the ones they’ve crapped during their lesser of two evils fearmongering crusade. The author equates Trump with Reagan but in reality Killary Clinton mirrors Ronnie Raygun far more than Trump. Trump talks about creating jobs, reviewing lopsided trade pacts (including criticizing the mother of all satanic deals, the TPP), and downsizing NATO. Under Reagan, union busting was en vogue along with Wall Street babylon of M&As, hostile takeovers and related convoluted financial chicanery that costs people jobs and pensions. Job outsourcing ramped up during Reagan’s reign of terror. Reagan couldn’t drum up a real war so he created a fake crisis in Grenada. Covert ops in Latin and Central America continued as usual under Reagan. Dame Killary sounds like Ronnie Raygun more than Trump as she is a free trade (read: no jobs for US workers) cheerleader, a Wall Street whore to the core, and a war hawk who would make any GOP neocon proud. While Trump talks about the need to talk with world leaders, Killary wants to bomb them all back to the stone age. So please, spare me the Armageddon wails about Trump. He may not do anything to help the working stiff but we KNOW Killary won’t do jacksquat based on her past and present record.

  3. The problem is corupt money in the system to buy favors. Foreign money can donate to a foundation but cannot donate to a political campaign.

    Chris
    Owner CEL Financial Services