Sarah Solon

Andrea in the Daily News: How to Win Over a Working Class Republican

In an Op-Ed in Sunday's Daily News, Andrea writes:

This month, all the aspiring Democratic 2008 presidential candidates seem to be showing up at an anti-Wal-Mart rally somewhere. To talk about its business practices? No, to talk to the middle class.

Ah, the middle class, where all political roads begin and end. It's a smart strategy in America, where most people identify as middle class, no matter what they make or owe.

Politicians spend millions conducting polls and focus groups to understand the middle class. Well, the other day, I conducted a one-woman focus group just by picking up the phone.

Roberta had gotten her hands on a recent report of the organization I work for, which graded members of Congress based on their votes on legislation of importance to the current and aspiring middle class, and she was angry.

She was angry that we didn't support tax cuts for the wealthy, angry that we want an increase in the minimum wage, angry about our rejection of a bankruptcy bill written by the credit card industry. Roberta was 35 calls and 10 voice mails angry.

Read the rest of Andrea's piece here. Growing out of an earlier conversation started on this blog, this Op-Ed expands upon the divisive gaps in thought behind the seemingly blanket term 'middle class," showing that it will take a lot more than rallies and talking points to actually support and expand the struggling and shrinking middle class.

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Posted at 11:27 AM, Aug 21, 2006 in Progressive Agenda
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